I. Introduction
The Census of Agriculture and Fisheries (CAF) is a large-scale government undertaking, geared towards the collection and compilation of basic information on the agriculture and fishery sectors in the Philippines. Over the years, the CAF has been a source of comprehensive statistics on agriculture for the use of the general public, government, business industry, research, and academic institutions.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) conducted the 2022 CAF among households and non-household entities that operated agriculture, aquaculture, and fishing activities from 01 January to 31 December 2022. Household and barangay interviews for the 2022 CAF were conducted in September 2023, while non-household interviews were conducted in May 2023.
The 2022 CAF was the seventh in a series of decennial agricultural census and the sixth in the decennial census of fisheries in the country since the first census in 1903. It was designed to collect the structural characteristics of the agricultural and fishery sectors in the country.
The Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC), as of December 2022 was used to disaggregate geographic levels of the 2022 CAF.
II. Data Limitation
The statistics presented in this report were based on the information provided by the respondent or any responsible household member who may provide accurate answers to the questions and give correct information about the aquaculture and fisheries activities operated during the reference period.
Likewise, the statistics presented are based on responses from all households in 16,020 sample barangays in the country, which represent about 38 percent of the 42,022 total barangays in the country as of December 2022.
III. Objectives
The 2022 CAF is envisioned to achieve the following objectives:
- Determine the structural characteristics of agriculture and fishery sectors in the country.
- Provide sampling frame for the conduct of periodic agricultural and fishery surveys.
- Provide basic data on agricultural, aquaculture, and fishing characteristics for use in the government’s national and local development planning.
- Provide data on the agricultural, aquaculture, and fishery facilities and services available in the barangay.
IV. Methodology
This section discusses the methods of enumeration for the 2022 CAF, starting with the scope and coverage, data collection methods, sampling scheme, and estimation procedure.
SCOPE AND COVERAGE
In line with the objectives of 2022 CAF, the following are the scope and coverage:
A. Listing and Enumeration
The units of enumeration for the 2022 CAF are the households, barangays, and non-household units.
Barangay Interviews
- Coverage of all barangays in all municipalities.
Household Interviews
- Coverage of sample barangays in all municipalities.
- Listing of all households in the sample barangays to determine if there is any household member engaged in operating a crop/livestock/poultry (including culturing of insects/worms) farm, aquafarm, and/or fishing operation.
- Enumeration of all households with agricultural, aquaculture, and fishing operators during the period of 01 January to 31 December 2022 in sample barangays.
- Enumeration of all agricultural, aquaculture, and fishing operators in sample barangays.
Non-Household Interviews
Enumeration of all agricultural, aquaculture, and fishing establishments/organizations with crop farm, livestock/poultry farm (including culturing of insects/worms), aquaculture operation, and fishing operation during the period 01 January 2022 to 31 December 2022.
The target respondents and 2022 CAF questionnaires used for interviews by unit of enumeration are the following:
Table 1. Scope and Coverage of 2022 CAF
Enumeration Unit | Target Respondents | CAF Form | Data Collection Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Household | ● head of the household or his/her spouse or ● any responsible member of the household who can provide accurate information about the household and all its members | CAF Form 1 Listing Booklet CAF Form 2 Household Questionnaire | Main Method: Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) Alternative Method: Paper and Pen Personal Interview (PAPI) |
● operator or ● any responsible member of the household who can provide complete and accurate information about the agricultural farm, aquaculture operation, or fishing operation | CAF Form 3 Questionnaire for Agriculture CAF Form 4 Questionnaire for Aquaculture CAF Form 5 Questionnaire for Fishing | ||
| 2. Barangay | ● Punong Barangay or ● any incumbent barangay official | CAF Form 6 Barangay Questionnaire | Main Method: PAPI Alternative Method: CAPI |
| 3. Non-Household | ● representatives of establishments, institutions, cooperatives, and government agencies/corporations where primary/secondary/ ancillary activities include crop farming, raising livestock and poultry, aquaculture, and fishing can act as respondents | CAF Form 7 Non-Household Questionnaire Agriculture - Growing of Crops CAF Form 8 Non-Household Questionnaire Agriculture - Livestock/Poultry Raising and Culturing Insects/Worms CAF Form 9 Non-Household Questionnaire Aquaculture CAF Form 10 Non-Household Questionnaire Fishing | Self-Administered Questionnaires (SAQ) |
B. Reference Period
All households in the sample barangay were listed and interviewed to determine the presence of household members who were operators – those who managed or operated crops, livestock/poultry and/or insects/worms, aquaculture, and/or fishing activity – during the period of 01 January to 31 December 2022. The identified operators were interviewed to collect data on the basic characteristics of their agricultural, aquaculture, and/or fishing activities using the Core Questionnaires. The reference period for household characteristics is 01 September 2023.
