Liberia Agriculture Census 2024 - Community Operations
Liberia, 2024
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LBR-LISGIS-LAC-COM-2024-v01
Liberia Agriculture Census 2024 - Community Operations
LAC 2024 (COM)
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Liberia | LBR |
Agricultural Census [ag/census]
The LAC-2024 is an Integrated Census/Survey Modality program conducted in line with the WCA 2020 recommendations. The census also aligned with the objective of the 50x2030 Initiative to Close the Agricultural Data Gap. The conduct of the LAC-2024 is expected to be followed by a series of annual modular agriculture surveys, including the 2024 income, labor and productivity (ILP) and the 2025 production methods and environment (PME) surveys. As part of the census operations, community-level information were collected through focus group discussions with community leaders and other knowlegeable persons within the community.
The Government of Liberia and its Development Partners recognized agriculture as a pivotal sector in fostering economic growth, reducing poverty, and achieving food security. Since post-war, the Government in collaboration with development partners, has made substantial investments to develop and expand the agriculture sector. Over the years, policymakers and data users in the agriculture sector have experienced significant challenges in obtaining the requisite data needed to monitor and evaluate these interventions and make informed decisions on new interventions. To address these challenges, the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) conducted several ad hoc agricultural surveys. While valuable, these surveys have often been limited in scope and unable to provide the comprehensive data needed for effective policymaking and planning. To support the sector more robustly, the government decided to undertake a comprehensive agricultural census.
The Liberia Agriculture Census 2024, the second agricultural census in Liberia since 1971 and the first to be conducted digitally, aimed to collect structural and reliable data on various aspects of the agricultural sector.
The main objectives of the LAC-2024 was to:
· Reduce the existing data gap in Liberia's agriculture sector.
· Provide comprehensive data on the agriculture sector for policy formulation and evaluation of existing programs.
· Enable LISGIS to establish an agriculture master sampling frame for the conduct of future agricultural surveys and research.
· Identify the structural changes in the agriculture sector over time.
· Provide information on crop, livestock, poultry, and aquaculture activities.
· Determine the size, composition, practices and related characteristics of Liberia's agricultural holdings.
· Generate disaggregated agriculture statistics.
· Provide statistics for advocacy in Liberia's agriculture sector.
· Identify agricultural practices and constraints at the community level.
To achieve these objectives, the LAC-2024 was designed to collect structural data at the household, non-household and community levels. The data collected at these three levels provide a wealth of information for understanding the state of agriculture in Liberia. This documentation provides a catalogue of information necessary for understanding how data was collected at the community level. The documentation also provides useful information for understanding the community anonymized dataset.
Census/enumeration data [cen]
Agricultural Communities:
Version
v2.1: Edited, anonymized community dataset for public distribution
Data have been edited and anonymized as to be released as Public Use File (PUF).
2025-03-07
Version Notes
Version 2.1 (Initial Release of the anonymized community dataset):
This is the first release of the Liberia Agriculture Census 2024 anonymized community dataset under the 50x2030 Initiative.
The dataset includes information on agricultural activities in the communities, including crop cultivation, poultry and livestock rearing. It also contains information on agricultural facilities, land characteristics and irrigation in the community, markets to sell agricultural products, access to agricultural inputs, services and credits, social cohesion in the communities, difficulties in agricultural activities, livestock and poultry production, environment, disasters and shocks, community infrastruture and transportation, community organizations, community resource management, land prices and credit sources, community key events, agricultural labor practices, and producer prices.
Scope
"The Community form focuses on key areas such as agricultural activities, agricultural facilities, agricultural workers, land characteristics, services, and communal resources and events.
Coverage
National Coverage
The universe for the Liberia Agriculture Census 2024 community operations is:
All communities (localities) in Liberia that are located within an agricultural enumeration area.
