GRANT Pilot studies in the framework of linking IACS and ...

Date: 08.02.2016 Final report /30

GRANT

Pilot studies in the framework of linking IACS and other administrative registers and

statistics. POLAND

Final report

Accepted by: Janusz Dygaszewicz

Director of Programming and Coordination of Statistical Surveys Department Project Coordinator

EUROSTAT/Grant Agreement No.: 08414.2013.001-2013.461

Doc. No.: Final report

Issue/Rev.: 2.0

Date: 2016-02-08


Table of contents

1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 3

2. Work organisation ......................................................................................................................... 5

3. Changes introduced to the information structures and the impact of these changes on

improvement of data transfer ...................................................................................................... 6

3.1. Analysis of registers kept by ARIMR and by other institutions in terms of agricultural variables

used in the surveys of the Central Statistical Office. .................................................................... 6

3.2. Changes in the information structures in the IACS introduced by ARIMR in 2015 in connection

with the RDP for 2014-2020. ....................................................................................................... 12

4. Testing of the adopted methodological solutions and the plan for implementation of the

results in practice. ....................................................................................................................... 14

4.1. Change in the range of variables and the deadline for transfer of data from the IACS ............. 14

4.2. Change in the method of data transfer to the Central Statistical Office of Poland .................... 17

4.3. Results of testing of the adopted solutions (result of analysis of ARIMR's preliminary data

provided in 2015). ....................................................................................................................... 18

5. Impact of the project on changes in cooperation between statistics and administration ......... 20

5.1. Future actions necessary for implementation of the presented suggestions. ........................... 20

5.2. Expected benefits resulting from the adopted solutions. .......................................................... 21

6. The sustainability of the project results ...................................................................................... 25

7. Recommendations for other countries ....................................................................................... 28

8. Annexes ....................................................................................................................................... 30

Annex No. 1 The concept of creating a register of agricultural holdings with the use of data from

different administrative sources, including the IACS. ................................................................. 30

Annex No. 2 Basic terms used in statistics ......................................................................................... 30

Annex No. 3 Basic terms used in the IACS and in other registers and systems kept by ARIMR ........ 30

Annex No. 4 List of agricultural variables related to the use of land, sown areas and livestock ....... 30

Annex No. 5 List of agricultural variables collected by the Central Statistical Office and their

presence in other administrative registers ................................................................................. 30

Annex No. 6 Report on the work conducted in the framework of elaboration of solutions that have

impact on the improvement of the IACS quality ........................................................................ 30


1. Introduction

On 3 December 2013, contract no. 08414.2013.001-2013.461 was concluded

between the European Commission, represented by the Director for Sectoral and

Regional Statistics of Eurostat, and the Central Statistical Office of Poland, represented

by the President of the Central Statistical Office, for an action entitled Pilot studies in the

framework of linking IACS and other administrative registers and statistics. The eligible

period for implementation of activities covered by this contract is 04.12.2013 -

03.12.2015.

The objective of the action was to obtain a broader and faster access to data in

the Integrated Management and Control System, hereinafter referred to as the IACS, as

well as to reduce the respondents' burden by developing a method of expanding the

scope of data obtained from a farmer at the time of submitting the applications for

direct payments. The specific objectives of the project included:

1. Development of a methodology for the use of data collected in the IACS in order to

reduce the burden on respondents and statistical systems.

2. Providing access to administrative data by adjusting the IT systems.

3. Adjustment of data collection methods in a way that would facilitate better use of

the data in IACS.

Reconstruction of the system, resulting from changes in legal regulations

concerning provisions on direct payments for farmers, as well as the new Rural

Development Programme (RDP) for the period of 2014 - 2020, was a stimulating

circumstance, providing an opportunity to collect more information on agricultural

holdings in the IACS databases.

At the European level, a clear tendency can be currently seen to use IACSs not

only as tools for the system of direct payments for farmers, but also as information

systems widely used for implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy, and as a

source of data on agriculture.


As a result of the project implementation, a description was created concerning

changes introduced to the information structures and the impact of these changes on

improvement of data transfer. The adopted methodological solutions were tested and a

plan for implementation of the results in practice was prepared. The impact of the

project on changes in cooperation between statistics and administration was also

tested. A concept was elaborated of creating a register of agricultural holdings on the

basis of administrative sources.

In a long-term perspective, the conducted study works will provide the official

statistics with a broader, faster and easier access to the data located in the IACS. The

developed concept of the agricultural holdings register established on the basis of

administrative data can be used to create the agricultural holdings register. The

experience and knowledge gained during the project implementation will be used to

further harmonise national databases in order to enable their broader use by statistic. It

is also planned to utilise the gained experience in further activities in the framework of

linking the data from the IACS and other administrative registers and statistics.


