EUROSTAT UNIT:E.1
THEME:4.07 – Agri-environmental statistics
TITLE:Pilot studies on estimating non-agricultural use of pesticides and on estimating the content of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in agricultural products
SUMMARY OF THE APPLICATION
Title of the specific action(s) proposed for a grant
(Please tick the boxes below as appropriate) / Yes / No
Action 2: Pilot studies on estimating the content of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in agricultural products / /
Identity of the applicant:
(official name in full) / Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia
Overall maximum duration of the action(s) requesting a grant (in months): / 30 months
1.1 IDENTITY OF THE APPLICANT
Official name in full: / Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia
Acronym: (if applicable) / CSB
Official legal form: Public entity[1] / Public entity
1.2 CONTACT DETAILS
Street address: / 1, Lacplesa Street
Postcode: / LV-1301
Town/City: / Riga
Country: / Latvia
Telephone: / (+371) 67 366 850
Fax: / (+371) 67 366 850
E-mail address: /
1.3 CONTACT PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTION(S)
Action 2: Pilot studies on estimating the content of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in agricultural products
(if applicable)
Family name: / Karlsone
First Name: / Guna
Position/Function[2]: / Senior Officer, Agriculturalstatisticssection
Telephone: / (+371) 67 366 981
Fax: / (+371) 67 366 850
E-mail address: /
3 SELECTION CRITERIA: APPLICANT'S OPERATIONAL CAPACITY TO COMPLETE THE PROPOSED ACTION
The Central Statistical Bureau is a direct administration authority subordinated to the Ministry of Economics, which is executed in the form of supervision. It is responsible for the organization of the work of official statistics in the Republic of Latvia and for the correctness of the data it has obtained by compiling the information received from respondents. The Central Statistical Bureau perform the following functions:
1) implementation of a unified State policy in the field of management, compilation, analysis and publication of the official statistical information;
2) provision of users of statistics with information included in the National Programme of Statistical Information for which the responsibility is borne by the Central Statistical Bureau;
3) preparation, within the scope of the financial resources of the current year, of the National Programme of Statistical Information, the questionnaire forms for official statistics. The National Programme of Statistical Information, the questionnaire forms for official statistics shall be approved by the Cabinet;
4) taking responsibility for the development of a unified classification system for economic information. The Cabinet shall approve the unified classification system for economic information and the procedures for the implementation and use thereof.;
5) co-ordination of the whole flow of statistical information at the national level, as well as the mutual harmonisation of the statistical indicators to be included in State registers and other information systems;
6) co-ordination of the activities of State authorities in the field of statistics, as well as international co-operation;
7) carrying out, upon agreement with the interested private individuals or State authorities, of additional statistical work which is not included in the National Programme of Statistical Information; and
8) performance of scientific research in the field of statistics, business tendency surveys in the branches of national economy, as well as development of prognosis of statistical indicators in accordance with the National Programme of Statistical Information.
The Action 1 and Action 2 will be performed by the CSB of Latvia.
The operational capacity can be proven by the CV of project leader for Action 1 and Action 2 which are attached to this proposal.
Performance of the Action 2 sets that coefficients for the crops have to be available from sound scientific research. The CSB of Latvia does not have potential to perform scientific reserches covering all issues related to the improvement of the coefficients and therefore for the Action 2 the CSB of Latvia will involve the sub-contractor. The possible sub-contractor may be Dr. habil. agr. Aldis Kārkliņš, Professor of Soil Fertility, Institute of Soil & Plant Science, Latvia University of Agriculture – a person having specific knowledge about and experience in issues related with soil – fertilizer interactions and cropping systems, with well based agronomic background and research oriented approach and having international publications concerning calculation of the Gross Nutrient Balances and analyses regarding their impact on environment.
Tasks to be subcontracted:
- to identify scientifically sound methodology and technical solutions for calculation of the N and P contents in harvested crop production taking into account the production systems, management practices, etc. and to allow comparisions of GNB among countries and over time
- to work out scientifically sound methodology and technical solutions for calculation of the harvest of by-products significant at national level and corresponding N and P content
- to calculate N and P content coefficients missing or based on outdated research
- to ensure quality by developing peer-review requesting external expertise, etc.
- to prepare interim and the final reports
Action 2: Pilot studies on estimating the content of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in agricultural products
(Please tick the boxes below as appropriate in order to indicate that the requested document or information is attached and complete the current application form)
Curriculum vitae of the key person(s) - project manager(s) – coordinating the action 2 /
Please provide a brief description of his/her relevant competences and previous experiences in the context of the action: / Leadership of the project ‘Pilot studies on improving the quality of Agro-environmental indicators – Gross Nutrient Balances’. Grant agreement No 40701.2008.001-2008.459. Final Report accepted in 2009.
Please provide a justification on subcontracting, if any: / The possible sub-contractor may be Dr. habil. agr. Aldis Kārkliņš, Professor of Soil Fertility, Institute of Soil & Plant Science, Latvia University of Agriculture – the person having specific knowledge and experience in soil – fertilizer interactions and cropping systems, with well based agronomic background and research oriented approach and having international publications concerning calculation of the Gross Nutrient Balances and analyses of the impact to environment.
1.2 DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION 2 (if applicable)
Title: Pilot studies on estimating the content of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in agricultural products
a) Describe the general and specific objectives that the action aims at achieving:
The main objective of the action is to define the best practice methodology for providing up-to-date nutrient crop content coefficients necessary for the calculation of harmonised Gross Nutrient Balances (GNB).
