Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM)

Pesticide Controls Division

Pesticide Statistics,  Pesticide Controls Division, Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, Backweston Campus, Celbridge, Co Kildare, Ireland

See sub-concepts below.

The data set comprises the annual sales of active substances contained in plant protection products placed on the national market for one calendar year according to the Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 as amended by Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/269 of 16 February 2017 as regards the list of active substances.

S.I. No. 159/2012 - European Communities (Plant Protection Products) Regulations 2012

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2012/si/159/made/en/print

The responsible organisation for the national legislation is the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM)

The date including year of enry into force was 17/5/2012

All marketing companies and authorisation holders of Plant Protection Products (PPPs) in Ireland are registered with DAFM and it is these companies who supply the required data.  As a result DAFM is satisfied that all pesticide sales data is being collected and transmitted. (DAFM:Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine) and no variable as required under Regulation 1185/2009 are been omitted from the data.

There are no divergence of national definitions from the EU regulation.

The data are expressed in kilograms of active substances.

The classification of the active substances in plant protection products is annexed (Annex III) to Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/269 of 16 February 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning statistics on pesticides.

The active substances are classified according to chemical and functional similarity. Aggregation levels in descending order comprise: major groups, categories of products, chemical classes and active substances.

The statistics cover the wholesale and retail trade sector operating in placing plant protection products on the market.

All authorisation holders and marketing companies of plant protection products report the quantity of all active substances that are placed on the market nationally (incl. import and export data).

This data collection comprises pesticide sales data based on the term 'placing on the market' as defined in Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market. The scope of the Regulation covers plant protection products and their active substances as can be seen from the key terms of the act immediately below:

Plant protection products: products consisting of or containing active substances, safeners or synergists, and intended for one of the following uses:

• protecting plants or plant products against all harmful organisms or preventing the action of such organisms, unless the main purpose of these products is considered to be for reasons of hygiene rather than for the protection of plants or plant products;
• influencing the life processes of plants, such as substances influencing their growth, other than as a nutrient;
• preserving plant products, in so far as such substances or products are not subject to special Community provisions on preservatives;
• destroying undesired plants or parts of plants, except algae unless the products are applied on soil or water to protect plants;
• checking or preventing undesired growth of plants, except algae.

Active substances: substances or micro-organisms, including viruses, having general or specific action against harmful organisms or on plants, parts of plants or plant products.

Quantity: implies kilograms of the active substances sold.

Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishes a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on the placing on the market and agricultural use of those pesticides which are plant protection products as defined in Article 2 (a)(i). The statistics shall apply to the annual amounts of pesticides active substances placed on the market in accordance with Annex I and the quantity of active substances shall be aggregated according to the list in Annex III (as amended).

Enterprise placing plant protection products on the market; authorisation holder or holder of parallel trade permits and marketing companies.

All enterprises placing plant protection products on the market; authorisation holders and holders of parallel trade permits and marketing companies.

See sub-concepts below.

The entire territory of the Ireland (26 counties)

None

Sales data from 2011 to 2019 is the period for which data is available.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because it is not based on an index number of time series.

See sub-concepts below.

Not applicable

The process of data collection is via census where all data is requested unlike a survey where only a sample of population involved is surveyed. Consequently there is no statistical processing of the collected data. What is involved is that the totals from the returns of the relevant companies involved  are inputted on a active substance basis and totals for each active substance as per the harmonised classification of substances under ANNEX III of Regulation 1185/2009 are calculated when all returns are inputted.

Annually.

The process of data collection is initiated by DAFM (Attached :2019 Sales data request email)  communicating to all the relevant product authorisation holders and marketing companies and requesting same to submit the required sales data  within a given timeframe.

Respondents return the required data electronically in the standard document suplied  (Attached: 2019 Sales data return document).

As the data collection process is carried out by census (all population) and because the respondents complete the required data themselves and return electronically the process is simple and effective and does not require questionaire design and testing, interviewer training, sampling or stratification etc.

Data at active substance level is checked against levels for previous years and queries may be returned to industry to address appropriately. 

When the data is received the quantity can be checked against quantities reported to the annual fee section of this department and compared to previous records. Records are required to be kept by product authorisation holders and marketing companies (as per Regulation 1107/2009 implemented by SI 159/2012). When a company is renewing its annual fee it submits an auditors certificate from its accounts unit and this declares quantities of product sold in the relevant year. Quantities on this cert assist in the cross checking of quantities declared in the census and any discrepancies are addressed at this stage. Year on year comparisons are carried out and where there is an increase or decrease that cannot be explained by market changes. clarification can be  sought from the respondent. inconsistencies and outliers are queried and addressed appropriately. Confidentiality of data is flagged as per guidance and recommendations issued by Eurostat.

The totals from the returns of the relevant companies involved  are inputted on a product quantity basis. This is converted on a active substance basis and totals for each active substance as per the harmonised classification of substances under ANNEX III of Regulation 1185/2009 are calculated when all returns are inputted. Bearing in mind confidentiality of data, data for some active substances cannot be published  and this needs to be taken into account when compiling the data.