2. Work organisation

The project was executed in the Central Statistical Office of Poland (CSO) by a

team composed of the employees of the Programming and Coordination of Statistical

Surveys Department of CSO, the Agriculture Department of CSO, the Statistical

Computing Centre, the Regional Statistical Office in Warsaw and the Regional Statistical

Office in Olsztyn. The Programming and Coordination of Statistical Surveys Department

of CSO was responsible for coordination and monitoring of implementation of works

conducted under the project. The organisational units of CSO involved in the project

carried out works within the project taking account of their areas of operation,

according to the agreed schedule of tasks.

External experts from a paying agency were also involved, namely from the

Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture (ARIMR) – as subcontractors,

as well as from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MRIRW) - free

consultations, due to their unique knowledge and competencies related to the IACS,

necessary to implement the tasks within the framework of the project. The experts

participated in the works in the scope necessary to reach the assumed goals of the

project. As part of the tasks entrusted thereto, the experts analysed the registers kept

by ARIMR, in terms of the content of agricultural variables acquired by statistic and

indicated by CSO as variables to be acquired. In addition, they provided detailed

information concerning changes implemented in the IACS, resulting from changes in the

Common Agricultural Policy, developed in the financial perspective 2014-2020. On the

basis of relevant provisions of the Programme of Statistical Surveys of Official Statistics

for 2015, ARIMR provided statistics with IACS data, which constituted the basis for

testing new methodological solutions aiming at broadening the acquisition of

administrative data being the responsibility of the Agency. The ARIMR experts took part

in preparation of the concept of the agricultural holdings register, constituting Annex

No. 1 to this report.


3. Changes introduced to the information structures and the impact of

these changes on improvement of data transfer

3.1. Analysis of registers kept by ARIMR and by other

institutions in terms of agricultural variables used in the

surveys of the Central Statistical Office.

The analysis of registers included:

- identification of the users' needs,

- identification of data sources,

- selection of registers,

- description of selected registers,

- determination of the registers evaluation criteria,

- analysis of the selected registers, taking account of the adopted criteria,

- formulation of conclusions and their presentation as overviews.

The works in the framework of this project have been commenced by

determination of information needs of official statistics (CSO) and other institutions

using information on agricultural holdings, i.e. the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural

Development (MRIRW), the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture

(ARIMR).

After determining the information needs, works concerning identification of

information sources were conducted (registers, systems). In the course of the

identification process, the following registers/systems were selected, to be used in

subsequent works:

Item Name of the register/system Leader

1. Integrated Administration and Control System - IACS

Agency for Restructuring and

Modernisation of Agriculture 2. Animals Identification and Registration

System (IRZ)

3. Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS)


4. SI-Agencja*KI ARIMR

5. OFSA-PROW 2007-13

6. OFSA-DD

7. PROW – RG PROW

8. National Official Business Register REGON (National Official Register of the

Business Entities of the National Economy)

Central Statistical Office of Poland

CSO 9. National Official Register of Territorial

Division of the Country - TERYT

10. Integrated system for information about real estate ZSIN

Head Office of Geodesy and

Cartography GUGIK

11. Tax Information System - Database of taxpayers of the personal income tax (PIT) (in the part regarding achieving incomes from special branches of agricultural production; declaration PIT 6/PIT 6L)

Ministry of Finance

12. Information System of the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund - KRUS

Agricultural Social Insurance Fund KRUS

13. Database on merchandisers

Main Inspectorate of Agricultural and

Food Quality Inspection GIJHARS

14. List of organic producers

15. List of establishments keeping laying hens registered in accordance with Directive 2002/04

Chief Veterinary Inspectorate

GIF

16. List of Poultry Production Establishments

17. Register of land and buildings Poviat starosties (district offices)

18. Real Estate Tax Register Gmina offices e.g. Municipal offices

The abovementioned registers and systems have been described according to

the adopted information structure. Their descriptions constituted the basis for

subsequent works - analyses from the point of view of the use of registers as a source of

data for statistical surveys, as well as for the purposes of the concept of creating the

agricultural holdings register. The aforementioned descriptions of registers have been

attached to the concept and constitute its part.


The analysis of registers and systems kept by the Agency for Restructuring and

Modernisation of Agriculture (ARIMR) and by other institutions, such as the Ministry of

Finance (MF), the Main Inspectorate of Agricultural and Food Quality Inspection

(GIJHARS), the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (KRUS), was conducted taking into

consideration the following criteria:

scope of information,

definitions of terms,

update frequency,

source data in the register - the state of the obtained data,

method of data clustering,

access to the data for official statistics - timeliness of data/access time, method of

data transfer.

The primary condition for the use of data from administrative registers in

statistics is methodological compliance, including compliance of definitions of terms, key

variables adopted in statistics with those adopted in administrative registers.

