Asia-Pacific countries discuss ways to invest in and improve agricultural and rural statistics for food security through a joint effort
A global initiative to improve the way agricultural statistics are compiled at country level has taken another step forward in Asia and the Pacific, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced today.
Some countries in the region employ unscientific methods of gathering agricultural statistics – resulting in a variety of inaccurate estimates from rice production and stocks to the number of livestock. In response, FAO has convened a regional consultation with its partners on agricultural and rural statistical best practices and a discussion on areas for improvement. The consultation has also attracted the participation of major donor countries and institutions.
“Our objective is to enable countries to develop sustainable statistical systems that can produce accurate and reliable agricultural and rural data for appropriate policy decision-making,” said Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative during welcome remarks.
“In the past, we often saw that statistics were managed in different ways and often by different departments within government ministries and between ministries, so we need to find ways to bring them together in a way that helps analyse the overall situation of food security and nutritional status,” Konuma said.
“We need to help countries formulate and implement policies to revitalize their rural areas and one of the ways to do that is to help countries enhance their data collection methods,” said Dalisay Maligalig, Principal Statistician from the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Improving the way statistics are compiled requires “statistical literacy that must be instilled in the education system,” said Margarita Guerrero, Director of the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP). “A highly skilled workforce in agricultural and rural statistics is needed to help address the challenge,” she added.
Work on improving agricultural and rural statistics began in 2012, with the endorsement of a regional action plan to support the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics. A regional steering committee was formed the following year which in turn endorsed eight countries for implementation of Global Strategy activities in the region with the intention of covering twenty countries by the end of the 2017.
These eight countries comprise: Bhutan, Fiji, Georgia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Samoa, and Sri Lanka. In addition, work in Bangladesh has been done under a related project supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“A necessary condition for the strategy to expand and succeed is more support from our donor community and resource partners,” said Konuma. Some governments may also need external support to build infrastructure for carrying out statistical activities or for building their human resource capabilities in identified areas, Konuma added.
The Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics was initiated by the UN Statistical Commission and is supported in the Asia-Pacific region by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP); as well as national statistics offices, agriculture ministries, and other government and private institutions producing and using agricultural statistics in the region.