Economic, agric censuses on way

Zimbabwe will for the time conduct economic and agriculture censuses as well as revive one for the transport sector which was last done nearly 30 years ago, Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) has said.

At the same time, Zimstat is in the process of producing quarterly unemployment reports which the country is not providing at the moment.

Economists and agricultural experts have hailed the move which will provide important data needed to assist Government as it directs development towards achieving Vision 2030.

In an interview recently, Zimstat director-general Mr Taguma Mahonde said reviving and reintroducing some surveys will improve policy making.

Statistical information is critical as the country works towards attainment of an upper middle-income economy by 2030.

“There are many other surveys that had gone dormant that we are reviving. We have a census for the transport sector which was last done in 1992 or so. We want to revive that. We have the economic and agriculture censuses which we are planning to conduct for the first time.

“These censuses will improve our calculation for GDP. They are very critical hence the decision to conduct them as we work towards attaining our vision as a country. We want to conduct the agriculture census in about two years’ time,” said Mr Mahonde.

He said he was not aware why some of the surveys had been discontinued, but he was keen on reviving them.

“There are some interesting things that are coming up. We have never produced quarterly GDP reports ever since the formation of the Central Statistical Office. So, we are working on quarterly statistics and very soon we will be producing them.

“We have never done quarterly unemployment figures, others are doing that and right now we are in the process of doing quarterly labour force surveys.”

Economist and National University of Science and Technology lecturer Dr Nqobizitha Dube said surveys being planned by Zimstat inform policy direction.

He said at the moment there are a lot of information gaps due to unavailability of credible statistics.

“That is the survey that will inform the country in conducting provincial GDP. We would like to ascertain the number of Bulawayo industries and their growth. At the moment we are struggling to provide provincial unemployment rates,” said Dr Dube.

Zimbabwe Farmers Union president Mr Abdul Nyathi said a census of the agriculture sector will provide vital information to farmers.-herald.cl.zw