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services | Government of Liberia |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Agriculture | Government of Liberia | Collaborator |
| Food and Agriculture Organization | United Nations | Technical assistance |
| Name | Abbreviation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Government of Liberia | GOL | Financial Contribution |
| World Bank | WB | Financial Contribution |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 50x2030 Initiative | Global partnership program led by the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) | Provided technical guidance and methodological support. |
Sampling
Focus group interviews were conducted in communities attached to the EAs selected for the sample census of farming households. A sampled community had the same probability of selection and sample weight of the EA to which it was attached. In case a community was linked to many EAs in the sampling frame of EAs, additional adjustment for multiplicity would be performed.
The LAC-2024 community operations engaged 61,600 respondents across 7,193 sampled communities. Nationally, the distribution of respondents shows that males represented 66.1% of the total 61,600 participants, while females accounted for 33.9%.
For more details on the sampling procedure, please see the Liberia Agriculture Census 2024 Community Report.
100%.
Census weights were applied to the dataset.
See the Liberia Agriculture Census 2024 Household and Community Reports for detailed information on the procedures for deriving and applying weights.
Survey instrument
The LAC-2024 employed three questionnaires: the Household Questionnaire, the Community Questionnaire and the Non-Household Questionnaire. These three questionnaires were based on the 50x2030 Initiative standard model questionnaires. The Liberia Agriculture Census Technical Working Group (LAC-TWG), comprising technical staff from LISGIS,Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), National Fishery and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA), Cooperative Development Agency (CDA) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) worked with technicians from the 50x2030 Initiative to adapt the questionnaires to Liberia's context and realities. Suggestions and inputs were solicited from various stakeholders representing government ministries, commissions and agencies (MACs), nongovernmental and international organizations as well as accademic institutions involved with agriculture issues. All questionnaires were finalized in English. Some questions in the questionnaires were translated into simple Liberian English, for the purpose of easy administration.
The community questionnaire include the following sections:
1-respondents characteristics;
2- production and processing activities in the community;
3- land characteristics and irrigation in the community;
4- markets to sell agriculture products;
5- access to agricultural inputs, services and credits in the community;
6- social cohesion;
7- difficulties in agricultural activities;
8- livestock and Poultry Production;
9- environment;
10- disasters and Shocks;
11- community infrastructure and transportation;
12- community organizations;
13- community resource management;
14- land prices and credit;
15- community key events;
16- labor and producer prices.
The data were collected using Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) system. The CSpro application was used to develop the CAPI system. A total of 800 tablets was used for the household level interviews. In addition, some tablets were set aside for replacement of missing, damage or malfunctioning tablets.
During the data collection, team supervisors routinely synchronized their enumerators tablets for transmission of collected data to the LISGIS central server. At the end of the data collection, all tablets used for collecting the household-level data were synchronized by team supervisors while in the field and then by data quality assurance offiicers at LISGIS central office. The sychronized data were downloaded in spss and stata format, checked for completeness (comparing mapping and enuration data) and inconsistancies and prepared for editing, tabulation and analysis.
The census technical team developed a tabulation plan before the commencement of the survey, which helped to guide the data editing process, tabulation and analysis.
The dataset was anonymized using statistical disclosure control methods to protect respondent confidentiality while maintaining data utility. The process began with classifying variables into categories: variables to delete, quasi-identifiers, direct identifiers, and linked variables. All direct identifiers and unnecessary variables were removed. Quasi-identifiers and linked variables were analyzed to formulate disclosure scenarios, and disclosure risk was measured using k-anonymity and probabilistic risk techniques. The primary anonymization methods applied included recoding, shuffling, and local suppression. Finally, information loss was assessed to ensure that anonymization methods did not compromise the dataset's utility. The anonymization process was conducted using the R software
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2024-01-22 | 2024-03-22 |
- Focus Group [foc]
| Name | Affiliation | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo Information Services | Government of Liberia | LISGIS |
| Ministry of Agriculture | Government of Liberia | MOA |
The LAC-2024 data collection at the community level was conducted by 160 team supervisors. The workings of these supervisors were coordinated by 11 regional and 22 national monitors, who routinely visted teams, provided data quality checks, flagged and corrected potential errors and provided in-field training where necessary. A total of 30 data quality assurance officers (one in each county) were deployed to assist team supervisors with technical issues arising from the CAPI Applications. At LISGIS central office, there were 5 monitors, called HQ monitors, who monitored the LAC-2024 dashboard daily and reported all identified errors and inconsistencies in data captured to regional and national monitors for appropriate actions.
