National Statistical Institute

Accounts and Prices in Agriculture and Forestry

2, Panayot Volov Street, Sofia, Bulgaria

The Economic Accounts for Agriculture (EAA) are satellite accounts of the National Accounts, which provide complementary information and use concepts specially adapted to the specific nature of the sector. The architecture of the accounts consists of three accounts for current operations - "Production Account", "Generation of income Account", "Entrepreneurial income Account" and one account for accumulation - "Capital Account" as their consistency and completeness is provided in accordance with ESA '2010. The data on satellite economic accounts are developed under the basic methodology of Eurostat, published in the "Manual on the economic Accounts for Agriculture and Forestry EAA / EAF". Their main purpose is to provide baseline information for the development of the Gross Domestic Product, and in particular the contribution of the sector "Agriculture" in the national economy. Secondly, they are intended to measure the level of income of the agricultural holdings and to reflect trends in it over the years.

The EAA are an integral part of the ESA. As such, they are compiled based on NACE Rev.2, the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community. The list of activities which defines the agricultural industry corresponds, in principle, to Division 01 of that classification: Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities. However, some differences exist and they are detailed in Annex 1 of Regulation (EC) 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

See the detail below.

See sheets 3.2.1.1.(a) to 3.2.1.1.(c) in the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheets 3.2.1.2 (a) to 3.2.1.2 (c) in the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 3.2.1.3 in the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 3.2.1.4 in the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 3.2.1.5 in the attached Excel file 'Annex 5 - Elements of the Capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

The sector covers all units involved in agricultural production, even if some of those units have more important economic activities or if the purpose of some others is not commercial. However, kitchen gardens (producing for own-consumption only) are not included.

The list of agricultural activities characteristic of the EAA corresponds to the seven groups of Division 01 of NACE Rev. 2 "Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities", with the following caveats:

- the inclusion of the production of wine and olive oil (exclusively using grapes and olives grown by the same holding),

- the exclusion of certain activities which, in NACE Rev. 2, are considered as agricultural services (e.g. the operation of irrigation systems - only agricultural contract work is taken into account here).Accounts for year n are calculated at current prices, at prices of year n-1.

A detailed methodology can be found in Annex I of Regulation (EC) 138/2004.

The EAA are satellite accounts of the European System of Accounts (ESA) providing complementary information and concepts adapted to the particular nature of the agricultural industry.

The EAA are shown as a sequence of inter-related accounts. As the EAA are based on the industry concept, the sequence of accounts is limited to the first accounts of the current account:

- the production account and

- the generation-of-income account

whose balancing items are value added and operating surplus, respectively.

Nevertheless, it should be possible to compile other accounts, at least in part, in so far as the relevant flows can be clearly attributed to them. The accounts in question are the following:

- the entrepreneurial income account (one of the current accounts) and

- the capital account (one of the accumulation accounts).

The EAA provide a wide range of indicators on the economic activities in the agricultural sector: these include output, intermediate consumption, gross and net value added, gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), both in current prices and in constant prices, as well as compensation of employees, other taxes and subsidies on production, net operating surplus or net mixed income, property income and net entrepreneurial income in current prices.

Three indicators of the economic performance of agriculture are defined in the EAA:

•Indicator A: Index of the real income of factors in agricultural per annual work unit.           
•Indicator B: Index of real net agricultural entrepreneurial income per unpaid annual work unit.          
•Indicator C: Net entrepreneurial income of agriculture.

Agricultural output is the total of agricultural products and the goods and services produced in inseparable non-agricultural secondary activities created during the accounting period. It is recorded as a resource in the production account and it is valued and recorded at the time it is generated, that is when produced and not when paid by the purchaser.

In the compilation of the EAA, output is progressively broken down in quantity terms (see paragraph 2.037 of Regulation (EC) 138/2004).

Output is valued at the basic price. The basic price is the price receivable by the producers from the purchaser for a unit of a good or service produced, minus any tax (i.e. taxes on products) payable on that unit plus any subsidy (i.e. subsidies on products) receivable on that unit. The basic price excludes any transport charges invoiced separately by the producer. It also excludes holding gains and losses on financial and non-financial assets.

The valuation of output at the basic price makes it necessary to distinguish between taxes (other than VAT) on products and subsidies on products, on the one hand, and other taxes and subsidies on production, on the other. 

Intermediate consumption represents the value of all goods and services used as inputs in the production process, excluding fixed assets whose consumption is recorded as fixed capital consumption.

The inputs used for intermediate consumption should be valued at the purchaser prices for similar goods and services applicable at the time of their insertion in the production process. The purchaser price includes taxes less subsidies on products (but excluding deductible taxes like VAT on the products). It also includes any transport charges paid separately by the purchaser to take delivery at the required time and place.

In the case of the generation of income account, the distributive transactions relate to other taxes on production, other subsidies on production and the compensation of employees.

