XCII. PERMANENT SECTION ON AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS IN THE INTER-AMERICAN STATISTICAL INSTITUTE

WHEREAS:

1. Effective inter-American collaboration in agricultural matters depends to a great extent on the availability of adequate statistical information, at periodic intervals, on the agriculture of the various countries of the Continent;

2. Adequate statistical information on American agriculture requires the establishment of technical standards which permit international comparison of the same, and this can only be attained through the permanent work of an inter-American agency which studies the data and makes recommendations to the different countries;

3. The Inter-American Statistical Institute being the inter-American agency charged with the technical coordination of the statistical services of the Continent, the aforesaid permanent work can be entrusted to the said Institute, provided the various Governments give it the necessary cooperation and financial support;

The Third Inter-American Conference on Agriculture

Resolves:

To recommend the following:

1. That the countries which have not yet joined the Inter-American Statistical Institute do so at the earliest possible moment and thus accept Recommendation I of the Second Inter-American Conference on Agriculture;

2. That a permanent section be created in the Inter-American Statistical Institute to handle exclusively everything relating to agricultural statistics;

3. That such permanent section take charge of the study on uniform standards for agricultural statistics which must be established by the countries of the American Continent;

4. That both in the Yearbook which the Inter-American Statistical Institute is preparing and in other periodic publications of the same nature, special attention be given to agricultural statistics in the Continent;

5. That the Inter-American Statistical Institute keep on hand a file of American statistical publications which can be sent to the different nations of the Continent upon their request;

6. That the various Governments be requested to furnish the necessary cooperation and financial support for the attainment of the objectives set forth in the foregoing recommendations.

XCIII. KNOWLEDGE OF THE RURAL POPULATION

WHEREAS:

1. The final objective of all programs for the furtherance of agriculture is essentially that of improving the living standards of the population;

2. Many rural families lack the knowledge, economic means, leisure and the necessary resources for a comfortable life;

3. Practically all the American nations are considering the adoption of measures for creating services and other adequate means for the purpose of broadening opportunities for the education and recreation of the rural population,

The Third Inter-American Conference on Agriculture

Resolves:

To recommend that, in order to obtain a sound basis for improving rural life, each country of the American Continent initiate a program directed through a national control office, for collecting data, making periodic investigations and maintaining a permanent body for information relating to such matters as:

1. The composition, distribution and characteristics of the rural population;

2. Domestic migration;

3. Housing conditions;

4. Health services and hygienic customs;

5. Food habits and needs;

6. Educational services and accomplishments.

XCIV. FORECASTS OF FARM AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION

WHEREAS:

1. In a majority of the countries of America a prime source of information with respect to agricultural production is the census, which, by its nature and extent, is taken within pre-established periods of time, normally every five or ten years;

2. Work done along agricultural lines by government agencies, by farmers, as well as by manufacturers and merchants connected with agricultural production, needs to be planned in advance every year;

3. Each government, knowing the probable production, could in a practical manner guide production policy with a view to equalizing conditions of deficit or surplus,

The Third Inter-American Conference on Agriculture

Resolves: To recommend to all American countries the advisability of making, if they have not already done so, systematic estimates of the most important crops, as well as of livestock production, and of studying and perfecting the most suitable methods for such purpose.

XCV. INTER-AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION

WHEREAS:

SERVICE

1. The favorable development of agriculture in America requires an adequate system of technical legal, social, economic and statistical data concerning the agricultural situation of the American countries;

2. The inter-American agricultural data now available do not cover all the important aspects nor do they satisfy the interests of the governments and of the farmers;

3. The recommendations made by the previous Inter-American Conferences on Agriculture with respect to agricultural information services have not been completely carried out;

The Third Inter-American Conference on Agriculture

Resolves:

1. To recommend the formation of a Commission of experts of the several countries, designated by the Pan American Union, and of at least five members, among whom shall be named a President, in order that it may immediately study the most effective way to improve national and inter-American agriculture information services.

2. To recommend to the said Commission that, not later than one year from this date, it communicate its conclusions to the Executive Committee of the Third Inter-American Conference on Agriculture, in order that it may transmit them to the American governments, to the Pan American Union, to the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences, to the Inter-American Statistical Institute, and to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

XCVI. AGRICULTURAL AND LIVESTOCK CENSUS

WHEREAS:

1. Periodic agricultural and livestock censuses constitute the base for other agricultural statistics;

2. Periodic agricultural and livestock censuses are fundamental, not only for the efficient development of any national agricultural policy, but also for the development of the continental economy;

3. In order that the statistical data derived from the agricultural census may contribute to the development of the said economy, it is necessary that uniform statistical methods be employed that permit international comparison;

4. Nevertheless, some of the American countries do not have at the present time periodic national agricultural and livestock census, The Third Inter-American Conference on Agriculture

Resolves:

1. To recommend that the Governments of the American nations

pass the necessary laws to establish the national agricultural and livestock census, to be taken every five years, in the years ending in zero and five; and that these countries which cannot undertake to effect a census every five years do so every ten years in those years ending with zero, and also take censuses with reduced agricultural data in the years ending in five.

2. To entrust to the Inter-American Statistical Institute the study and proposal of a minimum plan of common data and tabulations for the American agricultural-livestock censuses.

WHEREAS:

XCVII. WORLD CENSUS, 1950

1. Various international councils and agencies have been promoting and actively mapping out specific plans for a world census of population and agriculture for the year 1950;

2. Knowledge and appraisal of the human and material resources of a nation acquired through periodical censuses are fundamental for the intelligent consideration and solution of problems of world scope pertaining:

(a) To the production, distribution, and utilization of crops, livestock, and other agricultural and forest products;

(b) To trade in food products, fibers, and other raw materials; (c) To the general welfare of the population in matters of nutrition, health, sanitation and housing, standards of living, teaching and leisure,

The Third Inter-American Conference on Agriculture

Resolves:

1. To recommend that each nation in the Western Hemisphere adopt the necessary measures for the taking of a national census of population and agriculture (including livestock and forest products) for the year 1950;

2. That each nation cooperate with the Inter-American Statistical Institute and with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization to the end that minimum standards of uniformity may be adopted for such censuses, thus facilitating comparison.

XCVIII. CLASSIFICATION AND SPECIFICATION OF

AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY

WHEREAS: It is desirable that we should have a common nomenclature concerning agricultural machinery, motors, tools, implements and installations, inasmuch as the different denominations are fre

quently the cause of errors of interpretation which handicap the comparative studies,

The Third Inter-American Conference on Agriculture

Resolves:

1. To recommend that the Governments of the American nations prepare a detailed list of agricultural machinery, motors, tools, implements and installations utilized in the respective countries, and that this list be sent to the Inter-American Statistical Institute.

2. To charge the said Institute with making the specification and classification of said machinery, motors, tools, implements and installations as well as with the later publication of such nomenclature.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Delegates of the American Republics sign, in twenty-two exact copies, the present Final Act, of which every Delegation, as well as the Representative of the Pan American Union, receives here and now its respective copy. The Government of the United States of Venezuela will transmit to that of the United States of Brazil a certified copy of this Final Act in the Portuguese language; to that of Haiti, one in the French language; to that of the United States of America, one in the English language; and to the Pan American Union copies in these three languages.

DONE at Caracas, in the Auditorium of the Liceo Andrés Bello, on the seventh day of August, nineteen hundred and forty-five.