The data collection was carried out from January to March 2024, covering all counties in Liberia. Teams of enumerators conducted interviews using tablets with CAPI (Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing) software. The process included household interviews, community group discussions, and observational methods. Data collection faced challenges such as difficult terrain and poor internet connectivity, which caused delays in data synchronization. Despite these challenges, supervision and regular quality checks ensured data reliability.
Data processing
The data was edited using CSpro programs, version 7.7.3. The appropriate edit rules were established by programmers and subject matter specialists at LISGIS and MOA.
In few cases, manual editing techniques were applied to recode responses generated from "Other specify" options. The SPSS software was used for this purpose.
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services | Government of Liberia | https://lisgis.gov.lr/ | lisgis.admin@lisgis.gov.lr |
| Is signing of a confidentiality declaration required? | Confidentiality declaration text |
|---|---|
| yes | Confidentiality of respondents is guaranteed by the National Statistics and Geo-Information Act of Liberia, enacted 2004 and the United Nations Fundamental Principles on Official Statistics, specifically principle six. Before being granted access to the dataset, all users have to formally agree: 1. To make no copies of any files or portions of files to which s/he is granted access except those authorized by LISGIS. 2. Not to use any technique in an attempt to learn the identity of any person, household, non-household or community not identified on public use data files. 3. To hold in strictest confidence the identification of any establishment or individual that may be inadvertently revealed in any documents or discussion, or analysis. Such inadvertent identification revealed in her/his analysis will be immediately brought to the attention of the data depositor. |
The dataset has been anonymized and is available as a Public Use Dataset. It is accessible to all for statistical and research purposes only, under the following terms and conditions:
- The data and other materials will not be redistributed or sold to other individuals, institutions, or organizations without the written agreement of LISGIS.
- The data will be used for statistical and scientific research purposes only. They will be used solely for reporting of aggregated information, and not for investigation of specific individuals or organizations.
- No attempt will be made to re-identify respondents, and no use will be made of the identity of any person or establishment discovered inadvertently. Any such discovery would immediately be reported to LISGIS.
- No attempt will be made to produce links among datasets provided by LISGIS, or among data from LISGIS and other datasets that could identify individuals or organizations.
- Any books, articles, conference papers, theses, dissertations, reports, or other publications that employ data obtained from LISGIS will cite the source of data in accordance with the Citation Requirement provided with each dataset.
- An electronic copy of all reports and publications based on the requested data will be sent to LISGIS.
The original collectors of the data, LISGIS, MOA, and the relevant funding agencies bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services. Liberia Agriculture Census 2024(LAC-2024) , Ref. LBR-LAC-2024_v01. Dataset downloaded from https://lisgis.gov.lr/ or microdata.lisgislr.org
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the authorized distributor of the data (i.e., LISGIS), MOA and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
© LISGIS. All Rights Reserved
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew Wantoe, Director for ICT Division | Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services | matthew.wantoe@lisgis.gov.lr | https://lisgis.gov.lr/ |
Metadata production
DDI-LBR-LISGIS-LAC-2024-COM-v01
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services | LISGIS | Government of the Republic of Liberia | Documentation of the study |
| Ministry of Agriculture | MOA | Government of the Republic of Liberia | Documentation of the study |
| Food and Agriculture Organisation | FAO | United Nations | Documentation of the study |
2025-01-20
Metadata version
Version 1.1 (March 2025)