Formulation of an Agribusiness Statistical Information System Framework and Priority Setting of Information

(Item 12 of the Agenda)

74. The Expert Consultation noted that agribusiness in many countries were at different stages of development. It also noted varying views on the scope of agribusiness. It however, obtained a consensus that agribusiness would have agriculture as the center of attention and that, in general, economic activities that provide both backward and forward linkages to the sector could be considered as being part of agribusiness. The Expert Consultation could not reach any firm conclusion as to how far such linkages should extend. The cases of bakery and textile industries were cited.

75. The Expert Consultation noted that the type of statistical system adopted in a country, which could be a highly centralized one or at varying levels of decentralization, could affect the structure, organization and content of the national agribusiness statistical information system. The political structure of the country could also influence the manner of accessing or disseminating information.

76. The Expert Consultation noted that the agribusiness sector has extended links to various spheres of economic activities, and thus recognized that the information requirements of this sector are voluminous. A development plan for ASIS focusing on all aspects of agribusiness may therefore be unrealistic at this stage. A pragmatic strategy would be to work on a phased development of ASIS. The first phase of the development should cover areas on which information is already existing and only requiring to be collated, organized and re-packaged. It also recognized that phasing of the work programme for the development of the ASIS would need to take into account national priorities and limitations of national statistical systems.

77. The Expert Consultation considered and prioritized various information types that could support agribusiness. It arrived at the following:

Priority information to be considered in the initial implementation of ASIS:

1. Agricultural Production

a) Structural information

i) Land use
ii) Number and area of holdings
iii) Irrigation and drainage
iv) Machinery and equipment

b) Production information

i) Acreage
ii) Livestock/poultry number and purpose
iii) Production: quantity and value
iv) Fertilizer, pesticide, feed use

2. Agro-Processing

i) Types and location of agro-processing activities
ii) Agricultural production outputs used as inputs
iii) Production: quantity and value

3. Post-harvest

i) Selection, grading and inspection

4. Marketing/market information

i) Prices: farmgate/producer
ii) Prices: wholesale
iii) Prices: retail/consumers
iv) Commodity flow/market arrivals
v) Stocks
vi) Foreign trade
vii) Marketing costs

5. Government Policies

i) Land use
ii) Prices
iii) Taxes and subsidies
iv) Domestic and International Trade
v) Investment
vi) Marketing system

6. Research and development outputs

i) Farming system
ii) Post-harvest facilities
iii) Marketing systems

7. Other information

i) Employment/labor force
ii) Farmers, trade, consumer groups/organizations

Information group that could be considered under ASIS within the next 5 to 10 years

1. Agricultural production

a) Structural information

i) Land tenure

b) Production information

i) Fishstock
ii) Disposal of produce
iii) Seeds and genetic materials
iv) Cost of production
v) Pests and diseases
vi) Production forecasts

2. Agro-processing

i) Production: value
ii) Disposal of produce
iii) Cost of production
iv) Production forecasts

3. Environment

i) Soil conditions and fertility
ii) Climate and meteorological information
iii) Drought, water logging, flooding events

4. Post-harvest

i) Post-harvest treatment
ii) Packaging, storage, transport
iii) Post-harvest losses/wastes

5. Marketing/market information

i) Market intermediaries
ii) Consumption survey
iii) Supply-use accounts

6. Government policies

i) Production and farming system
ii) Product quality and standards
iii) Food security

7. R & D outputs

i) Seeds and genetic materials
ii) Production technology

8. Other information

i) Demographic information on stakeholders
ii) Cultural practices
iii) Credit

Other information groups that may be considered for inclusion in ASIS if resources are available

1. Agricultural production

a) Structural information

i) Buildings and structures
ii) Forestry

2. Environment

i) Topography

3. Other information

i) Country profiles

79. Government support to statistical activities in many countries is not at satisfactory levels. The Expert Consultation highlighted the need to provide technical assistance to countries in order to accelerate the development of national agribusiness statistical information systems. The Expert Consultation, recognizing that many of the identified priority agribusiness-related information were already available in varying forms in many countries, recommended that the technical assistance should be focused on strengthening national statistics office (NSO) or national agricultural statistical services (NASS) capabilities for analysis and dissemination of information. Information dissemination assistance should address needs of different agribusiness stakeholders, with increased focus on helping farmers in understanding and using information for the production and marketing decisions.

80. The Expert Consultation encouraged FAO to take the lead in preparing guidelines/manuals on agribusiness statistical information system, taking into consideration, different stages of development of agribusiness in the countries and constraints in resources, in respect of manpower, logistic support and statistical expertise in many NSO/NASS. While the guidelines/manuals would be expected to be generally concentrated on statistical aspects of the ASIS, the Expert Consultation nonetheless, suggested that other non-statistical aspects relevant to agribusiness, such as product grades and standards could also be considered for inclusion.

81. The Expert Consultation expressed its appreciation to FAO for taking the lead in organizing a forum for discussion of information support to agribusiness development. It also expressed the need for related follow-up activities, both at the national and regional levels to sustain interests in the subject matter covered by the Expert Consultation. In particular, it recommended that at the country level, data producer-user forums should be held to ensure that the information basket of ASIS would truly respond to expressed needs of target users.

82. It further recommended that national and regional level training programmes, workshops and symposia be organized in order to further firm up the ASIS framework, improve its information content and ensure maximum utilization of information.