Paddy is one of the most important cereal crops in Bhutan. Hence reliable statistics on its annual production and its trend over the years is important for informed decision making, from food security view point.
Paddy production is commonly estimated from survey interview of farmers relying on their recall accuracy. However, recall is often wrought with high-non sampling error, particularly if the survey is conducted many months after the harvest. In such circumstances, it may be wise to compute production as a function of harvested area multiplied by yield. Harvested area is much easier to remember by farmers or it can even be measured anytime by the enumerator. With regard to yield estimation, here is where the usefulness of crop-cut experiments come in.
The MoAF is thus very pleased to come out with the manual titled ‘Paddy Yield Estimation in Bhutan’ for use in the field. This manual comprehensively describes the probability sampling procedures required to be followed thus allowing us to make good estimates with measure of sampling error for every paddy growing Dzongkhag.
The manual has been developed in close consultation with the agriculture sectors and with support from FAO.
To download the soft copy of the manual, please click here.
-RSD
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