In order to develop the methodology for the use of data from administrative

systems and reduction of the respondents' burden, as part of the conducted works, a

comparison was made of the basic definitions of terms applied in the IACS, other

registers and systems, as well as in statistics. In the course of implementation of the

project, much attention has been paid to works - arrangements concerning consistency

of definitions of terms used by statistics and for the needs of the IACS. Specifications

were prepared of the basic definitions of terms used by statistics (Annex No. 2) and the

IACS, as well as other registers and systems kept by ARIMR (Annex No. 3). The

differences in definitions identified during the analysis result from the fact that their

descriptions were created for different purposes, e.g. area payments, survey on the

structure of agricultural holdings. The analysis of the abovementioned terms allowed for

detailing the scope of agricultural variables meeting the quality level adopted in

statistics, as well as qualifying a specific scope of data from the administrative registers

to be obtained by statistics.


Other variables essential for statistics, contained in the administrative registers,

which did not meet the quality requirements, were the object of further works of CSO

and experts from ARIMR and MRIRW. In the course of execution of tasks, the degree of

discrepancy of definitions was determined, as well as the sources of definitions specified

in the legal regulations or internal documents, containing the methodology adopted by

the entities keeping the administrative registers. The source of definitions is important

from the point of view of the possibility to introduce changes in order to achieve

conformity of definitions in various registers and systems, including statistics, or to

minimise discrepancies. During the aforementioned works performed by CSO along with

the experts, the scope of tasks to be implemented after completion of the project was

determined; this will contribute to broadening the use of data from administrative

registers in statistics.

Another issue covered by the project works was analysis of the scope of information

collected in the IACS and other administrative registers. CSO analysed the scope of

information collected so far in statistical surveys - directly from the respondents, and

determined, which information could be replaced by data acquired from the administrative

registers, with observance of specific conditions. In order to provide statistics with better

access to data from the IACS, in the course of the conducted works, CSO developed

organisational-methodological solutions, aimed at official statistics using administrative data

from the ARIMR registers or data that could be additionally acquired from farmers filling their

applications for area payments, e.g. additional questions in applications for direct payments,

or acquired otherwise, e.g. using surveys. The solutions proposed by CSO, enhancing the

scope of data obtained from agricultural producers, were the subject of a number of

meetings, discussions and arrangements with the experts from ARIMR and MRIRW. The

aforementioned works were conducted during development of projects of changes in the

national law carried out by MRIRW and ARIMR, resulting from changes in the Common

Agricultural Policy in the financial perspective of 2014-2020, as well as in the EU regulations.

The MRIRW experts provided the official statistics with subsequent versions of the proposed

changes in regulations in order to obtain the opinion of CSO of Poland. New legal regulations

of the EU, as well as the regulations proposed by MRIRW and ARIMR, were evaluated by CSO.

In addition, ARIMR provided CSO with the prepared material "Designed changes in the


Common Agricultural Policy in the financial perspective of 2014-2020". On the basis of

available documents and information, CSO formulated suggestions for changes in the

proposed legal regulations, significant from the point of view of the identified needs of official

statistics.

In connection with the works conducted in MRIRW on determination of detailed

principles of granting direct payments since 2015, in the opinion of CSO, the direction of the

IACS reconstruction should include, apart from operation of the direct payment system, also

the possibility of integrating the ARIMR systems with statistical databases, and therefore

foster cost reduction of functioning of public administration and ease the burden of

respondents (farmers).

The change in legal regulations concerning direct payments appeared to be just the

right moment to extend the scope of the IACS information system. Gathering data about

particular crops in the IT databases, instead of the so far collected data on groups of crops,

would allow for increasing the use of the IACS by statistics. Such solutions were also sought by

the users of official statistics, including agricultural organisations representing producers and

processors, which for a long time have been pointing out the lack of precise data on total crop

area, which significantly hinders correct production planning.

In the framework of this project, CSO developed a list of agricultural variables related

to the use of land, sown areas and livestock populations, acquisition of which is particularly

essential for official statistics (Annex No. 4), as well as proposals for the method of declaring

crops on the application for direct payment, which covered the following issues:

1. Introduction to the IT system of the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation

of Agriculture all crop areas by all farmers submitting applications for direct

payment, which will enable control of compliance with the obligation of crop

diversification, proper grouping of crops and standardisation of template

application for direct payments.

2. According to CSO, on the basis of many years of experience acquired in the

course of conducting agricultural statistical surveys, grouping of crops is an

additional impediment for farmers, who fill out applications for direct payments.

It is easier for farmers to specify the areas of particular crops, without the need


to group them. This task, according to CSO, should be performed systemically by

ARIMR. It would simplify the method of filling the application for direct payments

by the farmer.

3. All farmers stating particular crop areas on the application for direct subsidies

would be beneficial also in the point of view of MRIRW, as it allows MRIRW to

have a set of data on the area of all crops at a low aggregation level.