For details please see sheet 3.4.3 - Other questions in the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

The entrepre­neurial income account records certain types of property income (mainly land rents, interest and property income attributed to insurance policy holders).

For details please see sheet 3.4.4 - Other questions in the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

In addition to Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), the capital account records distributive trans­actions corresponding to aid for investment and other capital transfers.

The overall unit is the agricultural sector. However, in order to provide more detailed information and to analyse flows generated by the production process and the use of goods and services, it is necessary to select units which emphasise relationships of a technical-economic kind. This means that, as a rule, institutional units must be broken-down into smaller and more homogeneous units with regard to the kind of production (local kind-of-activity units/local KAUs) are intended to meet this requirement (ESA 2010, 2.147).

The local KAU is defined as the part of a KAU which corresponds to a local unit. The institutional unit's information system must be capable of indicating or calculating for each local KAU at least the value of output, intermediate consumption, compensation of employees, the operating surplus and employment and gross fixed capital formation (ESA 2010, 2.148).

The agricultural holding, (the unit currently used for statistical studies of agriculture (censuses, surveys of the structure of agricultural holdings), is the local KAU most appropriate to the agricultural industry (even though certain other units, such as wine or olive oil cooperatives, or units performing contract work, etc., have to be included in it). Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that the variety of agricultural activities that can be performed on agricultural holdings makes them a special type of local KAU. The strict application of the ESA rule to units and their group should in fact result in a division of the agricultural holding into several separate local KAUs in cases where several activities of the NACE Rev. 2 four-digit class are performed on the same holding.

Although the ESA gives pre-eminence to local KAUs, the unit best suited to analyse the production process is the unit of homogeneous production (UHP). This unit is used to analyse inputs and outputs, since it corresponds exactly to a type of activity. Institutional units are thus divided into as many UHPs as there are activities (other than ancillary). By grouping these units of homogeneous production it is possible to break down the economy into 'pure' (homogeneous) branches. A UHP cannot, as a rule, be directly observed. Therefore, the accounts of homogeneous branches cannot be compiled on the basis of groups of UHPs. The ESA describes a method for compiling these accounts.

The use of the local KAU as the basic unit for the agricultural industry entails recording non-agricultural secondary activities where they cannot be distinguished from the main agricultural activity (inseparable non-agricultural secondary activities of local agricultural KAUs) The selection criterion for inseparable non-agricultural secondary activities is rather the type of activity than the nature of the product. For example, agro-tourism services provided by a farm must only be included if they cannot be separated from its agricultural activities.

From 1995 onwards

Accounts data are given in millions of national currency.

Agricultural labour input data are given in thousands of annual work units (AWU).

EU legislation:

Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 December 2003 on the economic accounts for agriculture in the Community as amended

National legislation: 

Law on Statistics

National Statistical Programme

National Statistical Institute

National Statistical Institute

Agreement between the National Statistical Institute and the Ministry of Agriculture for data exchange and strategic partnership

See the detail below.

There are no specific confidentiality rules applied to microdata used for EAA compilation.

The data for the first estimate of the indicator, as agreed between the Member States and Eurostat, embargo is applied and data are publishing after strictly specified date.

The schedule for dissemination of statistical information is published in the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute.

The calendar is available on the NSI website: https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/480

Data are published on the NSI website, under the heading "Agriculture",  according to the Chapter 5 of the Law on Statistics and European Statistics Code of Practice, considering professional independence and with aim of impartiality and transparency, where all users are treated equal.

Statistical information for this indicator is published three times in the year:

· first estimate for the year - in December of the current year;

· second estimate for the year - in February of the next year;

· preliminary data for the year - in October of the next year. In October data at statistical region level (NUTS2) are published

Press releases for the first estimate of agricultural income and for the preliminary data for agricultural income in Bulgarian and English are published regularly. Press releases are published on the website of NSI:

. Press release for the first estimate of agricultural income is published in December of the current year, together with data on the first estimate.

. Press release for the preliminary data for agricultural income is published in October of the current year, together with preliminary data for the previous year.

· Statistical Reference Book;

· Statistical Year Book.

Data for the indicator "Output of the Agricultural Industry" are available to all users of the NSI website under the heading Domain statistics - Agriculture:

https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/4275

https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/4277

https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/4279

https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/4281

Not applicable

· Annual Report of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry for the development of Agriculture in Bulgaria;

· Annual Report on the implementation of the Program for Rural Development in Bulgaria.

Manual on the Economic Accounts for Agriculture and Forestry, 1997, Rev.1.1

Regulation EC 138/2004 - Annex I

https://www.nsi.bg/sites/default/files/files/metadata/Methodology_AgrEAA_en.pdf

. National Report on the quality of data on Economic Accounts for Agriculture

. Inventory, describing compilation methods and practises

. Inventory, in which the methods and procedures for data compiling are described and data compliance with the EU methodology is documented is periodically elaborated.

