(Item 9 of the agenda)111. The commission heard the presentation of the paper on Development of Agribusiness Statistics and Information System (document APCAS/00/12). The paper noted that during the last two decades, the economic and political structures of many countries in the region had undergone significant transformation. Rapid agricultural growth was observed in countries with open economies as well as those in transition. Despite a general decline in the share of agriculture in the national accounts, the sector continued to be the main source of employment and livelihood for the majority of the population. With the emphasis on globalization, agricultural development policies in many member countries were now giving more focus on agribusiness promotion.
112. The commission was informed that the changes in the orientation of agricultural development policies would result in increased demand for more market-oriented information, in addition to the conventional production-based statistics collected and compiled by the national agricultural services. The paper thus proposed the use of the commodity system as a possible framework for any plan to establish an agribusiness statistics and information system (ASIS). It noted that the commodity system framework could provide a more rational understanding of the information requirements of different agribusiness stakeholders.
113. The commission was further informed that a functional and user-friendly ASIS should be able to fulfill four specific functions, viz: to inform, to understand, to infer and to decide. These functions could be provided by a well-developed ASIS through its major information services: (a) News Service, (b) Monitoring Service, (c) Analysis Service, and (d) Advisory Service. The paper described the main features of these information services. As a comprehensive information system, ASIS would not be limited to providing only statistical information. Some of the possible information components might consist of: (a) supply and demand data; (b) price and price trends; (c) product standards for both fresh and processed agricultural and fisheries products; (d) business directories of producers, processors, traders (exporters, importers), cooperatives, etc.; (e) research and technology information; (f) international, regional and local markets; and (g) statistical accounting data.
114. The commission was also made aware of efforts in member countries such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines and Indonesia to develop ASIS as an integral component of the national agricultural statistical service.
115. The commission noted that some of the important issues that would affect the development of national ASIS included the following: (a) government support to statistical activities ranked as one of the lowest in budgetary priorities; (b) while the development and promotion of ASIS required multi-sectoral efforts, only governments could provide the infrastructure and operational pre-requisites for a multi-purpose information service; (c) private sector-initiated information services, where they existed, were generally limited in scope and were catering only to the respective groups’ internal requirements - their integration under the overall umbrella of ASIS might not be immediately feasible; (d) the developments in information and communication technology would influence the approaches for the collection, processing, analysis and dissemination of agribusiness information - National Statistical Offices and/or National Agricultural Statistical Services should start looking at information as a marketable commodity in order to recoup investments in establishing ASIS.
116. It was stressed that the principal role of the statisticians in ASIS was to compile and package them into information materials that the farmers could understand. Statisticians should not assume a major advocacy role in influencing farmers’ decisions. Rather, by providing farmer-based information materials that would help farmers gain better understanding of the interplay of various market forces, statisticians would have contributed to farmers’ production-marketing decision making processes.
117. The commission supported FAO’s plan to organize an Expert Consultation on Agribusiness Statistics. It recommended that the Consultation include in its agenda the sharing of experiences of member countries in establishing and maintaining ASIS and expressed the wish that a users’ manual on agribusiness statistics be prepared in the future.
