Statistics Poland

  Agriculture Department

00-925 Warsaw, Al. Niepodległości 208

The survey objectives:

1. The main purpose of the study is to provide the information necessary to monitor the use of plant protection products (PPPs).

2. Fulfillment of obligations under national and EU law:

• Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on pesticide statistics,
• Commission Regulation (EU) No 656/2011 of 7 July 2011 implementing Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning pesticide statistics as regards the definition and list of active substances,
• Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 concerning the placing of PPPs on the market and repealing Council Directives 79/117/EEC and 91/414/EEC,
• Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/269 of 16 February 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on pesticide statistics as regards the list of active substances,
• Directive 2009/128/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 establishing a framework for Community action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides.

amount of each active substance applied in treatments on surveyed crops as well as tretaed area

2015-2019

• Law of 29 June 1995 on Public Statistics
• Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 27 August 2014 on the program of statistical surveys of official statistics for 2015 (Journal of Laws 2014.1330) - the regulation contains a program of statistical surveys of official statistics for 2015
• Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 21 July 2015 on the program of statistical surveys of official statistics for 2016 (Journal of Laws 2015.1304) - the regulation contains a program of statistical surveys of official statistics for 2016
• Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 28 July 2016 on the program of statistical surveys of official statistics for 2017
• Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 19 December 2017 on the program of statistical surveys of official statistics for 2018 (Journal of Laws, item 2471)
• Regulation of the Council of Ministers of September 14, 2018 on the program of statistical surveys of official statistics for 2019 (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 2103)

https://bip.stat.gov.pl/en/law/law-on-public-statistics/

program of statistical surveys of official statistics

Statistics Poland

see details in attached links in sub-concept 2.1.3.2

All variables required under EU regulation are covered by national legislation

Full compliance with EU regulation

With regards to survey conducted  in 2015, one of the studied crops were cereal mixtures, both spring and winter forms. After consulting with Eurostat, we assigned them the code C1000.

The classification used for pesticides corresponds to Annex III of Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 (http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2009/1185/2017-03-09) of the European Parliament and of the Council.  The classification system for crops derives from the Annual crop statistics Handbook 2019 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/Annexes/apro_cp_esms_an1.pdf).

Statistics on PPPs use covers amounts of each active substance applied on specified crops on agricultural farms. The set of crops to be surveyed in cycle 2015-19 determined with taking into account both an importance of crop in terms of UAA criterion as well as the intensity of applied treatments (volumes of applied PPPs).

See the attached Excel file in the Annexes.

non applicable

The data reported are the quantity of each active substances listed in Annex III of Regulation 1185/2009 contained in plant protection products used on a selected crop, expressed in kg. The area treated with each substance are expressed in hectares.

• statistical unit are farms 
• additionally in calculations of treated area numbers of parcels are taken into account.

Statistical population consists of farms of legal persons and organizational units without legal personality as well as farms of natural persons. In sample drawing proccess for each crop the criterion of  minimum area of a given crop was used.

In 2019 the thresholds were as follows: oats - 0,25 ha, spring wheat - 0,28 ha, cabbage - 0,10 ha, plum - 0,3ha, currant - 0,16 ha 

In 2018 the thresholds were as follows: spring barley - 0,4ha, winter rape - 1ha, sour cherry - 0,05ha, apple - 0,1ha, raspberry - 0,08ha

In 2017 the thresholds were as follows: winter wheat - 0,4ha, rye - 0,4ha, potatoes - 0,08ha, field tomatoes - 0,06ha, field cucumber - 0,05ha, tomatoes under glass - 0,03ha, cucumber under glass  - 0,02ha, strawberries - 0,1ha

In 2016 the thresholds were as follows: pears - 0,02ha, onion - 0,12ha, winter triticale - 0,4ha, maize - 0,5ha, carrots - 0,05ha, sugar beet - 1ha

See sub-categories below.