. During the meetings of Eurostat WG "Agricultural accounts and prices" methodological issues are discussed and examples for good practices for data calculation are provided from Member States.

. Update of metadata, if it is necessary.

. The comparative analysis of the data with previous years is done.

Quality management assessment is according to the standard criteria for - relevance, accuracy, reliability, timeliness and punctuality, comparability and coherence, by preparing a quality report over a period of time, determined by a legal act.

· NSI - National Accounts;

· Eurostat;

· Public Administration - Ministry of Agriculture;

· Scientific and Research Institutes;

· Business Structures;

· Individuals.

No surveys have been conducted to the satisfaction of the needs of users of information about the Economic Accounts for Agriculture. Informal contacts with data users shows a needs for data at lower territorial level and more detailed data, especially in relation to the elaboration of operational programmes, plans for the development of territorial units, e.t.c. Needs for this kind of information has been established after data requests sent to the NSI by post or e-mail.

The data are fully harmonized with the EU Regulation.

Accuracy/quality of data are closely linked to the quality of information produced within the surveys/administrative sources used for data compilation.

Not applicable to EAA compilation.

There can be errors in the sources as limited information about some activities in the units and a lack of prices for some products.

The data are submitted as follows:

. First estimate - data are sent to Eurostat by 30 November of the current year and are published 20 days after the deadline of submission;

. Second estimate - data are sent to Eurostat by 31 January of the following year and published within 20 days after the deadline of submission;

. Preliminary data - data are sent to Eurostat by 30 September of the following year and published 20 days after the deadline of submission;

· Final data - data are sent to Eurostat by September 30 two years after the year to which they relate and shall be published within 20 days after the deadline of submission.

Not delays in the deadlines for submission of data to Eurostat and in the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute were admitted.

Data are geographically comparable for the entire period for which they are available (since 1995).

Data are comparable over time for the entire period since 1999.

See the detail below.

There is a coherence between quarterly estimation of Production account for National Accounts needs and annual EAA.

There is consistency ensured between EAA and data within the Regional EAA, National Accounts, Agricultural Census, crop and livestock statistics and data from the statistics on the agricultural prices.

The costs (budget) of the studies are published in the National Statistical Programme on the NSI website. As basic criteria for response burden at this stage the time required for filling-in the questionnaire is used. Each form includes such section that respondents must complete. The time needed for filling-in the form includes also the time for data preparation. Based on this information, the burden on respondents can be defined as relatively high.

In 2011, by order of the President of NSI special thematic working group of representatives of several RSO, to review and suggest measures for improvement of statistical tools in the field of statistics, agriculture and forestry was established. One of the main objectives of this review was to reduce the burden on respondents. As a result of suggestions made by the TWG has taken the following actions:

· further use of modern means for statistical data collection (introduction of on-line and off-line questionnaires);

· reducing the number of parameters in the statistical questionnaires;

· use of information from other sources.

There is no established policy on revisions.

Routine revisions are carried out regularly in order to incorporate the most current information.

Not applicable.

Not applicable

See the detail below.

See sheet 18.1.1 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

For detailed explanations on data sources used, please see remarks under concept 18.1.3.

See sheet 18.1.3 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.1.4 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.1.5 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the  Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheets 18.1.6 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 5 - Elements of the Capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See the detail below.

September, year n.

For year n-2.

Data collection is in accordance with a Calendar for data collection, data processing and data dissemination of the NSI.

Data are colected by off-line electronic questionaires. If there is a need, data can be collected by statistical paper form, which is sent to respondents by regular mail.

The data from the statistcal surveys carried out by MAFF are provided to the NSI by virtue of agreement on data exchange and partnership.

Administrative data are submitted by the State Fund "Agriculture after request for information in official letter sent to the management of the fund.

The validation of data is done by using developed software for this purpose. Data processing is performed at two levels: at the regional level - from experts of the RSOs, and at national level - from the experts in the NSI.

The description for data compilation is as follows:

See the detail below.

See sheet 18.5.1.1 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See also Excel file 'Annex 6 - Calculation methods output'.

See sheet 18.5.1.2 (a) and 18.5.1.2 (b) of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.1.3 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.1.4 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheets 18.5.1.5 'Annex 5 - Elements of the Capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See the detail below.

See sheets 18.5.2.1 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.2.2 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.2.3 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.2.4 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.2.5 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 5 - Elements of the Capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file. 

See the detail below.

See the attached Excel file 'Annex 7 - Numerical examples' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See the attached Excel file 'Annex 7 - Numerical examples' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See the attached Excel file 'Annex 7 - Numerical examples' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See the attached Excel file 'Annex 7 - Numerical examples' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See the attached Excel file 'Annex 7 - Numerical examples' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See the detail below.

See sheet 18.5.4.1 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.4.2 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.5 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

Not applicable

See the detail below.

See sheet 18.6.1 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.6.2 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.6.3 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.6.4 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.6.5 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 5 - Elements of the capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

List of abbreviations: