THIS year's agriculture census 2008-09 is in progress in the country, and the time fixed for sample surveys at field level was May 11-29. The survey report will be released in June 2009. It will be good if the report can be publicly available in time. The last report of the agriculture census, 1996, was released in July 1999. An agriculture census is essential to obtain the detailed data/statistics/information necessary to keep the nation informed of the changes in the country's agriculture. Agriculture census, which covers a wide range of activities and huge numbers of farm and non-farm holdings, is indeed a difficult task. The on-going census, for the first time, will also cover urban agriculture. Conducted every ten years, the agriculture census is the only source of official data that is used for planning and forecasting. Although such type of activity has national significance, unfortunately, so far, it has received very little attention from our media and concerned stakeholders. The current census is being conducted after 13 years, which is a long time, and a lot of changes occurred in Bangladesh agriculture during this period. The first agriculture census was conducted in 1960 during "pre-green revolution" period. Since then, we have been witnessing gradual changes in our agricultural development process, which has become more rapid since the late 1990s. The accelerated changes, which are taking place should be identified through the census. It should be noted that all concerned persons would want to know the dynamics of such changes, and also who are the driving forces behind it. It is not enough to know only the changes in the classified farm categories and land holdings belonging to them. Expectation from this census is much higher than from earlier ones. A need is felt for a wide range of accurate information about farm production, cropping patterns, cropping pattern- based land area estimation rather than commodity-based, farming systems, management practices and finances, as well as personal characteristics of farmers and farm household members. Inadequacy of information in all previous censuses did not allow analysis of agriculture in terms of its inherent potential and problems vis-