Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic

Cross-sectional Statistics Department

Miletičova 3, SK-824 67 Bratislava

See sub-categories below.

Submitted file contains data on the quantity of substances (listed in Annex III) contained in pesticides and the area treated with each substances for selected crops for Slovakia (crops included in the national list of selected crops).

Data were compiled in accordance with the Annex II of the Regulation 1185/2009 concerning statistics on pesticides.

The reference year is 2018.

- Act No 405/2011 on Phytosanitary Care, § 35, section 2 - determines the obligation of regular users of pesticides in agriculture to keep a records of pesticides use and report it to the Central Controlling and Testing Institute in Agriculture (CCTIA).

- Decree of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the SR No 491/2011 on the keeping of records of plant protection products and the reporting of data, conditions and procedures for the storage and handling of plant protection products and the cleaning of used application equipment, annex 1 - specifies the format of the records that the users should keep, annex 2 - specifies the format of reports that users shall submit to the CCTIA.

- Act No 405/2011 on Phytosanitary Care: https://www.zakonypreludi.sk/zz/2011-405 (only in Slovak),

- Decree of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the SR No 491/2011: https://www.zakonypreludi.sk/zz/2011-491 (only in Slovak).

The responsible institution for national legislation is the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the SR.

The organization managed by the ministry - the Central Controlling and Testing Institute in Agriculture (CCTIA) is reposnsible for obtaining data on pesticides use from regular users in accordance with the national legislation.

2012

The required variables are covered.

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No additional comments.

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).

Use of pesticides in agriculture sector.

Crops covered in the pesticide use data for Slovakia were selected based on two main factors:

- significance of selected crops within national crop production,
- representation of different crop categories (cereals, dry pulses, root crops, industrial crops, vegetables, fruits).

The area of selected crops represents:

- circa 63% of utilised agricultural area (UAA) - however, it should be noted that circa 27% of UAA is covered by permanent grasslands on which pesticides are usually not used,
- circa 90% of arable land.

See the attached Excel file in the Annexes.

Only pesticides used in agriculture are covered.

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.

Data on use of pesticides are collected from regular users of pesticides in agriculture.

Data and information on pesticide use are collected from the following subjects:

• farms, agricultural enterprises, self-employed farmers that manage agriculture land wtih the area above 50 ha,
• organic farms/farmers,
• farmers supported by specific subsidies schemes (integrated production within Rural Development Plan for the SR).

See sub-categories below.

The entire territory of the country.

Not applicable for Slovakia.

Data on pesticides use are collected from 2012. Data are available for period 2012-2019.

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.

Anual

See the attached Excel file in the Annexes.

See the items 3.4.1 - 3.4.3.

Data are checked within the process of data collection. The following possible errors occur most often:

• incorrect measurment unit,
• extreme values - exceeding the feasible dosage of particular pesticides per hectar,
• extreme values in case of low-dosage pesticides (with dosage 20-30 grams per hectar),
• pesticides that are not authorised for the particular crops.

Individual data from the PESTUSE database were aggregated for particular pesticides/substances used on selected crops that are representative of the crops cultivated in Slovakia. Respective codes from the code lists were assigned to the particular crops and substances. Afterwards the csv file in requested structure was elaborated.

The PESTUSE database contains the following items:

• Identification number and name of the users of pesticides - farms, agricultural enterprises, self-employed farmers
• Crops on which the pesticides were used
• Area of crops in ha
• Code and name of the pesticides
• Use of pesticides in kg or l
• Treated area in ha.

Not applicable

See sub-categories below.

Statistical Office of the SR has established the system of quality management. Quality manual (available only in Slovak) contains description of quality management system and fulfillment of ISO 9001 standard requirements. The manual describes documented procedures of the quality system, which are applied in implementation and continuous improvement of the quality management system in the Statistical Office of the SR.

The application of the manual in practice ensures that all activities with impact on the quality of statistical products are planned, managed, examined, assessed.

Not applicable.

No additional comments.

Data in PESTUSE database which is used as data source for reporting data on pesticide use statistics for Slovakia are of sufficient quality according to our assessment. The database contain real data directly collected from regular professional users of pesticides in agriculture, not estimates. The quality of collected data is gradually improving including enhancement of the data checking process.

Data on pesticide use for Slovakia submitted to Eurostat were compiled in compliance with the Annex II of Regulation 1185/2009 concerning statistics on pesticides and with respective methodological guidence.

No additional comments.

The most important user of data on pesticide use statistics for Slovakia is Eurostat. There is no demand for this statistical product from national users at present.

The data are used at national level mainly by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the SR which is the data owner - the ministry collects the data through its organization CCTIA.

Not relevant. As it is mentioned above (in the item 5.1.) there is no demand for this statistical product from national users.

See the answer above in the item 5.1.1.

No additional comments.

The customer's satisfaction survey regarding pesticide use statistics has not been carried out so far.

Not applicable. 

No additional comments.

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.

Overall, the accuracy of submitted data on pesticide use statistics is considered to be good. Data are from reliable official data source - PESTUSE database which contains data collected directly from regular pesticides users: farms, agricultural enterprises, self-employed farmers that manage agriculture land wtih the area above 50 ha, organic farms/farmers, farmers supported by specificsubsidies schemes (integrated production within Rural Development Plan for the SR). Data collection is regulated and supported by national legislation thus the respond ratio is high. Collected data are checked and verified.