Likewise, all non-household entities with crop farm, livestock and poultry farm (including culturing of insects/worms), aquaculture operation, and fishing operation during the reference period of 01 January to 31 December 2022 and have an economic value were also covered in 2022 CAF, which was a rider to the 2023 Updating of the List of Establishments (2023 ULE). They were asked to accomplish the 2022 CAF non-household questionnaires to collect data on the details of their agricultural, aquaculture, and fishing activities. These include the farm and fisheries operations for commercial, personal consumption, and research purposes.
Moreover, for barangay interviews, the Punong Barangay or acting Punong Barangay or any incumbent barangay official was interviewed to gather information on the presence/availability of facilities, input dealers, and service providers related to agriculture, aquaculture, and fisheries in all barangays (including non-sample barangays).
C. Sampling Scheme (Household)
The 2022 CAF sampling design for the household data collection considers provinces and highly urbanized cities (HUCs) as the domains, barangays as the primary sampling units (PSUs), and households (and operators) as the secondary sampling units (SSUs). Barangays were selected using simple random sampling without replacement (SRSWOR) and all households in a selected sample barangay were completely enumerated.
The design included a two-way stratification of barangays based on the number of agriculture (growing of crops, livestock raising, and poultry raising) operators and the number of fishing (aquaculture, municipal fishing, and commercial fishing) operators as the stratification variables. This stratification was based on the number of operators from the 2012 CAF and 2017 Updating of List of Aquaculture Farms (ULAF). Barangays were categorized into Low, Medium, and High groups based on generated cut-offs using the adjacent means algorithm. Barangays without agriculture or fisheries operators from the 2012 CAF were placed in a fourth stratum (None).
The cross-classification of these two stratification schemes determined the final stratum for each barangay, as illustrated in the table below:
All barangays in Stratum "H" were completely enumerated (100%), while a 50.0 percent sample was selected from Stratum "M", and a 5.0 percent sample from Stratum "L".
Sample selection of barangays was conducted for all provinces and highly urbanized cities (HUCs), except the National Capital Region (NCR), where districts were used as the domain. Additionally, three provinces (Pangasinan, Iloilo excluding Iloilo City, and Bukidnon) were purposively selected for full enumeration.
Furthermore, one to two additional sample barangays were purposively selected in each city and municipality where only one or no sample barangay had been initially selected. This process ensured that there were at least two sample barangays in all cities and municipalities across the country. The selection of these additional barangays considered the prevalence of agriculture and fisheries activities in the area.
D. Weights Computation
The base weight for each domain is given by:
The base weight was adjusted to account for the stratum jumper due to the changes in the number of agricultural and fisheries operators.
The adjusted weight formula is given as follows:
E. Estimation Procedure
In each domain, which is the province/HUC, there are three strata (High, Medium, and Low) based on the number of agriculture operators and fisheries operators.
Since all households (hence, operators) are completely enumerated in a sample barangay,
The estimate of total for the domain (province/HUC) for indicator I is:
Variance is given by:
Note that 
and 
can be adjusted with actual number of barangays that provides a non-zero value for the indicator I. The weights are then computed as follows:
For Stratum 1: 
(since stratum 1 is the certainty stratum, all barangays are completely enumerated)
For Stratum 2 and 3: 
(same weights for all samples within the same stratum since samples are drawn using simple random sampling without replacement.)
No additional component of variance is added to variance of estimates from sampling of operators since all operators are completely enumerated in a sample barangay.
