Expert Consultation on Farmers’ Income Statistics

Bangkok, Thailand
11 – 14 December 2007





RAP PUBLICATION 2008/02

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific





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All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product for educational or other non-commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holders provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of material in this information product for sale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyright holders. Applications for such permission should be addressed to Dr Jairo Castano, Senior Statistician, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Maliwan Mansion, 39 Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200, Thailand or by email to Jairo.Castano@fao.org.

© FAO 2008





Cover photograph: FAO/19624/G. Bizzarri – Cambodia 1997

For copies write to:
Senior Statistician
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Maliwan Mansion, 39 Phra Atit Road
Bangkok 10200
Thailand

Abstract

Recent reports have shown that the decline in the $1-a-day poverty rate in developing countries — from 28 percent in 1993 to 22 percent in 2002 — has been mainly the result of falling rural poverty rates. Underestimation of farm income and gaps in data distorts or blurs the vision of policy-makers in governments and international development organizations, and handicaps national and international financial systems in the optimal allocation of resources to agriculture and rural development. Given that significant amounts of resources have been and will be committed to rural development programmes that require continual monitoring and evaluation, the impact of improper or ineffective policies can have costly implications. To fill these information gaps, alternative methods are needed to complete the analysis. This expert consultation on Farmers’ Income Statistics, held in Bangkok, Thailand from 11 to 14 December 2007, aimed to contribute to the improvement of farmers’ income statistics in the Asia-Pacific region and to make recommendations for improvement of the collection and analysis of farmers’ income data, thereby strengthening FAO’s technical assistance and capacity building activities for the further development of statistical analysis programmes in member countries. Recommendations are provided in the report.