The survey covers whole area of Poland. No further geographical distinction is available

non applicable

cycles 2010-14 and 2015-19

Not applicable for Pesticide Use Statistics, because it is not based on an index number of time series.

See the attached Excel file in the Annexes.

every year in 5 years cycles

See the attached Excel file in the Annexes.

Please find below procedures of the PPPs use data validation carried out by Main Inspectorate of Plant Health And Seed Inspection.

1. Data from surveys on the PPPs consumption are entered remotely by WIORIN inspectors into the electronic database. The inspectors has access only to the questionnaires previously set up in the system by them, while the coordinator has access to the questionnaires of all inspectors operating in the same voivodeship. If the data is correct, the survey will be saved to the database and the user will be moved to the "POLLS" view. In case of validation errors, the user will receive a message in a dialog box. This will be information about missing data or incorrect survey key fields. In case of entering incorrect data in the fields that are not validated, the user will not be moved to the "POLL" view. In this case,  the data should be corrected and the survey should be saved  again. 

2. Check the data entered: After saving the treatments, the system updates the "estimate value of the active substance consumption rate". Therefore, it should be checked whether this value is within an order of magnitude from the national averages. This way, incorrectly entered doses or units of PPPs used can be detected.

3. Coordinators in a given voivodship are authorized to search, view and print all surveys entered in their area (in their voivodeship). All problems related to entering the questionnaires into the system are reported by the inspectors to voivodship coordinators.

Please find below levels of the PPPs use data validation carried out by IPP NRI

1. Dose Check Report. Checking the doses significantly deviating from the average dose of a given PPP in a given crop (the thresholds are set to exceed twice the dose or the dose is 50% lower than the average). Such doses, if necessary, are verified by the person preparing the questionnaire. Often these are errors of the order of magnitude resulting from the administration of grams or kilograms, low percentages, etc.

2. Average consumption report in the survey. Review of the consumption of active substances in the questionnaire. If there is a large deviation from the mean in the strata for a given crop, such a survey may be verified. For example, if the consumption in a survey is twice the average - an expert decision.

3. Checking the relationship between cultivation area and protected area. If there is a difference, i.e. the protected area is smaller than the cultivated area, and the farm is not ecological, such questionnaires are checked. Checking whether the person preparing the questionnaire entered the area of ​​the farm instead of the area of ​​cultivation. There are also such mistakes. Especially on large farms. It is not possible to verify, because  such information is not included in the sample drawing trasferred from Statistics Poland. Including such information in the sample is considered, but e.g. not sharing it with interviewers. The next step is to check whether the surfaces of the treatments agree with the protected surface - this is checked when entering data - it is impossible to close the survey if the data is incorrect. There are several conditions for the values entered in the treatments. We operate here with field numbers. Field 0 - the treatment applies to the entire crop. Fields with numbers> 0 are individual fields of the farm. For example, we check that the maximum area of single treatments in individual fields is not greater than the area of the protected crop.

4. Automatic checking to prevent entry of areas and treatments if no crop, no farm, refusal.

5. Automatic checking that prevents the introduction of the protected area without any treatments in the  questionairre.

6. Checking if there are no double farms for a given crop - there were cases of different farm numbers but it was the same farm - checked by name

7. Checking the cultivation area in the strata for any deviating values.

8. Update of data on PPPs with the latest version of the Register kept by the MARD, and then check the names of PPPs, units of measurement, active substances, content of active substances, units of active substances based on permits and labels for new substances in the Register .

9. Completing the links in the database for new substances and active substances concerning the Harmonized classification of Eurostat and FAO. We modify the links if there are changes to the Harmonized Classification.

10. Checking whether it is necessary to convert the measurement unit of PPP from liters to kilograms. The problem may occur only when the PPP unit is liters or ml and the active substance content is in % . In this case, the labels are checked for g / l values (often two values are given). Most of the errors are caught earlier, e.g. wrong PPP unit in the Register (liters instead of kg) or an inspector's error that changes kg to liters. In 2019, there was one such PPP and the density of PPP was used to convert from liters to kilograms.