4. Adoption of such a solution is also supported by the needs of agricultural

organisations representing producers and processors, which more and more

often point out the lack of precise data concerning crop areas of the basic plants,

which significantly hinders correct planning and production management.

As a result of analysis of registers kept by ARIMR and other institutions in terms

of agricultural variables used in the CSO surveys, a list was drawn up under the project

(Annex No. 5: "List of agricultural variables collected by the Central Statistical Office and

their presence in other administrative registers"), in which all acquired variables were

categorised according to the importance of their collection and use by other institutions,

i.e.:

data currently acquired by CSO from the existing registers (marked green in the

presented list),

important data, which should be included in registers and should be available for CSO

(marked red),

data that could be acquired by CSO, which are currently absent from the registers,

from which CSO acquires data (marked yellow),

data that can be found in the registers, but are not used by CSO due to their low

quality (marked blue),

other data acquired mainly on the basis of surveys and own estimates of CSO (not

marked with any colour).

The studies and suggestions of substantive solutions submitted by CSO to MRIRW and

ARIMR were the subject of their qualitative evaluation. The suggestions of changes in

legal regulations presented by CSO have been partially taken into consideration. The


issues, which have not been taken into consideration by MRIRW and ARIMR will

constitute the object of further works in the future.

3.2. Changes in the information structures in the IACS

introduced by ARIMR in 2015 in connection with the RDP for

2014-2020.

Types of payments

In the e-Application system, the farmer can apply for:

financial aid under direct payment systems, i.e.:

uniform area payment and payment for planting greening,

additional payment,

payment for young farmers,

payment for the crop area of sugar beet,

payment for the crop area of cannabis,

payment for the crop area of protein crops,

payment for the crop area of starch potatoes,

payment for the crop area of soft fruit (strawberries or raspberries),

payment for the crop area of tomatoes,

payment for the crop area of linen,

payment for the crop area of hop,

payment for cows,

payment for cattle,

payment for sheep,

payment for goats,

decoupled payment for tobacco;

financial aid for areas facing natural or other specific constraints (LFA payments);

agri-environmental climate payments (RDP 2014 - 2020), including for

preservation of endangered genetic resources of animals in agriculture;


environmental payment (RDP 2014 - 2020);

agri-environmental payment (RDP 2007-2013), including for preservation of

endangered genetic resources of animals in agriculture;

financial aid for afforestation (RDP 2007-2013).


4. Testing of the adopted methodological solutions and the plan for

implementation of the results in practice.

4.1. Change in the range of variables and the deadline for

transfer of data from the IACS

As a result of changes in the Common Agricultural Policy, from 2015 the scope of

data included in applications for payments, submitted to the Agency for Restructuring

and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARIMR) by agricultural producers has been changed.

As part of this project, ARIMR provided CSO with the new scope of information of the

Application for direct, LFA and agri-environmental payments for 2015. On the basis of

the communicated information, CSO developed solutions improving access to the IACS

by official statistics, including the possibility of earlier access to the data (e.g.

preliminary data, before cross-control). These issues were discussed with ARIMR

experts, also in the course of direct cooperation, during meetings organised by CSO. In

order to provide legal basis for ARIMR to transfer to CSO, earlier than before, the

increased scope of data collected in applications for payments, the following

determinations were made:

- CSO introduced changes to the Regulation of the Council of Ministers on the

Programme of Statistical Surveys of Official Statistics for 2015, taking account in the

survey card 1.80.01 "Statistical Units System – sampling frames" of the new scope

of the acquired data based on the Application for granting direct, LFA and agri-

environmental payments for 2015, as well as the earlier deadline for data transfer.


The table below illustrates the differences between years 2014 and 2015 with

regard to obtaining and use of data from the IACS.

Programme of Statistical Surveys of Official

Statistics for 2014

Programme of Statistical Surveys of Official

Statistics for 2015

The scope of information acquired

from the IACS

Frequency and

deadline

The scope of information acquired

from the IACS

Frequency and

deadline

ARIMR Information System; unit data

on agricultural holdings with regard to:

identifier assigned to the entity during

entry to the producer registry, data

concerning the area of the agricultural

holding, along with the specification of

identifiers and the areas included in

the cadastral parcels; in an electronic

form

until 31 March

2015, data for the

year 2014

unit data on agricultural holdings

with regard to: identifier assigned to

the entity during entry to the

producer registry, type of payment

indicated in the application, PESEL,

REGON, number of animals declared

for a given payment, data on the

cadastral parcels: location of the

cadastral parcel (voivodeship, poviat,

gmina); data according to the land

and building registers (surveying

district no., map sheet no., cadastral

parcel no. ); area on the cadastral

parcel (total eligible hectare, total

arable land, including arable land not

reported for payment, land not

reported for payment; ecological

focus element, forested area within

the boundaries of the cadastral

parcel.

