The important role that complex, probability survey designs, and particularly area and multiple frame sampling methods, can play in ensuring accurate data and appropriate agriculture and rural development policies is discussed. A referral is made to large-scale multiple-purpose surveys in a wide variety of statistical programmes in developing countries. These very important survey methods have not been taught, applied or disseminated properly. The paper recommends specific changes to improve the teaching of survey sampling. It also proposes to apply a concrete survey sampling approach, whenever possible: to construct a master area sampling frame on which to base and conduct the area frame survey designs of some of the baseline agriculture and rural survey programmes. Among other aspects, this would facilitate comparison among surveys and provide an integrated view of the Agriculture and Rural sector.

Keywords: Development of Probability Theory and Probability Surveys; Baseline national statistics; Sampling design; Agriculture and livestock multiple frame surveys

Biography: González-Villalobos is an International Survey Statistician. Main interest: introduction of probability methods to conduct baseline national surveys in many countries for various fields. Specialization: management and design of multiple frame agricultural surveys involving the use of Geographic Information Systems including remote sensing technology. He is Fellow member of the National Academy of Sciences, Argentina and has been Senior Statistician in the FAO Statistics Division (Rome: 1992-2003) in charge of the agricultural survey and census methods for member countries, the organization of seminars around the world, and the World Census of Agriculture. He has written more than 80 papers on survey methods, stochastic processes, probability theory and Fourier series and integrals. One of his books, Multiple Frame Agricultural Surveys, translated in several languages, was adopted as a reference book on agricultural surveys in many countries. He has Argentinean and French citizenships, and received his Mathematics Ph.D. from The University of Chicago.