The final, validated version of data are provided to Eurostat.

No additional comments.

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 applicable.

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.

The revision policy regulates basic rules and general procedures for revisions of preliminary data and also for revisions due to other reasons. The revision policy and the revision calendar are available on the on the website of the Statistical Office of the SR (only in Slovak).

However there is no specific national revision policy for pesticide use statistics.

Reported data on pesticide use are final data on which no regular revisions are performed. Only some occasional revisions may occure (e.g. errors identified within data validation), in that case the concerned data are revised/corrected in the data file and the revised version of the data file is submitted to Eurostat.

Not applicable.

No regular, planned revisions are performed on the data.

No additional comments.

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Data on pesticide use broken down by crops and active substances are not disseminated nationally. The final data on pesticide use gathered in the PESTUSE database which is used as the data source for reporting data on pesticide use statistics to Eurostat are available approximately 12 months after the end of the reference year.

Not applicable.

See sub-categories below.

Sub-categories 7.2.2. and 7.2.3. which are related to releasing of data nationally are not filled in, since the data on pesticides use statistics broken down by crops and active substances are not published at national level.

The deadline for reporting data and metadata on pesticide use statistics which is specified in Annex II. of the Regulation 1185/2009 was met. There was no delay in transmission of data and metadata to Eurostat.

Not applicable.

Comparability on a regional level is not applicable - data are collected only on a country level (NUTS 0).

Comparability with other countries should be ensured since the data for Slovakia submitted to Eurostat were compiled in compliance with Annex II., Annex III. of the Regulation 1185/2009 and by applying the EU methodology and predefined code lists for crops, active substances. 

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

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

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

Data on pesticide use for Slovakia were reported to Eurostat for reference years 2014 and 2018.

Data on pesticide use are coherent with data on pesticides placed on the market (for given year and active substance).

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.

Data are internally coherent. All data in the submitted data set come from the same data source.

No news release.

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No specific publication on pesticide use statistics.

However the table with data on pesticide use at the aggregated level (major groups of products, quantity of products not substances) is included in the publication "Selected indicators on Environment".

Selected indicators on Environment: link.

Data on pesticide use at the agregated level (major groups of products, quantity of products not substances) are published in the database DATAcube - table Consumption of plant protection agents [pl2022rs] on the website of the Statistical Office of SR.

Not available.

DATAcube database - table pl2022rs: http://datacube.statistics.sk/#!/view/en/VBD_SLOVSTAT/pl2022rs/v_pl2022rs_00_00_00_en

Access: http://datacube.statistics.sk/#!/lang/en > 4. Sector statistics > 4.1 Agriculture, forestry, fisheries > Consumption of plant protection agents [pl2022rs].

Microdata are not disseminated. The owner of national database on pesticide use is the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the SR, therefore the conditions set by the ministry are applied concerning provision of respective microdata. The microdata are not available for research purposes, the ministry provides microdata only upon specific request to the competent national governmental bodies and EU institutions (e.g. European Commission, JRC).

Microdata are not disseminated.

No other dissemination.

Not available.

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Not available.

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Staff involved in pesticide use statistics (data collection, validation and processing):

- cca 50 ragional phytoinspectors - the Central Controlling and Testing Institute in Agriculture (CCTIA),
- 4 experts - CCTIA/Plant Protection Department and and Pesticides Registration Department,
- 1 expert - Statistical Office of the SR/Cross-sectional Statistics Department.

Burden on respondents: Average time for filling in the reports on pesticide use by respondents vary and depends on acreage of their farms (in the interval from 50 to 5000 ha of agricultural land). Thus it can be from couple minutes to 8 hours. However most of large farms, agricultural enterprises/respondents work with electronic records/databases that allow automatically generate the required report output.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

In general, the dissemination of statistical information in Slovakia is defined in the Act No 540/2001 on state statistics (part five). According to the Act, all national authorities or bodies executing state statistics shall adhere the obligation to ensure protection of confidential statistical data as specified in §29 and §30 of the Act. Rules for ensuring statistical confidentiality are specified in the document "Principles of applying protection of confidential statistical data" available on the website of the Statistical Office of the SR (only in Slovak). The document is based on the Directive of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic on protection of confidential data. 

Statistical data on the basis of which it would be possible to identify a statistical unit/respondent are considered as confidential.

Since it is difficult to identify particular users of pesticides among the large number of national users (even on the level of substances/crops) it is not necessry to treat the data in data set on pesticide use in terms of primary confidentiality.

However according to the instruction from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the SR (owner of national data on pesticide use), it has to be ensured that it is not possible by any means to identify confidential (sensitive) data on pesticide sales on the basis of data on pesticide use for given year. 

Data on substances which are confidential in the data set for pesticide sales are labeled also as confidential (secondary confidentiality "G") in the data set for pesticide use - to avoid identification of confidential data on pesticide sales on the basis of data on pesticide use for given year.

No additional comments.

Format of reports for reporting data on pesticide use by regular users of pesticides in agriculture is attached in annexes. Format of reports is specified in Annex 2 of the Decree of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the SR No 491/2011.