The missing data is minimal and  not significant and there is no process of replacing missing data (imputation process).

Outliers are fully investigated and addressed appropriately.

There is only one source of data and so there is no process of combinign data of various sources.

As data is collected on a census basis there is no weighting process and / or adjustment for non response.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because the data collection is not based on time series.

When requesting the 2019 sales data, Ireland contacted 160 companies (population) comprising of product authorisation holders and marketing companies. Responses were received from 144 of the original 160 which were contacted. It is believed that the quantities of active substance which may have been sold by the non respondents would have been small and would not significantly affect  the overall totals of active by their exclusion. However going forward this department will endeavour to asertain sales data for 2020 from these non respondents. Consequently having received responses from 144 of the 160 results in a response rate of 90% and this department is satisfied that this does reflect a high quality measure  for the data involved.

In Ireland data is collected via a census and as a result sampling , stratifying and grossing are not issues encountered as one is dealing with the actual data. As detailed earlier the system of data collection has been carried out for several years and over that time this organisation has built up a good working relationship with all involved  and as a result the data is returned freely.  In Ireland data returned from the product authorisation holders and ,marketing companies is the actual real data involved and consequently the quality of the data is considered to be of a high standard. As earlier noted the response rate was 90% and it is believed that the non respondents would not have significantly affected the overall totals of active substance and as a result believes the data to be of a high standard. At this point in time this organisation is satisfied with the method of data collection and the quality but is open to any improvements if required and identified.

The national users in Ireland would be the product authorisation holders and the marketing companies and possibly some environmental groups, crop advisery services and media but  only a few requests for this data has ever been received. Due to commercially sensitive data and confidentiality issues sales data is published in Ireland at the level of pesticide type. The  sales data is available to be viewed at the following link: http://www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie/sud/pesticidestatistics/

The respective needs of the companies and authorisation holders are to be informed of market share, trends etc.  The poplulation is all the product authorisation holders as well as the marketing companies  which are listed for each product on the product register. The key users have access to this register and can view information for each product including authorisation holder and marketing companies at: http://www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie/registers/plantprotectionproductsregisters/plantprotectionproductsdatabase/

The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine has published the sales data at : http://www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie/sud/pesticidestatistics/

Over time more interest in the data has been expressed but no indication of whether more data or different data has been received.

The data collection covers all active substances of plant protection products placed on the national market and the information from all authorisation holders.

100%

See sub-concepts below.

Since no data is estimated this organisation is satisfied that the data  is as accurate as possible. In addition with a response rate of 90% and understanding that the sales of the non responders would not signigicantly affect the total data by their exclusion it is believed that the data is very accurate overall.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because the data collection is not based on samples, but covers the whole statistical population of authorisation holders and plant protection products placed on the national market.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because the data collection is not based on samples, but covers the whole statistical population of authorisation holders and plant protection products placed on the national market.

The level of experience in collecting data built up by the DAFM over time coupled with the relationship built up with data suppliers means that the risk of non-sampling errors is minimal. Furthermore data is collected on a census basis and not by survey. In addition with only 10% non responders and with the knowledge that the sales from those would not have significantly affected total sales by their exclusion it is believed that the non-sampling error if it could be calculated would be non significant.

Since data is collected from all in the population (census) there is no divergence between the frame population and the target population. The source of the population is the plant protection product database. This database contains all product authorisation holders and associated marketing companies as well as approved products. For each product the database contains details such as approved crops and  formulation. There is no over or under coverage rate of eligible units as the database contains up to date details for each product, authorisation holder and marketing company. If there are any amendments to be made they are  carried out and database updated immediately. The register available on the website will reflect these changes the next day. Consequently the data base and the register are constantly updated. As the database is immediately updated there are no lags in entering information and so the information on the database is always up to date.

Register of products can be found at the following link: http://www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie/registers/plantprotectionproductsregisters/plantprotectionproductsdatabase/

Data is collected from all product authoristation holders and marketing companies who place products containing the active substances listed in Annex III of Regulation 1185/2009 on the market in Ireland. Therefore there is no risk of over-coverage and there is no over-coverage rate.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics as the data stem from one source.

As respondents provide their actual imports, exports and production  there is no measurement error for the actual data. All data returned is via electronic form via excel spreadsheet. This data is transferred into the main spreadsheet of similar format. Calculations are performed in the spreadsheet. Consequently the potential for measurement error once the data is received from respondents is considered minimal. In addition all data received is re-checked.

Since the data is collected on a census basis and with a 90% response rate, an extreamily  high proportion of the information is gathered. However there are a small number of respondents (10%) who have not made returns . It is estimated that all data returned, accounts for in excess of 95% of the total quantity of active substance sold. A response was received for all key variables. It was within a small number of these key variables the non responses were noted. In the cases where non response was recorded the cause for non response was not noted other than the fact that the respondednts did not respond.There were no known bias risks associated with the non-responses. Non respodents were issued an email reminding them of the original data request. No response modelling to reduce non response has been applied. The technical treatment of non response is exclusion. 

