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Agricultural statistics and commodity prices

Handheld GPS equipment for agricultural statistics surveys: experiments on area measurements done during fieldwork for the Uganda Pilot Census of Agriculture, 2003

How efficient is GPS equipment in measuring land size?

Authors: P. Schøning; J.B.M. Apuuli; E. Menyha; E.S.K. Muwanga-Zake
Publisher: Statistics Norway , 2005

Full text of document

One of the most important factors for production of crop growing, raising livestock or any other farming activity, is land. The pattern of land-use usually varies by season or by different regions of a country. Thus, accurate data on area used for agricultural purposes is an important aspect of agricultural planning. Fieldwork in Uganda in 2003 was undertaken, experimenting with simple handheld Geographical Positioning System (GPS) tools for determination of agricultural holding areas and geo-referencing of holdings.The objective of the exercise was to test out the feasibility of using a hand held GPS tool as an alternative instrument for area measurement during agricultural fieldwork in Uganda. This report presents the findings of this study, which formed part of the Pilot Agricultural Census (PCA).

The paper finds that:

  • there is potential to use relatively cheap GPS equipment for the measuring of area and for geo-referencing of holdings in the context of agricultural statistics
  • GPS measurement without additional equipment for adjustments of signals and/or improved antenna proves to give some variation in the measured area - repeated measurement and calculation of an average of the same area as well as further improvement of tools set-up and methods is recommended
  • training of fieldworkers in the technical use of the GPS, including how to set it up correctly, is crucial.