V. Definition of Terms and Concepts
Household
A household is a social unit consisting of a person or a group of persons who sleep in the same housing unit and have a common arrangement in preparing and consuming food.
Fishing
It refers to the catching and gathering of fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and other marine organisms and products, including other aquatic plants. It is the catching, collecting, and gathering activities directed at removing or collecting live wild aquatic organisms predominantly fish, mollusks, (such as clams, snails, octopus, and squid) and crustaceans (such as crabs, lobster, shrimps, and crayfish) including plants from the sea or inland waters for human consumption and other purposes by hand or various types of fishing gear such as nets, lines, and stationery traps.
Fishing Operator
A fishing operator is solely responsible for making the technical and economic decisions and implementation of the plans involving when and where to go out fishing, what fishing gears/accessories/devices to use, management, and other consequences that may result in the fishing operation.
Legal Status of the Fishing Operation
It refers to the form of organization under which the fishing operation is being operated by the operator.
| Individual/Sole Proprietorship | the fishing operation is operated by a person on his/her own account who may be the fishing boats/vessels owner, lessee, tenant or owner/lessee with hired manager. |
| Partnership without formal and written agreement (jointly with one or more than one household) | the fishing operation may be operated by civil persons, either by a single individual, or jointly by several individuals (group of civil persons), with a formal or contractual agreement not registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
| Partnership with formal and written agreement (not registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission) | the aquaculture operation may be operated by civil persons, either by a single individual, or jointly by several individuals (group of civil persons), with a formal or contractual agreement not registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
| Other Legal Status | includes tribes, clans, and others. |
Type of Water for Fishing Operations
It refers to the type of water where the fishing operation is usually performed.
| In Marine Waters | It refers to fishing in seawater environment with a salinity ranging from 30 to 40 ppt consisting of ocean, bay, gulf and channels. Examples are pure saltwater such as Manila Bay, West Philippine Sea, and Albay Gulf. |
| In Inland Fresh Waters | It refers to fishing in bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, reservoirs, dams, paddy/rice fields, estuaries, marshes, and ponds usually consisting of fresh water or brackish water environments. |
| In Inland Brackish Waters | It refers to mixed seawater and freshwater environment with salinity of less than 30 parts per thousand (ppt) that varies with the tide. Examples are tidal flats, mangroves, swamps, and mouths of river, where seawater meets fresh water. |
| In Marine and Inland Waters | It refers to conduct of fishing operation in both marine/seawater and fresh water or brackish water environments. |
Fishing Boat/Vessel
It refers to any boat, ship or other watercraft equipped to be used for taking of fishery species in the performance of any activity related to fishing.
Gross Tonnage of the Fishing Boat/Vessel
It refers to the vessel’s “closed-in” spaces expressed in volume in terms of one hundred cubic feet (which is equal to one gross ton). This includes permanently enclosed spaces above the tonnage deck, also known as the underdeck tonnage.
VI. Authority for the Conduct of the 2022 CAF
Republic Act (RA) No. 10625 (Philippine Statistical Act of 2013), which was approved on 12 September 2013, states that “the PSA shall be primarily responsible for all national censuses and surveys, sectoral statistics, consolidation of administrative recording system, and compilation of national accounts”. Specifically, Section 6(b) of this Act mandates the PSA to “prepare and conduct periodic censuses on population, housing, agriculture, fisheries, business, industry, and other sectors of the economy”.
Executive Order (EO) No. 352 (Designation of Statistical Activities that Will Generate Critical Data for Decision-Making of the Government and the Private Sector) provides for the conduct of CAF every 10 years with the objective of providing government planners and policymakers with data on which to base their plans for the country’s development.
VII. Data Privacy
RA No. 10173 (Data Privacy Act of 2012) stipulates, that “It is the policy of the State to protect the fundamental human right of privacy, of communication while ensuring free flow of information to promote innovation and growth. The State recognizes the vital role of information and communications technology in nation-building and its inherent obligation to ensure that personal data in information and communications systems in the government and in the private sector are secured and protected”.
