REPORT
Informal Expert Consultation on CountrySTAT
17 -19 March 2003
FAO Headquarters, Rome

The Informal Consultation on CountrySTAT, held in FAO Headquarters from 17 to 19 March 2003, was attended by 18 selected experts as well as the members of the FAOSTAT2 Steering Committee, the FAOSTAT2 Working Group and various concerned Divisions in FAO. A list of participants, together with their addresses is attached in Annex 1.

The meeting unanimously selected Mr. P. Nanopoulos, Principal Advisor, European Commission, as Chairman and appointed Mr. E. Gillin, Chief, Basic Data Branch, as Rapporteur. The Provisional Agenda was approved and is attached in Annex 2. On the request of the Chairman, the participants introduced themselves.

Mr. H. de Haen, Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Department, welcomed the participants on behalf of FAO and wished them success in their deliberations. He stressed the importance of the recommendations emanating from the meeting in improving agricultural statistics and their processing in developing countries, and consequently, the quality of international statistics available at FAO. He also emphasized that the Management of FAO places the utmost importance on the development of CountrySTAT and on the new project, FAOSTAT2.

Mr. H. Kasnakoglu, Director of the FAO Statistics Division, in opening the Consultation, welcomed the participants and wished them a very fruitful meeting. He indicated that the meeting was convened to seek the advice and guidance of the experts regarding the conceptualization of the CountrySTAT project. This was contemplated as a prototype customized product. The objectives were: i) capacity building of member countries, ii) two-way exchange of data between FAO and countries, as well as among countries themselves, and iii) facilitate data use by policy makers.

Mr. E. Gillin, Chief, Basic Data Branch, Statistics Division introduced the current statistical database of the Organization known as FAOSTAT. He presented its historical evolvement, structure, content and functionalities as well as its electronic and hard copy outputs. He also illustrated the two distinct parts of the database, the “back end” which is the PC working system and the “front end”, i.e. the dissemination system. He then proceeded to the problems and issues which necessitated the re-design of FAOSTAT into a more efficient system using the latest modern technology with stable environment accommodating the users’ demands and new requirements which emerged in the last decade.

Mr. Mayo, Statistician, Basic Data Branch, presented a paper providing a Conceptual Framework of CountrySTAT including the likely scope of the project. He noted the limitations on what can be achieved since countries are at different levels of development as well as different organizational structure of collection, reporting and dissemination of statistics. He emphasized that a high-level information technology solution would not be appropriate as resources are limited in countries and in FAO. He suggested a modular solution which may provide countries with the necessary flexibility to choose what is suitable and feasible for their needs.

Mr. Taconet, Fishery Information, Data and Statistics Unit, presented the work of the Fisheries Department on the Fisheries Global Information System (FIGIS). He described methods of compilation of fishery statistics as well as their dissemination through yearbooks, electronic means, etc. He also described the promotional aspect of international standards, concepts and classifications to produce internationally comparable data. He illustrated the recent FIGIS mapping engine which allows representation of spatial distribution of geo-referenced statistics according to a global grid system.

Mr. Baker, Senior Statistician for the Asia and Pacific Region, presented a paper on Computing Functionalities and Requirements for National Agricultural Statistical Systems. It suggested that the following issues be resolved before developing CountrySTAT: what data to include, definitions, classifications, reference period, comparability among countries. In addition, CountrySTAT would be a tool for checking the consistency of each country’s data and also facilitate the flow of country data to FAOSTAT2. It should include facilities for making graphs and pictures. Decisions as to the inclusion of monthly, quarterly data as well as sub-national level data should be made. The paper suggested to include basic statistical functions such as mean, standard deviation and variance. Finally, the paper illustrated the problems created by rounding data for small countries and particularly when making computations (ratios, etc.) with small numbers.