11. Checking the completeness of the data before starting the calculations, i.e. whether the PPPs have the proper active substances or have classification assignments, etc.

non applicable

Data from polls in natural units (l kg) are transferred to the Institute of Plant Protection-National Research Institute in Sośnicowice (IPP NRI) to calculate data on the consumption of PPPs for specific crops by main groups, categories of products and chemical classes of active substances. In connection with cases of failure to execute an interview in a farm (refusal or reason like), and the inclusion of farms from the reserve sample to the survey, statistical weight assigned during the drawing are adjusted. Then, the source data from surveys on the use of PPPs; received after the validation process, are converted into consumption of active substances. The next step is the conversion of aggregated statistical data based on the corrected weights. The last step is the aggregation of data at national level, together with the calculation of indicators of use of the active substances according to Harmonized Classification of the Substances.

not applicable

See sub-categories below.

To ensure the quality of processes and products, Statistics Poland applies the EFQM ExcellenceModel, the EU Statistical Practices Code and the ESS Quality Assurance Principles (QAF).Statistics Poland is also guided by the requirements provided for in § 7. "Principles and qualitycriteria for the creation of official statistics" of the Act on public statistics. Currently is in force the internal regulation No. 35 of the President of the Statistics Poland of 28 December 2011 on measuring, evaluating and monitoring the quality of statistical surveys in official statistics services (regulation), art. 1: “In order to improve the quality of statistical surveys, the following requirements are introduced: the principles of the European Statistical Code of Practice; an annual action plan in the field of quality and long-term directions included in the programming documents of Polish official statistics;the nature of the tools related to the measurement, evaluation and monitoring of the quality of surveys in official statistics to be used by departments of the Statistics Poland and statistical offices, hereinafter referred to as "proprietary units", as part of their surveys.

In order to implement measures to improve quality, the Statistics Poland conducts: training in quality in official statistics; develops a quality review plan and guidelines and instructions for test authors; places information on data quality in publications and statistical studies as well as in metadata. Among the activities aimed at continuous improvement of the quality of official statistics, works are carried out in the field of improvement of data collection methods, including the electronic form of data collection in economic surveys and CAII, CAPI, CATI methods, building a new organization of statistical surveys; integration of economic research and social research; improving the quality of sampling frames for statistical surveys; increasing the use of administrative sources; development of work on public databases; conducting standardization activities in terms of concepts, variables, classifications, code lists, units of measurement, methodology and other metadata used in statistical surveys; expanding knowledge in the field of quality and motivating statisticians to take steps to continuously improve the quality of statistical surveys by: conducting trainings, including e-learning, developing instructions and guidelines, and providing educational information via the Intranet and the Internet; improvement of the metadata system; monitoring the quality of statistical processes through self-assessment and quality reviews; developing activities for research on respondent burden and user satisfaction; identifying and popularizing good practices in the field of increasing the quality in the national statistical system; conducting training on quality in official statistics.

The  peer review  took place in Statistics Poland from 23 to 27 February 2015. As the result of the peer review two reports were elaborated:

1. Peer Review Report on compliance with the Code of Practice and the coordination role of the national statistical institute

The document is available on both Statistics Poland and Eurostat websites, the latter also contains reports for other EU and European Economic Area member states. The report concerning Poland includes 17 recommendations aimed at improving the implementation of the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice into the Polish statistical system. In response to the auditors' recommendations Statistics Poland has developed an improvement action plan along with the proposed deadlines for its implementation. According to the approved procedure  Eurostat  annually conducts monitoring of implementation of improvement actions following  peer review in European Union member states. Progress report on the improvement actions carried out in Statistics Poland in response to recommendations  is  submitted to Eurostat in the form of “Improvement actions peer review-final”  document.

