The document summarizes findings from The Gambia Agricultural Census of 2011/2012 related to work on agricultural holdings. It discusses which recommended items from the World Census of Agriculture 2020 were covered and not covered. Key findings include that most agricultural work activities had greater male participation at the national level, though participation varied regionally. It also found that while women dominated some activities, men generally earned more than women for the same work. Main challenges to the census included using an old sampling frame and limited data collection tools.

1. THE GAMBIA AGRICULTURAL CENSUS, 2011/2012
Theme 9: Work on the Holding
Technical Session (TS)12
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Ebrima .W. Manneh
Statistician – GIS/Cartography Unit
Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS)
ebrimaman07@yahoo.co.uk
Regional Roundtable on
World Programme for the Census of Agriculture 2020
Nairobi, Kenya, 18-22 September 2017

2. Contents
1. Introduction & background
2. WCA Recommended items covered in The Gambia
Agricultural Census 2011/2012
3. WCA Recommended items NOT covered in The
Gambia Agricultural Census 2011/2012
4. Summary Statistics
5. Mains challenges
6. Conclusion
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3. 1. Introduction & background
 Work on the holding – “Farm Labour” WCA 2010: including household
members and outside workers.
 Work on the holding includes the inputs or activities carried out on the
holding by both household members of the holding and non members.
 Clearing, ploughing, planting and weeding are among the main work
activities of both household and non-household members of holdings in
The Gambia.
 Cash payment is major source of earning through these work activities
although there is difference (between males and females) in terms of
amount paid.
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4. Introduction & background Contd.
Based on The Gambia Agricultural Census (GAC) concept:
“An agricultural holding includes to all the land that is wholly or partially used for
agricultural production under one technical or operational unit by one person alone or with
others without regard to title, legal form, size or location. Non-crop agricultural units
producing livestock and poultry are also considered as holdings, if the scope of the survey is
extended to these animals” (GAC 2011/2012)
WCA 2020 recommended items under “Work on the holding” theme:
 0901 - Whether working on the holding is the main activity
 0902 - Working time on the holding – by sex
 0903 - Number and working time of employees - by sex (for the holding)
 0904 - Labour force status for each HH member - by sex
 0905 - status in employment of main job - by sex
 0906 - Form of payment for employees (for the holding)
 0907 - Use of contractors for work on the holding according to type
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5. 2. WCA 2020 Items Recommended Items Covered in
Gambia Agricultural Census 2011/2012
Household identification of the holding – includes:
1. List of names of all household members of the holding including the
head, spouses, children, tenants, visitors and labourers,
2. Relationship to household head – Son, daughter, spouse, labourer, etc.
3. Sex of household members – coded as: 1= male and 2 = female
4. Educational status of household members – level of education attained
(from at least 5 years educational attainment to university or non)
5. Age of household members – age from date of birth
6. Occupations of household members – primary (main) and secondary (if
engaged in other work or job) occupation of head of household and
household members.
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6. Household Identification Items and Codes
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7. WCA 2020 Items Recommended Items Covered in Gambia
Agricultural Census 2011/2012 Contd.
Employment/Labour: relates to work supplied to the holding by both HH
members and non-HH members such as labourers or employees. It
includes:
1. Kind of work done - clearing, bush burning, sowing/planting
2. Number of labourers employed – total number of labourers hired on the
holding by sex
3. Months of employment – specific months work is done
4. Length of employment (working time) – number of days contracted or
labour supplied on the holding
5. Status of payment – earning in terms of cash paid per day or in kind
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8. WCA 2020 Items Recommended Items NOT Covered in Gambia
Agricultural Census 2011/2012 Work on holding
The following WCA 2020 recommended items were not covered:
 0904 labor force status - which “refers to whether a person’s main
status was within or outside the labour force during the census reference
year”
 0905 status in employment - for each household member in
employment by sex as employee, self-employed etc.
 0907 use of contractors for work on the holding according to type -
“which refers to whether agricultural service contractors were used for
work on the holding”.
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9. 9
4. Result Summary
Regional distribution of number of agricultural household members by sex
Over 17% increase in the number of agricultural household members have been
reported during the 2011/2012 agricultural census from that of the 2001/2002
round (861, 739 in 2011/2012 compared to 767, 605 in 2001/2002)

10. Clearing and Bush Burning
 This activity is a male dominated activity among both household and non-
household members.
 Only one female in every five male, nationally, for household members
 Similarly about two males to one female among non-household members
The result vary regionally
 Highest engagement of female HH members in clearing and bush burning is
reported in Lower River Region (LRR) ( with almost a ratio of 1:1)
 Central River North (CR-N) has the lowest number of female HH members
engagement in this activity (5,076 females compared to 67,489 males)
 In LRR and Central River South (CR-S) more females were engaged in clearing
and bush burning than males among the non-household members.
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Result Summary Contd.