data on the use of agricultural

parcels: designation of the

agricultural parcel, group of

crops/area/crop, agricultural

parcel area, no. of the land

parcel, on which the agricultural

parcel is located, agricultural

parcel area within the boundaries

data for 2015:

until 31 March

2016 (until 30

September 2015,

preliminary data)


of the cadastral parcel, area

declared for LFA payment on the

agricultural parcel within the

boundaries of the cadastral

parcel, agri-environmental/agri-

environmental

climate/environmental payment,

percent (%) of ecological focus

area maintained individually at an

agricultural holding, no. of the

cadastral parcel, on which the

ecological focus element is

located, name and designation of

the ecological focus element,

actual size of the ecological focus

element (m or m2 or pcs.), size of

the ecological focus area after

application of the conversion

factor and the weighing factor;


Based on the provisions of the Regulation of the Council of Ministers on the

Programme of Statistical Surveys of Official Statistics for 2015, ARIMR provided CSO with

data sets within the agreed extended scope and on an earlier date (preliminary data). In

connection with CSO obtaining these data, works have been conducted under the

project, with the use of the provided data sets. The extended scope of data and its

earlier acquisition from the IACS improved the quality of plant production estimates.

This allowed for more precise determination of the crop groups area, as well as the use

of data to update the sampling frame. In order to illustrate the scale of changes

concerning the scope of data acquired by CSO as a result of the project implementation,

below the scope of variables from the IACS is presented, taken by statistics a year before

- in 2014, before determination of changes in the scope of transmitted data.

microdata data on agricultural holdings with regard to: identifier assigned to the

entity during entry to the producer registry, data concerning the area of the

agricultural holding, along with the specification of identifiers and the areas included

in the cadastral parcels.

4.2. Change in the method of data transfer to the Central

Statistical Office of Poland

As part of the works covered by the project, during the meetings organised by

CSO, CSO discussed with ARIMR's experts issues concerning change in the method of

data transfer to CSO in two timescales. In order to change the method of data transfer

to CSO in a short timescale (currently, data is transferred on external electronic

carriers), CSO conducted an analysis regarding the possibility to use an IT tool used in

official statistics - the Internet application for data transfer, the so-called TransGUS,

enabling electronic transfer of files with data via safe encrypted connection.

The application's website provides information on transfer of data sets, an

instruction specifying the principles of their transfer, as well as a description of the tool

for transfer of these sets to the CSO resource server. Data transfer is possible within the

time specified in the schedule of data acquisition.


In order to enable electronic data transfer to CSO, the data administrator

appoints a coordinator, who receives from CSO individual access data (login and

password) permitting data transfer by means of the Internet application TransGUS. The

abovementioned solution will be implemented into practice with regard to IACS data

and data obtained from other systems and ARIMR registers, starting from 2016.

In a longer time frame, the ARIMR portal was recognized as the best solution for

data transfer to CSO.

Implementation of a functional tool providing CSO with access to data collected

by ARIMR in IACS, other systems and registers, in accordance with the rights vested

therein, will be the object of subsequent works.

4.3. Results of testing of the adopted solutions (result of

analysis of ARIMR's preliminary data provided in 2015).

As part of the project, ARIMR provided CSO with sets of data with the new set of

variables covering the scope of information in the application for direct, LFA and agri-

environmental payments for 2015 (data for 2015). CSO received 9 tables, containing

data on: agri-environmental climate payments, agri-environmental payments,

agricultural payments - crop groups, claimed payments, environmental payments,

agricultural parcels, animal payments, cadastral parcels and ecological focus areas. Data

in all tables are connected via producer's number, PESEL number and REGON number.

The analyses verified correctness of the data contained in the tables. The result

of the data quality analysis, among others, demonstrated doubling of records, as well as

gaps in fields concerning identifiers (producer's number). For example, in the case of

tables containing cadastral parcels, 118 records with no producer's number filled in

were observed (11073421 records in total). Subsequently, the data were analysed in

terms of their suitability for use in statistics as direct data sources (they replace the data

obtained from the respondent), as data for updating the reports for agricultural surveys,

as well as data for multidisciplinary statistical analyses.

Tables containing data relating to agri-environmental and agri-environmental

climate payments contain information on particular crop species. In the first case, it is


656, and in the second - 357 species. In 2015, 9474 producers applied for agri-

environmental payments, and the applications were submitted for 103746 ha, out of the

total of 14 202708 ha and 1351795 agricultural producers. Data on total crop area for all

producers can be found in the table concerning agricultural payments. These are

payments related to crops and to animals. In the case of crops, we received data on the

area of: sugar beets, protein crops, hop, starch potatoes, soft fruit (strawberries or

raspberries), tomatoes, linen, cannabis and tobacco (decoupled payment). For these

crops, ARIMR collections contain data for all producers, who have submitted

applications for these payments in 2015. These data will be used to update the sampling

frame for agricultural surveys.

