Page 399 - Contributed Paper Session (CPS) - Volume 2

CPS1900 Ágnes P.
Keywords
data collection; response rate; users; cost-effective; agriculture

1. Introduction
1
Based on Regulation (EU) No 1337/2011 Orchard Survey, 2017 was
conducted in Hungary by Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO) from
14th February 2018 to 16th April 2018. Regulation describes what variables
must be collected in connection with given fruit species and what kind of cross
tables need to be transferred to Eurostat.

2. Methodology
The planning phase of the project was carried out in strong cooperation
with the stakeholders: professional bodies and the Ministry of Agriculture. A
cooperation agreement was signed with the ministry in order to share
information and costs.
Beside the compulsory fruit species (apple, pear, peach, apricot) it was
decided to collect information on five more species as they represent
significant share of the total orchard area in Hungary. Therefore data collection
covered apple, pear, peach, apricot, cherry, sour cherry, plum, walnut and
elderberry plantations. Furthermore as the last orchard census was carried out
in 2001 this data collection were also carried out as a census for these nine
fruit species. As a result almost 15 thousand farmers (subsidy applicants) were
contacted, who had to report their fruit area. The covered area altogether
represented 80% of total Hungarian orchard area.
The frame included farms that applied for Single Area Payment (SAPS) for
any of the nine fruit species that had a parcel at least 2500 m2. All the register
information for the data collection came from the Integrated Administration
and Control System (IACS), which is the register of the application of subsidies.
The data to be collected, and the survey design was developed in close
cooperation with experts, so that the most relevant data were collected in
connection with Hungarian fruit production. Before finalizing the
questionnaire tests were carried out so that the logic and the type of question
became easily interpreted by farmers.

The survey period was divided into two phases:
(1) CAWI: two-week online data collection phase for self-filling (between 14
th
February 2018-28 February 2018),
th

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https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32011R1337

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