BACKGROUND FOR THE EXPERT CONSULTATION AND OBJECTIVES

(Item 3 of the Agenda)

7. Mr Castano, in STAT-INCOME-3, provided some background for the Expert Consultation. He indicated that regional Expert Consultations on statistics were organized by FAO RAP every two years. The most recent Consultations included:

• Expert Consultation on Analysis and Dissemination of Census and Survey Data, July 2005.
• Expert Consultation on Livestock Statistics, July 2003.
• Expert Consultation on Agribusiness Statistics, September 2001.
• Expert Consultation on the Development of Agricultural Statistics for Food Policy, July 1999.

8. Mr Castano noted that at the 2006 APCAS session held in Phuket, Thailand, participants recognized the serious weaknesses faced in rural household income and expenditure statistics and the obstacles that these weaknesses presented to devising suitable agricultural policies and in assessing their effectiveness. This led to the organization of an Expert Consultation on the topic.

9. He explained that the general objective of this year's Expert Consultation was to contribute to the improvement of farmers' income statistics in the Asia and Pacific Region. More specifically to:

• identify methodologies for collection and possible integration of surveys to obtain farmers' income data;
• review processing of farmers' income data and identify appropriate strategies for imputation and analysis;
• recommend optimal strategies for improving the collection and analysis of farmers' income data.

10. He pointed out that since the ultimate objective was to enable the region to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of the world's malnourished by 2015, the Expert Consultation would focus on procedures and analyses related to formulation, monitoring and evaluation of relevant policies.