A small number( 10%) did not reply and it is believed that they would have accounted for not more than 5% of the total quantity of products. All those that responded had usable data.

The data provided an entry for all required variables. As listed earlier only 10% did not respond and data collected acounted for at least 95% of total sales.

It is believed that there is no processing error in the final data collection process. Furthermore data is collected via census and not survey. Processing error is believed to be zero.

No imputation was carried out.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because the data collection is not based on estimations.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because the reported data on plant protection products covers the whole year.

Data revision policy in all circumstances  is that the  initial data compiled will be revised as necessary and without delay and revised data transmitted to Eurostat and published data updated. A document including the revision policy is being drafted.

Data revision in practice is as per policy outlined in 6.5 above :Data revision policy in all circumstances  is that the  initial data compiled will be revised as necessary and without delay and revised data transmitted to Eurostat and published data updated.

Since data collection is via census there are no estimates of quantities. If and when additional data and or amendments are informed to this department the revised data will be immendiately transmitted to Eurostat via the web form and published data will be updated.

There has been a revised set of 2019 sales data and this has been transmitted to Eurostat  and publised on DAFM website:

http://www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie/sud/pesticidestatistics/

According to the Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009, the data is published by Eurostat 15 months after the end of the reference year and the national quality report 20 months after the end of the reference year.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics as the data and national quality reports are only published once in a final result.

15 months after the end of the reference period for the data;

20 months after the end of the reference period for the national quality report.

According to the Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009, data must be transmitted until 30 December of the year t+1, and national quality reports until 31 March of the year t+2.

Ireland has always transmitted the sales data and quality reports within the schedule as outlined in regulation 1185/2009 concerning pesticide statistics.

Not applicable.

Data are collected on a country level (NUTS 0). They 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 sales statistics.

Since the same data collection procedure has been used over time then a comparison of statistics over time is possible. On examination 2011 to 2019 data variations are noted and can be due to a number of factors such as weather fluctuations and price sensitivity as well as environmental awareness and the possible impact of Brexit. In addition any change in response rate can influence comparisons.  Sales data is comparable  from 2011-2019 and so there there are 9 reference periods.

 Sales data is comparable  from 2011-2019 and so there there are 9 reference periods.

Analysing pesticide sales and use is important. The sales data provides information for total sales for each active substance each year and over time informs us of any trends that are occurring. However sales data does not tell us on what crops the pesticides are being applied  and this is where the usage data is very important and useful. Over time as more and more data is collected from both sales and usage sources a more complete picture of pesticides will emerge.

Statistics accross domains are comparable to some extent but this comaparabilty is limited. First of all where a pesticide is sold (geographically) may not be where it is used. The larger the geographical area then perhaps the more comparable the sales and use data is.  Furthermore only the crops surveyed in a particular reference year will yield usage data on pesticide but this will be less than what is sold. This is because not all of what is sold each year is surveyed at usage level the same year. However over time usage statistics and sales statistics will better complement each other. It is also important to bear in mind that not all products that are offered up for sale are used for agricultural purposes  as  non-agricultural use of pesticides is also present and significant.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because the data collection is annual.

Not applicable, because it is not related to national accounts.

When the data is received the quantity can be checked against quantities reported to the annual fee section of this department and this is an internal method of checking the data.

No news release.

When publishing sales data in Ireland for confidentiality and data sensitivity reasons the data has been grouped together such as total kgs of fungicides, insecticides etc and can be found at PPP Market Statistics (www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie/sud/pesticidestatistics/) .

This publication takes place once a year after it has been collected and transmitted to Eurostat.

No online database.

Not applicable.

For confidentiality and data sensitivity reasons micro data is not published. If micro data is requested and depending on what data and if there is no confidentiality issues then the data may be released but this is not guaranteed. Micro data may be requested by submitting an email to PesticideRegisters@agriculture.gov.ie

Sales data is published on a stand alone basis and no reference is made to other data sources or dessiminations.

While there are no formal methodological documents available there are well established procedures in place as the data collection process has been in place for over 10 years. It is planned to document the methodology of the data collection based on lessons learned from this experience by way of compiling a procedure manual and this is being compiled during 2021. This standard operating procedure (SOP) will be an in house only document and will not be published with the data.

This quality report sets out the quality management for the census carried out.

Not requested.

Not requested.

The burden on respondents is not huge as all that is required is total sales of products for a reference period and this data should be readily available. As a result while a cost itself is not calculated it is believed that the cost is minimal to businesses involved. The cost to this organisation to seek, collect, check, compile, submit and publish the data as well as time involved in the preparation of the quality report  is considerably more  and is estimated to be in the region of €40,000 per annum.

No comment or descriptive text is attached to data or metadata.