Data from ARIMR on ecological focus areas located in an agricultural holding and

the information on whether the agricultural holding is located on less-favoured areas

(LFA) may replace the data acquired during the agricultural survey (direct data source).

The up-to-date data obtained from ARIMR were also used for analyses and

comparisons with the results of representative agricultural surveys conducted in the

current year.


5. Impact of the project on changes in cooperation between statistics

and administration

5.1. Future actions necessary for implementation of the

presented suggestions.

Linking the IACS and other administrative registers with the CSO system - having

efficient access to administrative registers is important from the point of view of CSO.

According to CSO, the issue of methodological compliance of administrative systems is

also important (metainformation, glossaries). In the framework of the works completed

under the project, the needs of CSO were reported to ARIMR. At the moment, ARIMR

conducts work on developing an Internet platform for making data available to entities

authorised by the law. The abovementioned option would be the simplest way for CSO

to obtain access to the data from the IACS and other administrative registers.

Future actions will also include further increase of the scope of data acquired for

statistical surveys from the IACS and other administrative registers.

With regard to the concept of the agricultural holdings register developed under

the project, future actions will include popularisation of the concept among government

administration bodies competent for agriculture, including the Ministry of Agriculture

and Rural Development (MRiRW) and the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation

of Agriculture (ARiMR). For this purpose, it is planned for the Central Statistical Office to

organise a seminar in 2016. Subsequently, cooperation of a team of experts from

MRIRW and ARIMR will be conducted, which will result in creation of a document

implementing the concept of the agricultural holdings register into practice in the Polish

public administration. As part of the legislative needs described in the concept,

proposals of changes in binding regulations will also be prepared, as well as framework

assumptions for new regulations. Issuance of new regulations and implementation of

the abovementioned changes will be the basis for CSO undertaking subsequent works in

cooperation with MRIRW and ARIMR in design, establishment, maintenance and

development of the agricultural holdings register.


Creating register of the agricultural holdings will require access to many

administrative systems and exchange of information between the register of agricultural

holdings and other registers, among others, in order to supply administrative registers

with the agricultural holding identifier. Implementation of this task will require

preparation of detailed assumptions describing not only the way, in which the register is

to be created, but also the principles of its updating. Due to the fact that, in the register

of agricultural holdings, an agricultural holding identifier will be assigned, it will be also

necessary to prepare the principles of creation of this identifier and its succession. These

issues will be the subject of cooperation of CSO with other public administration

authorities.

5.2. Expected benefits resulting from the adopted solutions.

As part of this project, more efficient methods of standardisation, normalisation

and validation of data from the administrative register were prepared, which also

improve the quality of IACS data. The methodology of improving the quality of IACS data

sets transferred to CSO was prepared, which was included in the document entitled

Report on the work conducted in the framework of elaboration of solutions that have

impact on the improvement of the IACS quality (Annex No. 6). The abovementioned

tasks were completed in close cooperation between CSO and ARIMR's experts. CSO also

arranged workshops for ARIMR's experts in the Regional Statistical Office in Warsaw,

during which good practice was communicated, used in CSO to increase quality of

source data from the administrative registers, which is to be also used in the IACS.

The tasks completed under the project provided the right conditions for the

official statistics to broaden the data acquisition from the IACS, which will contribute to

improvement in the quality of the sampling frame for agricultural surveys and will

expand the scope of variables used directly for statistical surveys. This will allow CSO to

forego collecting data for statistical surveys directly from the respondents.

The possibility for official statistics to obtain IACS data in the year of submission

of the application for payments will ensure quicker access to up-to-date data. So far,

CSO have been acquiring IACS data in March of the following year. Early and broader

access to data from IACS will enable execution of many new analyses and comparisons


with the results of current agricultural surveys. It will also have a positive impact on

improvement in the quality of the Polish official statistics.

Creation of the agricultural holdings register will be a significant advantage not

only for CSO, but also for other public administration bodies. So far, no such register has

been created in Poland. Agriculture is a special form of professional activity, which in

Poland is not considered a business activity at all, which results in limited access to data

on agricultural holdings. Many registers exist, in which such data can be found, however

the differences in subjectivity of these registers (owner, user, administer, agricultural tax

payer, the insured, agricultural producer, payer of tax on special branches of agricultural

production, etc.) make it much more difficult to link these data, and therefore to

effectively use them for the purposes of statistics. Adding the agricultural holding

identifier assigned in the agricultural holdings register to other administrative registers

would increase the chance to make use of these registers for the purposes of statistics.

Large benefits for the official statistics and impact on further works can be

attributed to the acquired knowledge, learning of good practices with regard to the

methodology and organisation of the use of data from the administrative systems,

including IACS, in agriculture statistics.

