Welcome to the 2009 Agricultural Census!

The RA09 is an agricultural census conducted by Statistics Portugal, with the active participation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, in particular the Regional Directorates of Agriculture and Fisheries. In the Autonomous Regions, the RA 09 had the participation of the Regional Statistical Office of the Azores, the Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira and also the Regional Directorate for Community Agricultural Affairs of the Azores and the Regional Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Development of Madeira.

The organisation of the RA 09 involved a staff of 2,100 members, including experts from participating entities, staff with fixed-term contracts and service providers. The field structure comprised 49 management sections located across the country, with a staff of 279 supervisors and a team of 1,700 interviewers.

Data collection, to take place from November 2009 to May 2010, has been preceded by two test (pilot) surveys that made it possible to introduce adjustments to both the questionnaire and the manner in which questions are drafted as well as the collection model set out. The release of the first results is forecast to take place on the fourth quarter of 2010.

In 2011 during the first semester, final results were made available through a release of a publication and more than 1000 indicators broken down by several themes and geographic levels

It is hoped that the results constitute a reference to a better understanding of the agricultural sector in Portugal and it is strongly encourage users for their consultation and to send comments and suggestions, with a view to continuous quality improvement of agricultural statistics.

To all those who helped in this operation in development and conducting this statistical operation and especially the willingness of farmers in responding to the survey, we address our thanks.

June 7, 2012