Report of the Expert Consultation on Farmers' Income Statistics
(Item 1 of the Agenda)
1. The Expert Consultation on Farmers' Income Statistics was organized by the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It was held in the premises of the FAO Regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand, from 11 to 14 December 2007. The Expert Consultation was attended by a total of 16 participants, including six experts from various countries of the region and six experts from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Eurostat and FAO. Four observers, one each from the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the National Statistical Office of the Government of Thailand, and two from the Ministry of Agriculture, Centre of Agriculture Data and Information, Indonesia, also attended the Expert Consultation.
2. The Expert Consultation was inaugurated by Mr HE Changchui, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific. In his opening address, Mr He welcomed all the participants on behalf of the Director-General of FAO and on his own behalf. Mr He explained that the Expert Consultation was one of the mechanisms in FAO for focused discussions on specific issues of special interest and as a means to gain feedback into the Organization's definition of policies and programmes.
3. Mr He pointed out that collection of farm income data was notoriously difficult due, among others, to the tedious collection of a large number of items associated with income as well as expenditure, and the farmers' reluctance to disclose information. He added that underestimation of farm income and gaps in data distorted or blurred the vision of policy markers in governments and international development organizations, and handicapped the optimal allocation of resources by national and international financial systems such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. He noted that the discussions could shed further light and correct perceived distortions. Reliable information on farm income could also enable better monitoring of the effect of policies addressing rural poverty.
4. He noted that during the Expert Consultation, experiences would be shared by the participants by reviewing methodologies for collection and analysis. He encouraged the participants to formulate recommendations and strategies for improving the collection and analysis of farmers' income data. He said that ways and means could be formulated for national statistical organizations in the region to improve the collection of farmers' income statistics, taking into consideration individual countries' capabilities and limitations. It could also be possible to identify potential national or regional technical development assistance that would provide relief to identified national and regional level constraints in the generation and exchange of useful statistics on farm income. As a result, governments, FAO and its development partners would be in a better position to address incomplete and missing data using various types of analyses for decision-making. The results of the Expert Consultation, Mr He added, would be reported at the 22nd Session of the Asia and Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics (APCAS) to be held in Malaysia in June 2008. The full text of Mr He's speech is given in Appendix C.
