Agricultural Assessments International Corporation Services

AAIC's products are used for decision making

All activities relating to the allocation and distribution of resources need accurate reliable information. The agricultural statistics generated by AAIC are used to make decisions by many different stakeholders in the agricultural sector. State and federal governments need reliable statistics to formulate and monitor policy on food security and to optimize farm programs, such as price support, or consumer protection. The private sector uses this information to make decisions on the price and timing of commodity trading, to assist market development, and to target sales of products and services. Farmer associations use statistical information for crop planning, livestock and poultry operations, and for marketing decisions. Other uses of agricultural statistics include planning purchases of fertilizers, seed, feed, and other farm supplies, as well as providing a solid link between producers and consumers. Whether one is dealing with the national grain output or a farmer's choice of crop for his farm, understanding the real agricultural outlook is a key element to any successful farm operation.

AAIC uses a proven technology to estimate agricultural production and environmental parameters that is established both in developed and developing countries. The US government’s crop and livestock statistics, which are the best in the world, are based on technology used by AAIC. AAIC staff have worked in over 50 countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Africa, Central, South, and North America.

System Development Philosophy

AAIC believes that the technological innovations used on projects must have direct benefits to the users, either because the quality of the information is improved or lower costs are obtained through increased efficiency. Preferably both goals will be attained. AAIC applies this philosophy to all of its projects, whether we are dealing with a sample frame for a country, the design of an image processing laboratory, or setting up pest-monitoring systems.

Sampling Frames

AAIC has been in operation since 1983. The main area of AAIC's expertise is the construction of national and project level area frames (AF) and the operation of agricultural and environmental surveys. These activities are carried out with the full participation of foreign governments and by design involve a considerable component of technology transfer. Established AAIC systems generate agricultural production statistics in operational settings with less than 5% error. Some important AAIC activities include:

    * Conducting data user requirement studies generally involving: Ministries of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, Commerce, Economics and Planning, the Central Bank, commodity traders, farmer’s associations, farm suppliers, and other users. This activity is essential for proper survey design.
    * Constructing area frames (AF) using satellite imagery, topographic maps, and aerial photos. Adaptation of existing digital materials for the purposes of the AF is another option.
    * Constructing list frames and implementing multiple frame sampling (MFS). During this stage the survey timing and the sample approach for the list frames are defined.
    * Calculating sample allocation and sample selection using optimum design. This system works in principle as a nested analysis of variance. The design is based on probability sampling and it is robust enough to allow for optimal sample allocation, emphasizing cost reduction and control of nonsampling errors.
    * Designing questionnaires tailored to particular conditions and timing of the survey, type of sampling segment, and variables to be researched. Questionnaires are written in the local language and allow for easy computer data entry.
    * Training personnel provided by client governments for managerial and supervision posts, as well as providing workshops for field interviewers.
    * Defining logistic needs to be provided by client governments, including working facilities, computer needs, and timing of vehicles and field expenditures.
    * Conducting surveys in cooperation with client governments. Surveys are conducted for planting and harvesting times. AAIC also manages other specialized surveys such as crop yield and economic surveys.
    * Analyzing data and integrating survey results into a usable form as requested in the data user requirement study. This activity includes such items as definition of content and timing of basic agricultural production, specialized information, statistics, farmer’s bulletin, etc. The qualitative aspects of the data collected, summarized, stored, and analyzed are primary project objectives. Typically, an efficient data collection system evolves after several interactions of survey operations. Survey operations are fine tuned using estimators and variances. Improved methods include data collection, summarization, and storage.
    * Developing an agro-economic analysis of production and trends when requested by client governments.
    * Ensuring quality control of the project at every stage.
    * Integrating satellite imagery that allows small area estimates to be made with more accuracy than can be accomplished without satellite imagery.

Agricultural Assessments International Corporation designs and implements information systems to support effective agricultural and environmental decision making and planning. The type of data needed for the decision making process varies according to the requirements of each project and forms a basic set of objectives for information system development. While the specific decisions and data are project dependent, the following list represents some typical data requirements and program objectives:

    * crop characteristics planted area, harvested area, inputs, yields total production
    * tree crops number of trees, area planted, yield per tree
    * livestock total number of animals, breakdown by ages, cattle on feed, birds for laying
    * farm production expenditures costs of inputs, labor, fertilizer, seed etc.
    * socio-economic data health, food consumption, income, labor, gender data, nutrition
    * demographic data
    * environmental indicators water quality, wildlife habitat, timber volume, range carrying capacity, soil capacity
    * integration of environmental, and socioeconomic data with agricultural production data.
    * data summary levels national, state, and project level data

Satellite data image processing and geographic information systems (GIS)

AAIC provides full range of satellite and video image processing. AAIC's staff have been involved in the design and operation of image processing facilities and technology transfer for image processing and GIS since 1984. AAIC focuses in low cost solutions with off the shelf components to build reliable solutions with minimum cost for purchasing and maintenance.

AAIC offers advanced training seminars for image processing and GIS. This training is considered part of the technology transfer during the development of area frame with digital technology.


Digital database construction

AAIC develops cartographic digital databases in a variety of vector and raster formats, including PCI, GeoTIFF, ArcINFO, MapInfo, IDRISI, Atlas GIS. Products are delivered in CDROM.