QuestionsQuestions (Republic Act No. 3627)
Congress declared as policy to facilitate sound technological, social, and economic development of Philippine agriculture in proper balance with the rest of the national economy by providing means for adequate statistical data and economic research in agriculture as a rational basis for development from the standpoint of rural welfare and the national economy.
The law created the Bureau of Agricultural Economics to centralize and assume responsibility for collecting, compiling, and officially releasing agricultural statistics, undertake social and economic research in agriculture, and provide adequate and reliable data and information on all aspects of agriculture and natural resources.
Agricultural statistics include statistics of natural resources pertaining to mines, lands, fisheries, forestry, and associated industries or occupations.
The Bureau coordinates all statistical activities of bureaus and related agencies under the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources and has immediate authority and responsibility for collection, tabulation, analysis, and official presentation and release of statistics of agriculture on crops, livestock, livestock products, and other related statistics.
Statistics on mines are collected by the Bureau of Mines; lands by the Bureau of Lands; fisheries by the Philippine Fisheries Commission; and forestry by the Bureau of Forestry.
The methods used by those bureaus must be approved by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, which submits them for final approval to the Office of Statistical Coordination and Standards of the National Economic Council. Also, each of those bureaus must submit quarterly compilations to the Bureau of Agricultural Economics.
Yes. The Bureau may collect any original data if it deems it necessary. However, such original data must not be the same in nature, specific place of origin, and methods of collection as those already collected by the concerned bureau.
The Bureau must compile agricultural data from agricultural attaches in the foreign service and also provide domestic agricultural information needed for dissemination abroad.
Economic researches and studies in agriculture, including economics of farm production (farm organization and management; land economics; labor requirements; farm practices and mechanization; farm costs and returns; agricultural investment, finance, credit, taxation, and factors affecting farm business success/failure), and rural welfare and agricultural marketing (prices, foreign trade, transportation, storage and warehousing, food supplies and consumption, farm labor and wages, farm incomes, farm population, rural organization, agricultural relations, and laws and legislation).
The Bureau must make and publish periodical forecasts of the production for the current year of at least ten selected farm products.
The Bureau must publish final annual estimates of agricultural production by crops; number of each kind of livestock; types of product; and regions and provinces, and must also publish its completed studies in the form of reports, bulletins, pamphlets, or other official publications.
Data and information may be secured by technical means from farmers, individuals, or institutions. Those who receive questionnaires/forms must submit the information or accomplish the form personally, or cause it to be accomplished by duly authorized agents or representatives.
Information obtained will be published only in statistical form. Names of individual respondents and information pertaining to any single individual or small groups are strictly confidential, cannot be divulged to other government departments or unauthorized persons, and may not be used as evidence for tax evasion or any other court proceeding.
Detailed records must be destroyed after a period to be decided from the date of collection, except skeleton records (sample frames and listing) required for drawing samples with rotation and for temporal comparisons.
It penalizes failure/refusal to provide required information or accomplish/deliver questionnaires within thirty days; knowingly providing materially untrue data; or signing a form knowing it is untrue. Upon conviction, the penalty is a fine not more than six hundred pesos, or imprisonment not more than six months, or both.
The Director is appointed by the President upon the advice and consent of the Commission on Appointments, based primarily on proven administrative ability and recognized competence in agricultural economics.
Each Assistant Director is appointed by the President upon the advice and consent of the Commission on Appointments, based primarily on competence or an excellent record as an economist (for Agricultural Economics Research) or statistician (for Agricultural Estimates and Statistics).