Conducting farm surveys

Farm and farm based surveys usually are used to study the existing land use practice, current production levels, local problems and the immediate needs of farmers. Information from surveys can provide valuable feedback for the development of new methods and approaches to agriculture. In many developing countries farmer based surveys are used by national and international development agencies to evaluate the success of agricultural development programmes. Training local agricultural extension agents in survey methods is seen as an important means to develop communication between the national policy level of agricultural planning, through agencies working in the field, to farmers at the local level.