TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (PIA) - As the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Region 2 here prepares its workforce for the conduct of the Census of Agriculture and Fisheries (CAF), officials urged respondents to provide accurate information to obtain reliable fishery statistics.

As part of National Agriculture and Fisheries Census month on September, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has issued Proclamation No. 272 for the conduct of the CAF - a large scale government undertaking every 10 years geared towards collection and compilation of basic information on the agriculture and fishery sectors in the country.

Regional Director Girme Bayucan said the information to be gathered is very vital as the census will serve as basis for policy making, planning, and program implementation for the region's socio-economic development.

He said series of trainings have been conducted to equip the data collectors to ensure quality of the data to be collected and processed.

The training includes  discussion of responsibilities and liabilities of census supervisors, roles of enumerators, financial policies and procedures, orientation on data privacy, hands-on application using the computer-aided personal interview, and paper and pencil interview, among others.

Meanwhile, being one of the primary users of the data to be collected, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) regional office 2 has assisted PSA for the conduct of the census to ensure reliable agriculture and fishery statistics.

While BFAR has its own system in identifying vital statistics like number of registered fisherfolks, boats, fishing gears among others, PSA's census result is very vital in policy formulation and planning of appropriate interventions towards the development of the fisheries sector. (OTB/GVB/PIA-2)