2. Peer Review Report on cooperation/level of integration within the European Statistical System

see details in the report https://bip.stat.gov.pl/files/gfx/bip/pl/defaultstronaopisowa/610/1/1/2015_pl_report.pdf

non applicable

none

Strengths:

• data are collected on a clear form,
• data are collected on the basis of its respondent records of treatments or interview,
• slight respondent burden by collecting information based on records of treatments,
• targeted selection of farms to survey,
• drawing a reserve sample for each crop in all voivodeships,
•  multi-level process of data validation by individual participants of the survey, partially automated,
•  a treated area determination procedure which avoids double counting,
• survey is conducted by specialists.

  Weaknesses:

• the results may be aggregated only for level of Poland (NUTS0)
• data on pesticide use per each crop are obtained with very low frequency,
• drawing a survey sample is too small,
• surveying crops in large farm  can be time-consuming and complex. It is worth considering official simplifications - e.g. surveying the main field.

none

The survey of PPPs consumption is implemented in accordance with the Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of Council of 25 November 2009 concerning statistics on pesticides under the perennial program of the IPP NRI named “Protection of cultivated plants with the consideration of food safety, reduction of yield losses and threat to humans, farm animals and the environment for 2011-2015”, as a task 1.10 "Analysis of the data collected while monitoring sales and consumption of PPPs and elaborate of risk indicators related the use of these measures ". Data on consumption of PPPs are useful for assessing the conditions of agricultural production, the environmental impact and are used to shape of the general policy in the field of PPPs. An important element in the utlize of data is compare consumption and sales statistics of PPPs. Data users include central offices, scientific and research instututies, students and enterprises operating in the agricultural sector.Main puropose to deliver reliable and good quality data for shaping national and EU agri-environmental policies as well as assessing the risk associated with the use of PPPs. In 2019 the results of survey on PPPs use were presented during JRC workshop on project named "Estimating pesticide use across the EU" and were useful for the final report preparation.

none

non applicable

none

Users are fully satisfied with the obtained information. They do not report any comments on the scope of data collected. All issues and additional needs are taken into account at annual meetings with survey partners. Intensive ongoing operational contacts ensure high quality of the survey.

non applicable

none

See sub-category below.

Not applicable for Pesticide Use Statistics because in this data collection, there is no target on the number of data. Member States are asked to collect data on representative crops without stipulating the number of crops.

non applicable

none

See the attached Excel file in the Annexes.

See sub-categories below.

See the attached Excel file in the Annexes.

See the attached Excel file in the Annexes.

See the attached Excel file in the Annexes.

See the attached Excel file in the Annexes.

Not used model approach - in any agricultural survey conducted in Statistics Poland is not used

Seasonal adjustment is not applicable to pesticide use statistics since all plant protection treatments associated directly or indirectly with the crop during the reference period are reported.

Data revision policy in the Statistics Poland is based on the principles of the European StatisticsCode of Practice. There are no planned revisions as such. The reasons for a revision may be mistakes in data source or errors made in the process of recalculations/aggregations or due to th echanges in the methodology or data sources. Only finalised data are transmitted to Eurostat.

There are no planned revisions as such

not applicable

not applicable

no additional comments

The timeliness and punctuality of the actions between Statistics Poland and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is regulated by the Statistical Survey Program of Official Statistics (PBSSP). PBSSP defines the providers of statistical data to survey, form of their transmission, frequency, term and place of transfer of data.

See sub-categories below.

not applicable

3 months

the specificity of issuing the collective publications - on specified deadlines consistent with the Publishing Plan

See sub-categories below.

Data is submitted in a timely manner.

non applicable

Data are collected on a country level (NUTS 0). Therefore, the data are not comparable on a regional level. The geographical comparability between countries is evaluated by Eurostat.

Not applicable, because there are no mirror flows in Pesticide Use Statistics.

Modern monitoring of consumption of PPPs in Poland was introduced in 2002 and was carried out by MIPHSI according to OECD guidelines. Currently, since 2009 survey carried out in accordance with the Regulation of the European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No. 1185/2009 of 25.11.2009 concerning statistics on pesticides. Since 2007 random selection of surveyed households is applied.

