The national system of agricultural statistics in the country is organized and
regulated under the Statistics Act of 1984. The primary statistical arm of the
Jamaican Government responsible for all national statistics is the
Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN).
This agency was established under the Statistics (Amendment) Act 1984 on April
9, 1984. The Institute was then invested with all the powers formerly vested in
the Department of Statistics and previously the Bureau of Statistics (which came
into existence in 1946) along with other powers. The main functions of the
Institute are:
- to collect, compile, analyze, extract, and publish statistical information
relating to commercial, industrial, social, economic, general activities and
condition of the people;
- to collaborate with public agencies in the collection, compilation, and
publication of statistical information derived from the activities of such
agencies;
- to promote and develop integrated social and economic statistics
pertaining to Jamaica and to coordinate programmes for the integration of such
statistics.
The institute has a wide range of publications and reports in order to fulfill
its mandate to make statistical data readily available. It also maintains a
website,
http://www.statinja.com
, through which information and publications are available.
As it relates specifically to agricultural statistics, the main activity carried
out by the Statistical Institute is the organization and execution of the Census
of Agriculture. The last of which was done in 2006 and follows the usual
ten-year cycle. Responsibility for most of the other areas of agricultural
statistics has been delegated by the Statistical Institute to the Ministry of
Agriculture. The Division within the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries given
the responsibility for the collection, collation, storage, analyses, and
dissemination of agricultural statistics is the Agricultural Market Information
Division (AMID).
In addition to providing information for the use of internal planning for the
Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, AMID forms an integral part of the system
of the national statistical structure and is the main provider of statistics on
agriculture to the Statistical Institute as well as the Planning Institute of
Jamaica. The collection of information under JAMIS is therefore done within the
ambit of AMID.