1. The Seventeenth Session of the Asia and Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics (APCAS), organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), was held in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia from 2 to 6 November 1998 at the invitation of the Government of Australia. The Session was attended by 56 delegates and observers from 21 member countries, three United Nations organisations and specialised agencies, and two international organisations.
2. His Excellency Sir Guy Green, Governor of Tasmania addressed the inaugural session. He welcomed and extended the warm Tasmanian hospitality to all the delegates of the Commission’s Seventeenth Session. Mr. Tadashi Tsuchiya, Director, Marketing and Consumption Statistics Division, Statistics and Information Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan, represented Mr. Fukushima, outgoing chairperson, and presided over the inaugural ceremonies.
3. In his inaugural address, the Governor expressed appreciation to the Commission for accepting the invitation of the Australian Government, extended during the Commission’s Sixteenth Session in Japan, to host the Seventeenth Session of APCAS in Hobart, capital city of Tasmania. He informed the Commission that Hobart served as the ideal location for the Commission’s Seventeenth biennial Session as it was the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ s National Project Centre for Agriculture. The University of Tasmania, the country’s premiere educational institution for aquaculture, was also located in the city. Moreover, the Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources was likewise based here. This project was undertaking pioneering research and development activities in the field of predictive microbiology for predicting the survival and growth of microorganisms in food products under various conditions.
4. He emphasised the importance of the availability of reliable and timely statistics to help in the development of policies for reducing malnutrition and rural poverty, increasing international agricultural trade and for other related socio-economic concerns.
5. He reminded the Commission that the role of the statisticians was not confined to data collection and processing activities. He advised the statistical community to exert more effort to increase public understanding of statistical data. An education campaign should be systematically set aimed at disabusing common misconceptions on statistical outputs. He cited as an example that the existence of correlation between two variables did not automatically indicate connection between them and should not therefore be used as basis for extrapolation.
6. Mr. Tsuchiya, in his capacity as outgoing chair, thanked the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia for its excellent accommodation and complete preparation for the conduct of the Seventeenth Session at Hobart. He also extended his gratitude to the delegates for coming to Hobart to participate in the Session. He noted that since the establishment of the Commission in 1966, the biennial forum had been held without fail and these had greatly contributed to the development of agricultural statistics among member countries.
7. He expressed his concern on the economic crisis faced by member countries. He noted that the crisis would seem to persist for some time in the Region. He was disturbed that the crisis was being further aggravated by the recent natural disasters which were adversely affecting the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors. He then extended his sympathy to the countries that had suffered extensive damages from these natural calamities.
8. He nonetheless opined that even under such severe circumstances, agricultural statistics would continue to be accurately prepared through surveys and would thus, immensely contribute to addressing long-term food and agriculture problems in the world.
9. Moreover, he expressed hope that Japan’s positive support to the previous Session’s recommendation for a regional information dissemination project, would serve as a catalyst to improve the accuracy of member countries’ agricultural statistics and pave the way for a unified statistical information and mutual data exchange mechanism.
10. In ending, he wished that the Seventeenth Session of the Commission would contribute further to the development and improvement of agricultural statistics and that the Session would be held under a cordial and cooperative atmosphere.
11. Speaking on behalf of the FAO Assistant Director-Genera/Regional Representative for Asia and Pacific, and as Director, Statistics Division, Mr. Ladislav Kabat, welcomed the participants of the Seventeenth Session of the Commission. He also thanked the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia for hosting the Commission Session and expressed admiration for Australia’s sound statistical system.
12. He noted that this was the first time that the Commission was meeting in Australia and that, also for the first time, the Session was being held outside the capital city of a member country. He recognised that this was one meeting where a large number of member countries (21 out of 24), were represented. He specifically mentioned that Bhutan, for the first time, was able to send a delegation.
13. Mr. Kabat also noted that many countries in the Region had been hit by a severe economic crisis in the recent months. The recessions being experienced by most Southeast Asian countries were expected to adversely affect the lifestyle, and subsequently, the food consumption pattern of the people in the sub-region. The economic crunch was being compounded by the devastations caused by El Niño, which could worsen further with the expected setting in of La Niña. As these two natural phenomena were expected to result in reduction in crop production, he expressed concern on the most likely further deterioration of the nutritional status of malnourished people in the Region.
14. He informed the Commission that the Plan of Action formulated in the 1996 World Food Summit guided the current FAO Programme, which gave highest priority on Food Security. The Action Plan included the development and maintenance of the Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping System (FIVIMS). He was pleased to note that FIVIMS had been included as the major agenda item of the Commission Session. In this regard, he encouraged the Commission to carefully deliberate on this topic particularly during the planned working session.