Not applicable for Pesticide Use Statistics, because it is not based on time series.

Comparability of the variables in the consumption and sale of PPPs in the range:
- methodology for converting the consumption / sale of plant protection products from natural units to the active substances,
- data aggregation according to Harmonised Classification Substances

Not applicable for Pesticide Use Statistics, because the data collection is based on a five-year period.

Not applicable, because it has no relevance for national accounts.

not applicable

Users have access to statistical data through Statistics Poland publications. The Statistics Poland publications present the consumption of PPPs in crops surveyed by the harmonized classification of substances (in terms of active substances). They also included remarks to the data and a short survey methodology. The Statistics Poland publications (“Statistical Yearbook of Agriculture”, “Agriculture”, “Means of production in agriculture”) in the electronic version are available on the Statistics Poland website.

no scheduled or ad-hoc press releases

non applicable

Means of production in agriculture in the farming year; Agriculture in the year; Statistical yearbook of agriculture. All issued annually.

https://stat.gov.pl/en/topics/agriculture-forestry/agriculture/means-of-production-in-agriculture-in-the-201819-farming-year,6,4.html

https://stat.gov.pl/en/topics/agriculture-forestry/agriculture/agriculture-in-2019,4,16.html

no online database

not applicable

no online database

Micro-data are not disseminated.

not applicable

non applicable

1. the SMS subsystem as a central source of statistical metadata maintained and used in official statistics. The following breakdown of statistical metadata was used:

•  survey metadata - describing statistical research;
•  definitional metadata - describing concepts and main assumptions, e.g. classifications, elements of the Glossary of Terms, questions and sets of questions (precedents);
•  methodological metadata - referring to the methodologies of the statistics production processes, e.g. sampling, data collection method, editing processes;
•  system metadata - used during data processing, e.g. identifying publications (e.g. URL), sets and databases, modification dates, file sizes, database access methods, mapping between logical and physical names, notes for individual cells;
• operational metadata - metadata created as a result of the implementation of procedures, e.g. query execution times, system error frequency;
•  qualitative metadata - indicators that describe quality and performance.

2. information / documentation availible on Statistics Poland (SP) website:

• detailed format of transmitted data in a given year, incl. SP data sets, and data sets of a unit other than SP. The database contains information such as the symbol of the dataset, name of the dataset, graphic version of the dataset (pdf questionnaire), type of the dataset, owner of the dataset / administrator, detailed format of the transferred data. The detailed format of the transferred data includes the package name, variable name / content of the question, basic grouping, grouping with selectable items, list of acceptable answers for the question, measurement unit, variable nature, observation period.
• variable packages included in the scope of transmitted data.
• Programmes of statistical surveys of official statistics (2012-2021) - interactive version. Regarding the RRW-1 survey (1.45.15), available information on data submitters, methods of observation, frequency and date of data submission, obligatory / voluntary data submission, aggregation level, data form, place of data transfer, as well as purpose of the survey, subjective and objective scope, data sources, types of output statistical information, forms and dates of making the resulting statistical information available.

3. Elaborated by MIPHSI instructions for remote electronic input of information from surveys on the use of PPPs to the database.

4. Manual for interviewers by IPP NRI Sośnicowice Branch. Instructions for interviewers  is located on the web system of information exchange between the interviewers and the IPP-NRI Sośnicowice Branch. Instruction consists of 12 pages (pdf file) and contains preliminary information, a description of the proposed method of work, discussion on completing online surveys, including descriptions of each field surveys, discussion of the reports module and data analysis module for provincial coordinators of VIPHSI

http://form.stat.gov.pl/formaty/badanie.php?rok-pbssp=2019&bid=153

https://bip.stat.gov.pl/dzialalnosc-statystyki-publicznej/program-badan-statystycznych/pbssp-2015/

https://bip.stat.gov.pl/dzialalnosc-statystyki-publicznej/program-badan-statystycznych/pbssp-2016/