Corollary to the above, Section 4(e) of RA No. 10173 states that the right of privacy does not apply to “information necessary in order to carry out the functions of public authority, which includes the processing of personal data for the performance by the independent agencies of their constitutionally and statutorily mandated functions”. Moreover, Section 12(e) of this Act states that the processing of personal information shall be permitted only if not otherwise prohibited by law, and when the processing is necessary in order to fulfill functions of public authority, which necessarily includes the processing of personal data for the fulfillment of its mandate. Further, Section 19 of RA No. 10173 provides for the non-applicability of the rights of the data subject if the processed personal information is used only for the needs of scientific and statistical research and on the basis of such, no activities are carried out and no decisions are taken regarding the data subject.
VIII. Confidentiality of Information
All personnel involved in the conduct of 2022 CAF are required to keep in STRICT CONFIDENCE any information obtained during the census that pertains to any particular household, individual person, or establishment/organization.
Section 26 of RA No. 10625 stipulates that “individual data furnished by a respondent to statistical inquiries, surveys, and censuses conducted by the PSA shall be considered PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION and as such shall be inadmissible as evidence in any proceeding”. This section also specifies that “the PSA release data gathered from censuses only in the form of summaries or statistical tables, in which no reference to an individual, corporation, association, partnership, institution or business enterprise shall appear”.
Paragraph 3 of Section 27 of RA No. 10625 further states that “a person, including parties within the PSA Board and the PSA, who breach the confidentiality of information, whether by carelessness, improper behavior, behavior with malicious intent, and use of confidential information for profit shall be liable to a fine of five thousand pesos (PhP 5,000.00) to not more than ten thousand pesos (PhP 10,000.00) and/or imprisonment of three months but not to exceed one year, subject to the degree of breach of information”.
Section 19 of RA No. 10173 states that the personal information shall be held under STRICT CONFIDENTIALITY and shall be used only for the declared purpose. Likewise, the provisions on data privacy are not applicable to processing of personal information gathered for the purpose of investigations in relation to any criminal, administrative, or tax liabilities of a data subject.
Moreover, Section 20(e) of RA No. 10173 stipulates that "the employees, agents, or representatives of a personal information controller who are involved in the processing of personal information shall operate and hold personal information under STRICT CONFIDENTIALITY if the personal information are not intended for public disclosure. This obligation shall continue even after leaving the public service, transfer to another position or upon termination of employment or contractual relations".
Sections 26 to 29 of RA No. 10173 also assert that the breach in the confidentiality of information, whether negligence, improper disposal, behavior with malicious intent, unauthorized access or intentional breach, and unauthorized disclosure, shall be penalized by imprisonment ranging from six months to seven years and a fine of not less than one hundred thousand pesos (PhP 100,000.00) but not more than seven million pesos (PhP 7,000,000.00), depending on the acts defined in these Sections.
Also, in compliance with RA No. 10173, individual personal information collected from the census shall be secured and protected. Necessary data security measures such as, but not limited to, data encryption, data anonymity, and other data protection methods shall be employed to prevent unintended disclosure and data theft.
IX. Comparability of 2022 CAF with Past Censuses
The 1960, 1971, 1980, 1991, 2002, 2012, and 2022 Census of Agriculture used the same concepts, definitions, scope and coverage. However, some differences in the reference periods and sample design should be taken into account when comparing data across the census years.
X. Dissemination of Results
The 2022 CAF preliminary release and statistical tables are publicly available at the PSA website, https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/caf
XI. Citation
Philippine Statistics Authority. Technical Notes, 2022 Census of Agriculture and Fisheries, https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/caf/technical-notes
XII. Contact Information
ERMA A. AQUINO
Chief Statistical Specialist
Agriculture and Fisheries Census Division
National Censuses Service
Censuses and Technical Coordination Office
(02) 8376-1903
e.aquino@psa.gov.ph
For data requests, you may contact:
SIMONETTE A. NISPEROS
Information Officer V
Knowledge Management and Communications Division
Information Technology and Dissemination Service
Censuses and Technical Coordination Office
(02) 8462-6600 loc. 820
info@psa.gov.ph | kmcd.staff@psa.gov.ph