Mr. Cakmak made a presentation on National Agricultural Statistical Information Needs for CountrySTAT. He indicated that in recent years there were changes in the domestic and international policy environment. One of the problems concerning statistics in developing countries is the high number of sources collecting statistics and no effort is made to integrate them. For the need of data he presented a matrix of items on “Agricultural Inputs” and “Production and Use”. This included input prices (land rental, water changes, wages, machinery rental, etc.) possibly on a regional basis. and prices including producer, wholesale, retail, trade unit value (possibly quality adjusted). He proposed a list of supporting information such as world prices, exchange rates, indices, conversion factors, elasticities, trading partners, etc

Mr. K. Vertucci, Senior Officer, FAO Technical Information Systems, gave an overview of the Key Indicators Mapping System and Key Indicator Database System (KIMS/KIDS) Mapping Software. They originated from the need to present data in maps in order to use maps to query and navigate information. He gave a list of several applications ranging from livestock production and health to food security indicators. KIMS/KIDS are particularly employed in Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping System (FIVIMS) project. Mr. Vertucci illustrated KIMS objectives and elaborated on the future plans of the project as well as the main standards and technologies used in the system. He suggested that the KIMS/KIDS Software be included as a module in CountrySTAT.

Mr. Salar Tayyib, Statistician Basic Data Branch, made a presentation on the Collection, Processing and Dissemination of Agriculture and Food Trade Statistics in FAO. The presentation focused on the three new products that have been developed recently by the Basic Data Branch, viz.:

• TradeSys Processing Program
• World Agriculture Trade Matrix (WATM)
• World Agriculture Trade Flow (WATF)

  Mr. Albert Di Chiara, Statistical Assistant in the Basic Data Branch, made a presentation on the new FAOSTAT CD-Rom produced by the Statistics Division. He illustrated the agricultural statistics contents and how to operate it.

In closing the meeting, the Director of the Statistics Division thanked the experts for their advice. He hoped that the Division would fulfil the expectations and added that a future Expert Meeting would allow the possibility to discuss the progress made in producing a more concrete prototype product.

RECOMMENDATIONS/CONSIDERATIONS/CONCLUSIONS

The Director of the Statistics Division outlined the following major objectives for the CountrySTAT project: i) capacity building of member countries, ii) two-way exchange of data between FAO and countries, as well as among countries themselves, and iii) facilitate data use by policy makers. The group considered that these objectives were appropriate and endorsed them.

CountrySTAT project should aim at:

- Developing a statistical information system (IS) containing data and metadata relevant to agricultural policy that are available, together with data from other extra-national sources, as well as FAO data relevant to the purpose.
- Identifying users and their needs in order to modulate outputs and functionalities.
- Finding the optimal mode for provision of relevant data, leading to a bi-directional exchange of data between national statistical offices and FAO.
- Adopting a modular architecture to be able to cope with national diversity and capacity.
- Seeking cooperation and partnership with national and international entities, capable of bringing value to the project.

1. The experts strongly supported the CountrySTAT project and recommended the development of a project plan to address separately various topics, viz. requirement specifications such as technological, organizational, conceptual, methodological and all semantics for supporting collaborative work.

2. The meeting recommended that CountrySTAT should include sub-national level data and methods of their estimation, e.g. using small area estimation techniques as well as non-physical statistics such as economic indicators, poverty indicators, food insecurity and all other supporting information (non-basic) together with graphs and maps.

3. CountrySTAT should provide basic analytical tools which can be used for simple analysis such as tables displaying prices at various levels, ratios, coefficients, indices and data visualization modules.

4. EC, OECD and USDA briefly explained their current systems relevant to CountrySTAT and it was stated that FAO could benefit from these experiences. FAO should take into consideration ongoing statistical development initiatives and create synergy among them.

5. The participants thought that rather than develop one single CountrySTAT, it would be more appropriate to first identify typologies of countries based on their capacities and then produce modules that can be used in different countries.

6. As generally there are a number of institutions in countries collecting agricultural information, conflicting figures may be produced or different sub sectors covered. It was therefore recommended that country-specific solutions should be found. In addition, it was noted that CountrySTAT could assist in solving the problems caused by the fact that various sources are measuring the same phenomenon. Methodological research is needed to merge data originating from administrative records with those from surveys.