https://bip.stat.gov.pl/dzialalnosc-statystyki-publicznej/program-badan-statystycznych/pbssp-2017/

https://bip.stat.gov.pl/dzialalnosc-statystyki-publicznej/program-badan-statystycznych/pbssp-2018/

https://bip.stat.gov.pl/dzialalnosc-statystyki-publicznej/program-badan-statystycznych/pbssp-2019/

http://form.stat.gov.pl/formaty/zestaw.php?rok-pbssp=2019&idzst=371

http://form.stat.gov.pl/formaty/zmienne-zestaw.php?rok-pbssp=2019&rok-p=2020&idzst=371

http://form.stat.gov.pl/formaty/badanie.php?rok-pbssp=2019&bid=153

http://form.stat.gov.pl/formaty/zestaw.php?rok-pbssp=2019&idzst=371

http://form.stat.gov.pl/formaty/zmienne-zestaw.php?rok-pbssp=2019&rok-p=2020&idzst=371

non applicable

The mission of the Polish Official Statistics is to provide plausible, reliable, independent and high quality statistical information about the state and the ongoing changes in the society, in its economy and in its natural environment which meet the needs of domestic and international users. Strategic and operational purposes resulting from carrying out of the above-mentioned mission create the quality policy in the official statistics. The quality policy is based on continuous improvement of statistical processes in order to better satisfy the users needs, reduce respondents burden and to diminish the costs of statistical  production. Activities focused on quality improvements are in line with  the following International and European standards:

• Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics 
• European Statistics Code of Practice
• Quality Assurance Framework QAF (It is currently in the process of updating resulting from the revision of European Statistics Code of Practice)
• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics 
  

The quality policy of Polish Official Statistics and the standard tools for measuring, assessing and monitoring the quality of statistical surveys are presented in  the study  Vademecum of Quality in official statistics. The Vademecum is recommended to be applied by Other National Authorities (ONAs) producing European statistics in order to provide data of high quality. The law of 29 June 1995 on  Official Statistics is recognized by Statistics Poland as  Polish Commitment on Confidence in Statistics. There is in force Internal Order No 35 of the President of Statistics Poland on the measure, evaluate and monitor the quality of statistical surveys.

not calculated

not applicable

not applicable

Rules of statistical confidentiality are included in the Law on official statistics from 29th June 1995 (art. 10 and art. 38). See details in this link

The collected and gathered in the statistical surveys of official statistics individual and personal data (personal data which can be linked or can identify natural persons or individual data characterising business entities) shall be confidential and subject to particular protection. The data shall be used exclusively for statistical calculations, compilations and analyses. Providing or use of individual and personal data for other than specified above purposes is prohibited. Pursuant to the provisions of the Law on official statistics, all individual information and personal data collected and stored are covered by statistical confidentiality.

The Law on official statistics, article 38

1. It shall not be allowed to publish or disseminate individual data obtained in the statistical services of official statistics.

2. It shall not be allowed to publish or disseminate obtained in statistical surveys of official statistics statistical information which can be linked or can identify natural persons or individual data characterising business entities, especially if the aggregated data consist of less than three entities or the share of one entity in the compilation is higher than the three-fourths of the total.

The principles of treating datasets are governed by Internal Regulation No. 12 of the CSO President of 2 April 2014 on the Principles of Statistical Data Treatment. Article 38 of the Law on Official Statistics is another important provision regarding statistical confidentiality. Paragraph 1 thereof stipulates that “It shall not be allowed to publish or disseminate individual data obtained in the statistical services of official statistics”, which refers to any statistical information which can be linked to, or which can identify, a natural person. The reference article, in connection with Article 10, obliges the staff of the official statistical services to comply with statistical confidentiality in such a way that no personal or individual data, or data characterizing economic results of entities in the national economy conducting business activity can not be made available, in particular, when aggregated data consist of less than 3 entities, single entity in the general statement is greater than ¾ full.

none