11. Percentage involved in Ploughing and Harrowing activities - by region
 In all the regions more male household members are employed for
ploughing/harrowing than females.
 Except in LRR (45,765 females compared to 24,288 males)
 At national level, there were more female (34,938) non-household
members employed for ploughing / harrowing than males (31,076)
Sowing and transplanting of fields
 79.4% of the fields reported were sowed or transplanted by household
laborers with three times more males (849,909) involvement than
females (284,571) in this activity.
 Out of 13,826 fields, 28,843 males and 86,893 females (about three
times more) of non-household members were employed for
sowing/transplanting.
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Result Summary Contd.

12. Source of Earning by Gender among Household Members and Non-
household Members
 The gender gap is wide and needs policy attention. The reports suggested
policy actions to reduce workload and equal remuneration for women.
 Example, at national level male earnings (D4, 735,999) was 6.3 times
higher than females (D747, 842) for the ploughing and harrowing activity.
 However, in LRR females were paid more (D41,348) than males (D30,003)
among the non-household members for ploughing and harrowing.
 Payment by gender was about the same - males; D1, 797, 995; and females
D1, 758,853 for sowing and transplanting.
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Result Summary Contd.

13. Weeding of fields
 Nearly twice as many male household laborers (938,905) were
employed for weeding of the fields as females (523,971).
 In Central River South slightly more female household laborers
(158,203) were reported weeding compared to males (148,661).
 For the non-household members, more females (13,815) were
employed in North Bank Region than males (7,154) and that
they were also paid more (D311,423) than males (D136,108) as
should be
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Result Summary Contd.

14. Weeding of fields
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0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
350,000
West Coast Lower River North Bank Central River
North
Central River
South
Upper River
Number of Household Members employed for weeding by sex
Males
Females
Result Summary Contd.

15. 5. Main challenges
 Generally the use of an old sampling frame - (that of 2003 population census) is
considered to be a source of “unavoidable” error. This also has some limitation on
collecting data on items under the work on holding theme since household
characteristics changes over time.
 The field staff were under the supervision of the regional directors and sometimes
encounter conflict of roles which led to the slow progress of the data collection.
 Inadequate mobility for the data collectors contributed in the unequal workload on
the enumerators.
 Limited tools – it can be observed that comprehensive analysis of GAC 2011/2012
round did not cover all the essential WCA 2020 items under the work on holding
since the tools developed did not capture the required data for this theme.
 Missing forms from the filed and during data entry resulted in using of proxy data.
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16. Future Plans
It maybe premature to determine concrete plans for the next census as far
as work on the holding is concerned, since preparations are very low gear.
However, as part of general recommendations, the following can be
useful to improve on the collection of data for the theme:
 Organizational restructuring – already ongoing, such as placing back all
units as per previous organogram under the planning directorate to
enhance coordination and efficiency in agricultural census and survey
activities.
 To provide or cater for adequate transportation to enhance mobility of
data collectors.
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17. 6. Conclusion
 Work on the holding theme is discussed under items in relation to
inputs by the household members and non-household members.
 Main items covered in GAC 2011/2012 under work on the holding
theme include household identification of holding and employment
 Main work activities include: clearing and bush burning, ploughing and
harrowing, sowing and transplanting, and weeding.
 Most of the activities were male dominated at national level but
regionally the results vary.
 Even though females dominate in some activities on the holdings, men
generally earn more than their female counterparts.
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18.  Reference:
 Report of the agricultural census of The Gambia, 2011/2012, Volume 2: Household
and Holding Characteristics, Area, Yield and Production
 National Agricultural Sample Survey (NASS) report, 2015.
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19. Thank you
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