15. He also noted that the Commission had included several items on tools for improving the national statistical systems. He particularly highlighted the importance of the Japan-supported regional project on the improvement of agricultural statistics. The project would help countries identify priority areas for improvement and develop a statistical development plan. He informed the Commission that the outputs of the project should complement and further enrich FAOSTAT, the statistical component of WAICENT. It could also enhance the participation of member countries in the emerging global electronic information highway.
16. He acknowledged the valuable support of the United States of America and Australia to the Commission. These two countries contributed papers on different agenda items related to national statistical systems. He further called the attention of the Commission to two important papers on statistics and information relating to forestry and fisheries, respectively. He encouraged the Commission to devote adequate attention to these agenda items.
17. Mr. William McLennan, Australian Statistician, provided the participants a comprehensive overview of the country’s statistical system. He stated that organically, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) served as the central statistical authority for the Australian Government. It was not completely centralised as it had several national project centres located in State Offices. Mr. McLennan mentioned that Tasmania, for example, was the centre for agriculture. He also indicated statistical priorities were set by the Australian Statistician based on recommendations of the Australian Statistics Advisory Council. He shared with the Commission the ABS Operating Principles which included the following: equal access to statistics for all users; simultaneous release of statistics to all users; advance notification of schedule of release of data; public access to documentation on concepts, sources and methods used; provision of information about the reliability of statistics; quick response to unjust criticisms on quality and integrity; and maintenance of confidentiality of information provided by respondents.
18. He also informed the Commission that in recent years, the national statistical service, particularly its agricultural statistics had undergone significant re-programming. In view of the democratic process of governance in the country, the Federal Government had decreed that the Australian Bureau of Statistics exert efforts in reducing the number and frequency of statistical inquiries to ease the citizenry’s statistical reporting obligations. He informed the Commission that in response, the ABS restructured its statistical programme and its current major agricultural collections now consisted of five-yearly agricultural census; large-scale agriculture survey in intervening years; annual survey of agricultural finance; and monthly/quarterly livestock production collection.
19. He mentioned that, in addition to these major statistical activities, ABS continued to include in its regular programmes provision of technical support such as statistical consultancy, workshops, study tours, documentation of statistical methods, and participation in international conferences. Despite recent budgetary cuts, ABS still endeavoured to provide active support for concerns affecting the Asia-Pacific region which included: sharing knowledge and contributing to international fora; active membership in UN Statistical Commission, APCAS, SIAP, ESCAP; and provision of statistician for the South Pacific Commission.
20. Mr. Hiek Som, FAO Senior Statistician, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) and APCAS Secretary, on behalf of the Commission, thanked the ABS for organising and hosting the Session. He acknowledged that the enthusiastic response of the member countries to the Commission’s invitation to participate in the Seventeenth Session could be attributed to the two-year preparation that the Government of Australia devoted for the organisation of this Session.
21. He expressed his gratitude for the continuing support the Commission was receiving from member countries, particularly the USA and Australia, which contributed papers for this Session. He also acknowledged the support of the FAO Assistant Director-General/Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific and the Director of Statistics in the various activities of the Commission. He further acknowledged the support of his colleagues at the FAO Regional Office and at FAO HQ.
22. Finally he thanked the Chair of the Sixteenth Session of the Commission for his active participation in the activities of the APCAS.
23. Mr. Robin Slater, Assistant Statistician, Australian Bureau of Statistics, delegate from Australia was unanimously elected Chair of the Seventeenth Session. Mr. Sugiarto, Deputy Director-General, Statistics Indonesia, and Head of the Indonesian Delegation was elected First Vice-Chair and Mr. Noor M. Larik, Director-General, Federal Bureau of Statistics, and Head of Pakistan Delegation, the Second Vice-Chair.
24. The Commission constituted a Drafting Committee. Ms. Jirawan Boonperm (Thailand) was elected Chair. Members of the Committee were: Mr. Kolin Toivonen (Australia), Mr. Togar Napitupulu (Indonesia), Mr. Romeo Recide (Philippines) and Mr. Larry Sivers (USA). Mr. Loganaden Naiken (FAO, Rome), Mr. Hiek Som (FAO/RAP) and Mr. Generoso de Guzman (Consultant, FAO/RAP) were co-opted to the Committee.
25. The Session adopted the Agenda given in Appendix A. A list of delegates and observers is given in Appendix B, and a list of documents in Appendix C. Speeches of the guests are in Appendices D-F. The list of member countries as of November 1998 is given in Appendix G.