Specific objectives include:
- Identification of scientifically sound methodology and technical solutions for calculation of the N and P contents in harvested crop production taking into the account the production systems, management practices, etc. and allowing comparisions of the GNB among the countries and over time
- Identification of scientifically sound methodology and technical solutions for calculation of the harvest of by-products significant at national level and corresponding N and P contents
- Calculation of N and P content coefficients missing or based on outdated research
- Provision of quality by developing a peer-review requesting external expertise, etc.
- participation in coordination meetings and potential Task Forces for examining, discussing and comparing actual experiences of crop content coefficients
b) Describe the action (on the basis of the main activities foreseen) and where it will be implemented
The action will start with the identification of the crop coefficients missing or based on outdated research which have to be improved. Then the revision of the possible data sources will be done.
Coefficients for the main crop have to be available from sound scientific research therefore in order to obtain the N and P contents in the crop products, a desk study will be ensured, as well as pilot data collection.
For the GNB calculations it is necessary to estimate the removal of nutrients with the harvest of crops, it means that all parts of the crop removed from the field (or partly removed) need to be taken into account (if significant). In accordance with thecriteria mentioned above, thecoefficientsshould be developed for main products and for the by-products of all crops cultivated in Latvia in significant amount. Approximately 40 positions for main crop and 10 positions for the by-product are chose where the improvement of the coefficients is necessary because of outdated research.
Differences in coefficients could be relevant between conventional and organic farming practices therefore a proposal is to make such differentation for crops ussually produced using both metods-organically and conventionally. The production method may affect N and P content in crops significantly.
For all crops, for which a chemical analysis is needed at least 5 replicated samples should be analysed. These samples should be collected from different regions of Latvia taking into account the main area of growing of such crop as well as the dominating farming technology.
For data where desk studies are appropriate (improvement of coefficients based on published data and data from laboratories) the studies will include the collection of relevant information - at least 5 figures for each indicator allowing to perform the evaluation of statistical significance.
Data validation will be performed through the comparison of the obtained coefficients with the high quality data from other sources, e.g. dissertations, peer reviewed publications as well as internationally, preferably with colleagues from countries with similar soil and climatic conditions and agricultural practise as in Latvia.
All data obtained will be organized in the simple data base (EXCEL sheets) allowing for periodical revision or additions when new information is available.
An intermediate report will be prepared at mid-project and it will include the level of progress achieved and possible difficulties. The Final report will contain the analysis of the results, descriptions of activities carried out, description of the methodology for calculation of the coefficients, assessment of sustainability of the coefficient update procedure, updated national N and P crop content coefficients.
Participation in the coordinate meetings and potential Task Forces will contribute to the comparison of actual experiences of Member States.
c) Organisation of the project management:
Coefficients for crops have to be available from sound scientific research which includes also a desk study to obtain N and P contents therefore the action will be subcontracted.
The possible sub-contractor may be Dr. habil. agr. Aldis Kārkliņš, Professor of Soil Fertility, Institute of Soil & Plant Science, Latvia University of Agriculture – a person having specific knowledge and experience in soil – fertilizer interactions and cropping systems, with well based agronomic background and research oriented approach as well as having international publications concerning calculation of the Gross Nutrient Balances and analyses of their impact to environment.
The tasks to be subcontracted:
- to identify scientifically sound methodology and technical solutions for calculation of the N and P contents in harvested crop production taking into account the production systems, management practices, etc. and to allow comparisons of GNB among countries and over time
- to work out scientifically sound methodology and technical solutions for calculation of the harvest of by-products significant at national level and corresponding N and P contents
- to calculate N and P content coefficients missing or based on outdated research
- to ensure quality by developing peer-review requesting external expertise, etc.
- to prepare interim and final reports
d) Arrangements for monitoring/supervision during the operation and foreseen risks about the implementation:
Within the framework of this project the monitoring will be ensured by the project leader.
In the CSB the Project Monitoring Committee (PMC) has been established. It is a higher management level committee chaired by the President of the CSB, which supervises the implementation of the EU co-financed projects in the CSB.
2 PLANNED DURATION OF THE ACTION(S) (in months):
(Please note that the overall duration of the action(s) should be in accordance to the information provided above inthe part "summary of the application". Please fill in the tables below for the action(s) relevant to the current application)
Action(s) / Planned starting date: / Duration of the action(s) (in months):
Action 2. Pilot studies on estimating the content of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in agricultural products / January 2012 / 18
2.(a) TIMETABLE TO CARRY OUT EACH STAGE OF THE ACTION SHOWING MAIN DATES AND EXPECTED RESULTS FOR EACH STAGE
Action 2. Pilot studies on estimating the content of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in agricultural products
Milestones/ Deliverables (Action 2) / Timetable (month-year) (Action 2)
Identifying coefficients need to be improved, literature studies / M1+M2
Revision of data sources and provision of the data necessary for calculation of coefficients / M1+M2
Calculating N and P content coefficients missing or based on outdated research / M+3-M+5
Identifying methodology for calculating N and P content for by-products / M+2- M+5
Identifying methodology and calculating N and P content with diferentation for crops organically and conventionally produced / M+5-M+6
Performance of chemical analysis (sampling, laboratory activities, data processing) / M+5-M+14
Collection of relevamt information for each indicator allowing to perform the evaluation of statistical significance / M+6-M+9
Data validation and comparing obtained coefficients with data from other resources (dissertations, peer reviewed publications) / M+10- M+13
Analysis of data quality taking into account sustainability and comparability / M+13- M+16
Preparation and development of methodology for obtaining data in future / M+13-M+15
Preparation and transmission of the Interim Report / M+8
Preparation and transmission of the Final Report / M+15-M+18
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[1] Reminder: see eligibility criterion in Part II.1
[2]the contact person is in principle the project leader - to be mentioned here