Rwanda - Rwanda Seasonal Agriculture Survey 2017

Start	End	Cycle
2016-12-08	2017-02-15	Season A
2017-04-24	2017-07-02	Season B
2017-09-21	2017-10-30	Season C

Face-to-face [f2f]
Data collection consists of two distinct phases: The first Phase, known as screening activity, consists of visiting all sampled segments and delineating all plots in which the sampled grids points are fallen and thereafter recording the related information using screening questionnaire. The second phase consists of visiting the sub-sampled agricultural plots from screened plots in phase one as well as all Large- Scale Farmers having cultivated plots in the season the survey is being conducted. This phase is conducted in the period of harvesting where farmers are requested to provide information about sowing period and harvesting period, inputs used, agricultural practices done on the plots, the crop production and its use.

For SAS 2018 the NISR employed around 151 field workers in the form of two-person teams to conduct the fieldwork. The fieldwork consisted of a Phase 1 for segment screening and a Phase 2 for plot data collection. Training was provided to all fieldwork personnel on the data collection methodologies associated with the use of GPS for point-sampling and computer tablet questionnaires used for plot data collection and farmer interviews. The tablet computer assisted data collection and interview allowed for very fast and efficient uploading and transfer of the enumerated data from the field to NISR headquarters for processing. The tablet software instruments (electronic version of the paper questionnaires) allowed for instantaneous checking of the respondent data and automatically directed the enumerator questioning to reduce non-sampling errors within the data collection.

There were two types of questionnaires used for this survey namely Screening questionnaire and plot questionnaires.
A Screening questionnaire was used to collect information that enabled identification of a plot and its
land use using the plot questionnaire. For point-sampling , the plot questionnaire is concerned with the collection of data on characteristics of crop identification, inputs (seeds, fertilizers, labor …), agricultural practices, crop production and use of production. All the surveys questionnaires used were published in English.

Name	Abbreviation	Affiliation
National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda	NISR	Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning

The 2017 USAS used 180 fieldworkers grouped in 33 field teams and 30 team leaders. All fieldwork staff in 2017 held a degree in Agricultural Sciences and were trained by NISR headquarter staff before starting data collection. Higher level supervision of staff from NISR visited the field teams during each phase of data collection to ensure data quality control.

At the bottom of the hierarchy, there are enumerators who would be assisted by a team leader also known as a controller. His/ her main function is to introduce the enumerators to the various key people from the sector to the villages leaders up to operators in the Secondary Sampling Unit (known as Segment), and assist enumerators during the whole course of the survey .

A higher level supervision staff from NISR visited the field teams during each phase of data collection to ensure quality control.
Responsibilities of a Team Leader is to manage the interviewers to ensure successful completion and quality of data collected in a given time period for the fieldwork.

He/she was expected to record information about the fieldwork , which track the status of completion of the work in the field, document problems in the field and solutions taken to resolve these problems. Specifically, his/her tasks included:

1. Introduce the survey and interviewers at local level where the survey is administered.
2. Monitor and attend some interviews and make comments on the worker's performance.
3. Meet frequently with each member of the group to discuss, improve and organize work.
4. Check the availability of all the necessary items before going on field.
5. Help workers to solve the problems they encounter
6. Manage the team's work schedule
7. Make sure all the big farmers are identified and surveyed.
8. Communicate with NISR, regarding field issues, as necessary.