Harnessing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Facilities to Promote a User-responsive Agribusiness Statistics and Information System

(Item 6 of the Agenda)

17. The Expert Consultation was informed that statistical system of Thailand was decentralized, with each ministry collecting statistics to serve its own needs, either through surveys or as products of administration. It was noted the principal agencies involved in agricultural and fisheries statistics were the following:

• National Statistical Office (NSO), an agency under the Office of the Prime Minister, was responsible for conducting all censuses, relating to population, agriculture and fisheries, and industries and many large-scale surveys, excluding agricultural surveys, such as those on labour force and household socio-economics.
• Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE), an office under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC), the prime agency responsible for collection, compilation, and dissemination of all current agricultural statistics, especially agricultural production statistics; the official source of agricultural statistics of the country.
• Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), on area and production of various crops (mainly for internal use) from the reports of its local offices, had agricultural extension officers in every tambon (sub-district).
• Department of Livestock Development (DLD), on number of animals raised and slaughtered, death from epidemic diseases, vaccinated and number of beasts of burden (elephants, horses, mules and asses).
• Department of Fisheries (DOF), on all fisheries statistics. The Amphoe (district) Fisheries Office was the lowest administrative level of the DOF.
• Department of Business Economics (DBE) of the Ministry of Commerce, on trade, wholesale and retail prices of all products including agricultural products.
• Other Agencies, including several that compile and disseminate agribusiness and related statistics and information, namely, Department of Export Promotion and Department of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, Customs Department, Ministry of Finance Bank of Thailand, Office of Industrial Economics, Ministry of Industry and National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB).

18. Agribusiness and related statistics were required to facilitate domestic and international agricultural trade. In recent years, there had been growing importance in agribusiness statistics and information among commercial crop farmers, traders, exporters, importers, agro-industries, government agencies, and consumers. Although the definition of agribusiness was not clear, in general agribusiness statistics and information system would include at least the following major items:

• Production quantity by type of grade or quality of the products
• Prices of commodities by type of grade by particular market
• Marketing quantity, marketing channel and marketing cost for each level of the markets
• Domestic consumption and utilization in quantity and value
• Stocks held by particular groups at certain date
• Export and import volumes and values by commodity by country of destination
• Import and export tax rates and other charges
• Cost of production by commodity
• Trade regulations (e.g. quota and quarantine procedure), government policy, and foreign investment law etc.

19. It was interesting to note that after the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the emergence of regional trade blocs and the evolving practices under the banner of “trade liberalization,” many important trade issues related to environment, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, animal welfare, and the multifunctionality of agriculture had emerged. These issues very often, were intentionally designed to protect the domestic producers in importing countries. However, for exporting countries, the same issues were considered as another non-tariff trade barrier (NTB). Importing countries, on the other hand, were arguing that these were important for consumer or environmental protection. The data and information related to these issues were needed to be collected and carefully studied to support negotiations with the concerned trading partner countries or make changes to meet the requirements of importing countries.

20. The Expert Consultation was also informed that the influence of information and communication technology (ICT) on the way of life of all people in all countries around the world including farmers in the very remote areas had become greater. Those with access to more detailed and more rapid information would have more advantages than those with limited and outdated information. In this fast-developing world, it was noted that peoples were competing with one another not only in “economies of scale” but also in “economies of speed.” This required the application of ICT. The major roles of ICT in agribusiness were mainly to search for and disseminate information all over the world. In the past, searching for and dissemination of information was time-consuming and expensive because the information was generally disseminated mostly in paper-based form or through the mass media such as newspapers, radio and television.

21. The emergence of Internet technology had now made it possible to search for and find the necessary information worldwide and on-demand very easily and quickly. Furthermore, the convenience of advertising or selling products worldwide using e-commerce facilities of the Internet technology had led to the rapid expansion of business activities including agribusiness. In the future the development of e-farmers would also be important for farmers to facilitate access agribusiness statistics and information through the ICT.

22. Currently, OAE was implementing a pilot project using the bulletin board system (BBS) within the existing website (thaifarmer.oae.go.th) as a two-way communication tool for disseminating relevant information to farmers as well as a channel for receiving messages or questions from farmers. About 60 local organizations such as agricultural cooperatives, Tambon (sub-district) Administration Office (TAO) and Tambon Technology Transfer and Services Center (TTTSC) were project participants. The results remained to be seen. Furthermore, the government planned to install Internet facilities in all 7,000 Tambons nationwide within 5 years. Already about 100 Tambons had Internet facilities. This facility would enhance the agribusiness activities within the country and over the world.

23. The problems of using ICT facilities to promote a user-responsive agribusiness statistics and information system were cited as follows:

• Quality of data/information - outdated data and information and sometimes, inconsistent with those of different agencies; data on many needed items such as current stocks and marketing volume had not been collected; difficulty on the part of foreigners to access data which was in the Thai language.
• Personnel - limited number of qualified and experienced TCT personnel.
• Lack of product standard.
• Publicity - Traders and agribusiness people were not well informed on the availability of existing information. Currently, there was no website that was specifically designed for agribusiness purposes.

24. The agricultural sector was very important to the national economy, exports from this sector being a major source of foreign earnings. Agribusiness statistics and information system were a critical factor in rational decision-making among farmers, traders and processors. There was no information system that had been specifically designed for agribusiness purposes. The information was scattered in many agencies and websites. Consequently, it was not convenient for data users. To make the system more effective, workshops and seminars on the needed agribusiness statistics and information should be organized among the data producers and data users; a training program designed for ICT staff and webmasters should be organized; and after an ICT system had been established, the contents of each website should be disseminated to the public regularly. A two-way communication should also be set up within the website for the purpose of receiving queries and recommendation from users.

25. To obtain the full benefit of the system, an English version of the system should also be created, since most agribusiness activities use the English Language as a means of communication.