As part of the project, CSO representatives participated in a study visit in the

Italian National Institute for Statistics ISTAT in Rome. This office was selected under the

project due to the works conducted therein, concerning the use of data from

administrative registers, linking data from various sources, including IACS, as well as

interesting solutions in the field of quality evaluation of statistics based on many data

sources.

During the visit, the Polish delegation had an opportunity to share their

experience and become familiar with good practices applied by Italian statistics in its

statistical surveys. Particularly valuable were information regarding the use of data from

the IACS and other administrative sources, which may be applied in agriculture

statistical surveys. The acquired knowledge, regarding issues concerning survey

methodology, quality of acquired data, spatial data analyses and quality of the obtained

output information was essential for the Polish official statistics.


As part of this project, CSO representatives took part in three foreign trips to

participate in international meetings organised by Eurostat.

The participation of CSO employees in the meetings of the Standing Committee

for Agricultural Statistics (CPSA) was very important, as the topics raised therein

concerned the use of administrative registers in agricultural statistics. During the

meetings, their participants discussed topics related to the reform process of the

Common Agricultural Policy CAP and the IACS. The issues discussed included: new

elements of market mechanisms, new elements in CAP, in rural development, new

programmes for rural areas. During the meetings, it was emphasized that the use of

administrative data is an important part of the "Strategy for Agricultural Statistics 2020

and beyond". These actions require cooperation with Member States, since only they

have the detailed information on IACSs kept thereby.

Participation in the seminar and in the meeting of the Directors' Group on

Agricultural Statistics was extremely significant due to the issues discussed therein, such

as: an analysis of the changes that took place in CAP in 1980-2020, the main reform

paths and instruments of the new CAP, issues relating to direct payments in Member

States as a result of changes in CAP, as well as the process of Member States accepting

the Rural Development Programme for the years 2014-2020.

Cooperation with persons participating in the abovementioned meetings helped

implement tasks covered by the project and will positively affect subsequent works

executed in the Polish official statistics.

Activities completed as part of the project, the developed solutions, as well as

the knowledge acquired during trips under the project, will allow for achieving the

following benefits:

- Better serving the needs of the crucial users: government administration, local

administration - for information reflecting changes occurring in agriculture

and its environment.

- Increase in consistency of data in various administrative systems.

- Increase in interoperability of administrative registers - sharing information

and knowledge through data exchange via ITC systems.


- Improvement in the quality, including completeness of data collected during

surveys taken on drawn samples.

- Provision of a basic source of information for the purpose of updating the

statistical register of agricultural holdings, as well as for statistical surveys.

- Provision of an up-to-date data source for analyses and comparisons with

regard to agricultural data collected during representative agricultural

surveys.

- Reduction of administrative burden of respondents providing data for

statistics.

- Assigning subjectivity to the agricultural holding.

- Clear identification of an agricultural holding in administrative registers -

creation of a standard agricultural holding identifier.

- Establishment of a reference register in the scope of information on

agricultural holdings.

- Gathering in one register information on all agricultural holdings.


6. The sustainability of the project results

1. The experience and knowledge gained in the project will be used to further improve

the quality of resources of identified administrative registers being subject to analysis

in the project and their usefulness for official statistics. It will have positive effect on

further increase of methodological consistency of administrative registers with system

of official statistics. During the work carried out by the Central Statistical Office in

cooperation with the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture

(ARIMR) the scope of tasks to implementation after the completion of the project was

established. Realization of these tasks will contribute to the wider use of statistical

data from the administrative registers. The area of cooperation issues concerns the

information content of administrative registers, quality and accessibility for the CSO.

The evaluation criteria used in the project to analyse and evaluate the quality of

administrative registers will also be used in the preparatory work for the National

Agricultural Census 2020 (PSR 2020) and the National Population and Housing Census

2021 (NSP 2021), to develop a model to assess the availability and usability of the

administrative registers for the censuses purposes. The aforementioned evaluation

criteria are used already in the ongoing surveys realized in various fields of statistics.

Solutions developed as part of a project can be considered as a sustainable work

results.

2. Organizational and methodological solutions developed during the project, that

concern the use of the administrative data from registers of ARiMR for official statistics

purposes, including the possibility of earlier access to the data, will be applied in

subsequent years during the use of administrative data from the above-mentioned

registers.

3. Changes to the regulations - Regulation of the Council of Ministers on the Programme

of Statistical Surveys of Official Statistics for 2015, resulting from project activities,

concerning the change in the scope and timing of the transfer of data from the IACS to

CSO of Poland, were also reflected in the Regulation of the Council of Ministers on the

Programme of Statistical Surveys of Official Statistics for 2016 and project for 2017.

This action can be considered as a sustainable change. It is beneficial for the Polish


Official Statistics. Work on further wider use of data with the IACS system will be

continued.

