(Item 5 of the Agenda)
(Item 5a of the Agenda)
51. Document No. APCAS/06/8 "Review of the Present State of Food and Agricultural Statistics in Member Countries of the Commission _ Summary of Country Questionnaires"waspresented by Mr Romeo Recide.
52. The Commission noted that the practice in previous APCAS sessions of having each participating country reporting the state of its agricultural statistical system could be made more efficient. Building on a practice that was started in the Twentieth Session of the APCAS in New Delhi, India, member countries were instead requested to fill out a well-structured questionnaire that sought a detailed report on activities in the area of food and agricultural statistics in their respective countries. Through the Statistical Metadata Survey Questionnaire, delegates were asked to provide information on the infrastructure and organization of the agricultural statistics system, the resources and the output, as well as information on specific issues affecting the system. The questionnaire consisted of a main body and three annexes.
53. It was reported to the Commission that twenty-one countries responded to the survey. Fifty-three statistical tables covering items in the main body of the questionnaire were presented. It was emphasized that the summary tables reflected the responses contained in the questionnaires and that no attempt to validate the data had been made. The summary tables were presented to present an overview of the different approaches that countries use to generate statistics on agriculture and food.
54. Deficiencies in the submitted questionnaires were pointed out. It was apparent in many instances that some concepts and information asked in the questionnaire needed more clarification. In addition, countries reported that the questionnaire was complex and that obtaining country-level responses (as opposed to agency-level responses) required more time and effort. Nevertheless, the Commission recognized the value of complete and accurate information generated from the questionnaires in establishing a country's metadata of agricultural statistics. The Commission therefore recommended that FAO continue to provide guidance to countries in filling up the questionnaires with more accuracy and thoroughness.
(Item 5b of the Agenda)
55. In document APCAS/06/9, "Use of Voluntary Enumerators in Agricultural Data Collection", Mr Montol Jeamchareon presented the experience in Thailand about the use of farmers for collection of agricultural data and subsequent preparation of regular reports and monitoring of indicators needed in early warning systems. The objectives of using farmers were to acquire accurate data and timely agricultural economic information at an affordable cost and to promote close cooperation between the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE) and farmers.
56. The Commission was apprised that such effective use of farmers had enlarged the capacity of OAE in expanding the number of samples, data items and frequency in conducting surveys, notwithstanding the constraints on the number of OAE staff. Further, the quality of collected data had improved especially in terms of timeliness. The use of farmers in this way also provided an efficient channel for OAE to disseminate information to farmers.
57. The Commission noted that the following issues had emerged: (a) highly qualified enumerators had a tendency to leave after a short time, (b) some were also employed by other agencies and could not do the job properly, (c) many were too busy in some seasons, and (d) in some areas it was difficult to find qualified volunteers. Plans to overcome these problems included better training and improved remuneration.
58. The Commission acknowledged that, while there were still some problems, the programme offered an alternative solution for cost-effective data collection.
(Item 5c of the Agenda)
59. Mr Allan Nicholls presented the document APCAS/06/10, "Production of Small Area Data from the 2005-2006 Australian Agricultural Census", which detailed a new approach being taken to enable a range of small-area data to be produced from the 2006 Australian Agricultural Census.
60. The Commission noted some background information about the Australian Agricultural Census, most notably that a mail-out/mail-back approach was used and that therefore no suitable geographic information was available to code farms toa small area. The Commission was advised that in the 2006 Agricultural Censusa question on the location address of the holding was included, and that this information would be coded to a new micro-level geographic unit called a "mesh block". The small size of mesh blocks would make it possible to aggregate or align them closely to most administrative, social, economic and environmental boundaries.
61. The Commission was apprised of some constraints to the production ofsmall-area data, but the new approach provided for an expanded data, characterizing a wide range of regional structures. This suited better user needs than the previous standard statistical geography. The level of improvement in data availability was illustrated by a number of maps which showed the increased geographic resolution of information for a range of policy related information needs.
62. The Commission was informed of the key benefits to users, of the public relations campaign used to encourage farmers to participate, and the fact that "mesh block" boundaries were designed to remain constant, thus avoiding the problem of changing boundaries when using time series data.
