The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) conducted the Stakeholders’ Forum for the Updating of the List of Establishments (ULE) and Census of Agriculture and Fisheries (CAF) on 01 December 2022 at Park Inn by Radisson North EDSA. The forum served as a venue to inform the participants of the census operations to be undertaken in 2023, that is, for the 2023 ULE and the 2022 CAF, and to present the results of the 2021 ULE.

Participants of this forum who are stakeholders for the CAF were also consulted regarding the instruments to be used and the data items to be collected from firms/establishments which are engaged in agricultural and/or fishery activities, either as a primary, secondary or ancillary activity. It was attended by a total of 127 participants from business establishments, associations, organizations, institutions, and government agencies from various industries and sectors.

All the participants were welcomed by Officer-in-Charge (OIC)-Assistant National Statistician (ANS) Florante C. Varona of the National Censuses Service (NCS), who emphasized the importance of establishment statistics and the role of establishments in data collection.

The highlights of the results of 2021 ULE were presented by OIC-Deputy National Statistician (DNS) Minerva Eloisa P. Esquivias of the Censuses and Technical Coordination Office (CTCO). OIC-DNS Esquivias reported the distribution of business establishments and total employment at the national and regional levels.

Director Janet S. Cuenca, from the Bureau of Trade and Industrial Policy Research of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) expressed her appreciation to PSA for providing ULE data which are heavily used by DTI towards evidence-based policy formulation, and program development and implementation for MSMEs. She also recommended the harmonization of MSME definition, the inclusion of emerging industries in the scope of ULE, and the addition of other indicators.

OIC-DNS Esquivias led the launching of the 2023 ULE and 2022 CAF by discussing the main objectives, scope, and methodology on data collection, and an audio-visual presentation on the field operations for the two major statistical undertakings of PSA next year.

Messages of support to the conduct of the 2023 ULE and 2022 CAF were provided by Mr. Emmanuel Hugh Velasco, Sustainable Development Projects Officer of the City Government of Quezon City; DTI Undersecretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba; Land Bank of the Philippines Senior Vice President Elcid C. Pangilinan; National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) - Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Environment Staff (ANRES) Director Nieva T. Natural; Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) Chief of Socioeconomics Division Jaime A. Manalo IV; Quezon City University (QCU) Vice President for Academic Affairs Bradford Antonio C. Martinez; and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s Assistant FAO Representative of Programme, Ms. Tamara Palis Duran.

The morning session ended with the closing remarks from OIC-DNS Divina Gracia L. Del Prado of the Sectoral Statistics Office. She thanked the speakers who provided their messages of support for the two major activities of the PSA and all the participants who came to the forum.

Breakout sessions which were designed specifically for CAF stakeholders followed in the afternoon. It started with the assessment of data items to be collected for the 2022 CAF. The participants were grouped by agricultural and fisheries activities, namely Crop Farming, Livestock and Poultry, and Aquaculture and Fishing. Facilitated by representatives from the Agriculture and Fisheries Census Division (AFCD), each group assessed and provided feedback on the 2022 CAF data items for non-household interviews, and discuss the availability and source of information of these data items within the participants' organizations.

During the open forum facilitated by OIC-Chief Statistical Specialist Mari-belle D. Dy of the Census Planning and Coordination Division, the AFCD focal persons/rapporteurs from each group reported the main issues and additional data items requested for inclusion in CAF. The inquiries and requests from the CAF stakeholders were responded to by OIC-DNS Esquivias and OIC-DNS Del Prado.

Testimonials from CAF data users were also given by Ms. Malou Mistal from Kynetec, and Ms. Brenda Barrientos from GMA Network. Both shared how they used the CAF data as basis for their respective lines of work. 

Kynetec used the CAF data in their studies to identify the needs of the farmers for crop protection. On the other hand, in 2019, the GMA News and Public Affairs Team cited CAF trend data on agricultural land for the documentary entitled "Drought in numbers: Farmers farming no more." The said documentary received an award in the 13th Bright Leaf Awards for Agricultural Journalism.

OIC-DNS Del Prado closed the afternoon event by expressing her gratefulness for the active participation of CAF stakeholders and appreciation for the testimonials. OIC-DNS Del Prado concluded the event by requesting the participants to recite the 2022 CAF tagline "CAFarmer, CAFisher, Tayo ang Bida!"

- Censuses and Technical Coordination Office