4. Change in the method of data transfer to the CSO, developed within the project, is

currently subject to the technical and organizational arrangements to implement them

into practice. Implementation will be processed in two stages. In a short timescale, i.e.

in 2016, transfer of data from ARiMR administrative registers, including IACS, will be

conducted with the use of IT solutions developed and functioning in the official

statistics. In a longer time frame, i.e. 2017-2018, the data transfer will be conducted

with the use of ARIMR IT solutions – portal. These solutions for the transfer of data will

also be used in the preparatory work for the PSR 2020 and NSP 2021, during the

development of the organization for obtaining data from administrative registers, as

well as in the modernization of data transfer to the Central Statistical Office from other

keepers of systems in various fields of statistics. Introduced and planned change can

be considered as a sustainable result of the project.

5. Methodology to increase the quality of data sets of IACS submitted to the Central

Statistical Office, which was developed under the project, have been implemented to

practice and is the current standard in the Polish Official Statistics.

6. In the range of “The concept of creating a register of agricultural holdings, using data

from different administrative sources, including IACS register”, which was elaborated

during the project, in March 2016 an action plan - a roadmap will be prepared. It will

aim at disseminating the concept among other government bodies and local

government, which statutory activity is related to agriculture. In 2016 it is planned that

the Central Statistical Office will organize a conference, a working meeting and also an

inter-departmental task force will be set up for the development of the final version of

the concept of creating a register of agricultural holdings, including the conditions of

its implementation. Some findings on these issues have already been taken with the

ARiMR, and in March this year are planned in relation to the Ministry of Agriculture

and Rural Development (MRiRW).

7. Enhanced cooperation statistics employees with ARiMR, which was carried out under

the project, contributed to a better understanding of the needs and problems of official

statistics in the range of new data sources and measures to minimize the burden on


respondents. The cooperation is being continued and it will allow increasing the use for

statistical purposes of data from the IACS and other administrative registers as well as

providing faster access to current data.

8. The knowledge and experience gained by the CSO representatives during the study visit

at the Italian Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), and participation in Eurostat meetings is

utilized for the modernization of surveys both ongoing and planned as well as will be

reflected in the preparatory work for PSR 2020.


7. Recommendations for other countries

1. IACS should be considered as a good source of data for official statistics and should

be used in the production of national and European statistics due to the reduction of

the administrative burden of persons and entities.

2. In the production of statistics, IACS can be used in different forms: as a direct source

of data for survey, to build lists, frames and to build the register of agricultural

holdings.

3. NSI should work closely with the paying agency in the area of the national legal

regulations concerning the scope, method and organization of collecting information

covered by IACS and also in the range of the planning and introducing changes in the

law in this area.

4. Fact of existence of an administrative register is not a sufficient condition for the use

of its resources in the production of official statistics. Each NSI should develop and

implement a model for assessing the quality and usefulness of the administrative

register, taking into account the key criteria and variables that integrate data from

different sources.

5. NSI should work towards:

- shortening the time between collecting data source in IACS and other

administrative registers and their use in statistics and publication of results,

- electronic transfer of data from administrative registers to the statistics. Priority

should be electronic, remote access of NSI to data in registers and downloading

data from registers in a form, which enables their further processing.

6. The NSI should develop a standard transformation of data from administrative

registers into statistical data. The quality of the source data has an impact on the

quality of the result data - products. In the process of compiling the data from

administrative registers their usefulness should be increased, without a negative

impact of applied sources on the quality of result data.


7. Construction of the official register of agricultural holdings for the purposes of official

statistics and other administrative bodies should be taken into account by the NSI

due to:

- establishment a uniform definition of a agricultural holding in all registers in this area,

- creation of a new data source for statistics,

- obtaining the cooperation of administrative registers and improving their methodological compliance.

In the concept of creating a register of agricultural holdings must be assumed, that in

this register will be assigned a unique identifier for the agricultural holding, which will

ensure unique identification of the holding in different registers. This identifier

should be linked with other identifiers operating in other administrative registers,

which will be used to update the data in the register of agricultural holdings.

8. An important issue of the use of administrative registers in statistics is the

cooperation with authorities maintaining these registers. Good relationships with

them are very important for improving the quality and scope of administrative data

used in statistics.


8. Annexes

Annex No. 1 The concept of creating a register of agricultural holdings with the use

of data from different administrative sources, including the IACS.

Annex No. 2 Basic terms used in statistics

Annex No. 3 Basic terms used in the IACS and in other registers and systems kept by

ARIMR

Annex No. 4 List of agricultural variables related to the use of land, sown areas and

livestock

Annex No. 5 List of agricultural variables collected by the Central Statistical Office

and their presence in other administrative registers

Annex No. 6 Report on the work conducted in the framework of elaboration of

solutions that have impact on the improvement of the IACS quality

GRANT Pilot studies in the framework of linking IACS and ...

Documents

Transcript of GRANT Pilot studies in the framework of linking IACS and ...