7. To facilitate the flow of information between international statistics, including FAOSTAT2 and national statistics, including CountrySTAT, it was recommended that CountrySTAT should encompass meta data indicating quality of data, methods of data collection, coverage and definitions as well as national and international reference systems.

8. CountrySTAT should be designed to help countries make better use of available data, to facilitate accessibility to users, and to incorporate new sets of statistics. It should allow individual countries to develop the capacity for editing, checking and validating to improve the quality of their data. FAO, on the other hand, should assist countries in building their capacity for the development of a food and agricultural database.

9. FAO should streamline and automate data collection from countries and reduce the burden on these countries in completing the numerous questionnaires for the UN System. It was suggested to identify “facilitators” in countries to act as data providers. They could be selected from departments, universities, NGOs, and be given incentives to cooperate in this exercise.

10. The meeting agreed that CountrySTAT was intended to facilitate the integration and reconciliation of data at country-level throughput and constitutes a tool for developing countries to identify apparent discrepancies in the data, while FAOSTAT2 was projected for a wider group of international users. It should have a pedagogical as well as an analytical function. More work, however, must be done on defining the “CountrySTAT Customer”. In this respect, the meeting encouraged FAO to carry out an analysis of potential users, particularly in developing countries.

11. CountrySTAT would contain more detailed information than FAOSTAT2: i) sub national data as well as other data such as credit, different level of prices, land rent, etc. and more breakdown of commodities ii) it will allow the coordination among various data collections at the national level so that FAO will not contact many data providers. FAOSTAT2 will be able to draw from a comprehensive database as the CountrySTAT product will have more information.

12. Countries will require some international data to carry out their own analysis, e.g. world prices, trade flow, etc., as well as non-specific country data as proxies for analysis such as technical conversion functions and food composition factors. This is the role of CountrySTAT in the delivery of information.

13. CountrySTAT would contain infrastructural information (methodology, classification, and coding schemes) that allows countries to collect, organize and harmonize their data in their national nomenclature. It should carry out for the countries what FAOSTAT2 does for FAO – allow them to have a simple tool to collect, harmonize, analyze (simple) data and produce basic and helpful outputs that will help them to improve the quality and to obtain value added from their data, i.e. supply utilization accounts, yearbooks, food balance sheets, visual and graphical outputs, simple but important indicators, both measured and derived, etc. Beneficiaries will, and must be, first the countries, but then FAO, FIVIMS, MDG, etc. and the users of these international systems. FAO’s data collection will be improved by providing countries with a formalized national classification scheme that meets their needs and that can be more easily mapped to international classifications.

14. The experts in their deliberations noted that CountrySTAT can be perceived differently according to the background of the users and data providers. For example, there is an IT approach to CountrySTAT, a developmental statistician’s approach, an economist’s approach and an outreach approach. In regard to the latter, FAO has to work with countries promoting better use of statistics and stimulating policy makers to invest in statistics. In this regard, FAO should work with individuals lying between policy makers and data providers. It was stressed that the value of data is recognized only when they are used.

15. A view was expressed that CountrySTAT should be foreseen as an infrastructure rather than only a database and should provide data formats (concepts, definitions, and standards). On the other hand, it was also thought that CountrySTAT should assist countries in integrating and organizing data with visualization of sub-national data and simple policy analysis. It should include commodity balances, food balance sheets supplemented by training and national feedback to FAO.

16. There was unanimous support for a stepwise approach to CountrySTAT with pilot studies in selected countries at different stages of development. In this regard, deadlines need to be set out for producing, processing and using data and considerable work needs to be done on monitoring progress.

17. FAO should develop a policy and strategy for development and implementation of the project, including costs for creating and maintaining a sustainable system (at both national and international level).

18. FAO Regional Offices could participate in testing and implementing the CountrySTAT project. It might be necessary to have another meeting at a later stage to assess progress made. More country representatives might be invited.