The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is continuing to investigate the anomaly between crop (planting) area figures received by AgriLand from the department and those reported by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

In a statement to AgriLand, the department stated: “DAFM has been in contact with CSO in relation to the crop data query. A discrepancy has been identified in the file issued to CSO, and we are due to meet with the CSO next week to address this issue.”

The department’s statement continued on to say that the information based on BPS data, which AgriLand received “provides the basis for crop hectares etc”.

Anomaly in the figures

On November 14, AgriLand revealed significant anomalies between DAFM crop (planting) area figures and those reported by the CSO.

The CSO reported a 6.4% decline in the cereal area from 2018 to 2019. However, figures received by Agriland from the department showed an increase in the area planted in the same period.

Looking at the data obtained by AgriLand in this table (below), and using the 2018 cereal area figure of 261,600ha and the department’s final figure for 2019, this would suggest that there was an increase in the area planted to cereals and not a decrease, as stated by the CSO on September 11, 2019.

The CSO confirmed with AgriLand (and notes on its website) that the figures it uses are obtained from the Department of Agriculture.