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United Nations Committee of Experts on Agricultural and Rural Statistics (UN-CEAG)

Chair: José Luis HERNANDEZ RODRÍGUEZ, National Institute of Statistics and Geography, Mexico.

Members of the Bureau: FAO, World Bank and Mexico.

About the Committee

The United Nations Committee of Experts on Agricultural and Rural statistics (previously known as the Committee of Experts on Food Security, Agricultural and Rural Statistics and before that as the Interagency and Expert Group on Food Security, Agricultural and Rural Statistics) aims to develop and document good practices and guidelines on concepts, methods and statistical standards. This Committee, formed by experts from national statistical offices, ministries of agriculture and international organizations, was created under the umbrella of the UN Statistical Commission at its 43rd session in 2012. In 2025, its name and mandate were amended following the establishment of a dedicated expert group on food security and nutrition data and statistics under the Statistical Commission's umbrella. Since then, the UN-CEAG has focused exclusively on agricultural and rural statistics.

The Committee is represented by an elected Chair, which has the responsibility to develop, in close cooperation with the Bureau (designated committee members) and the Secretariat (the Statistics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), a multi-year strategic framework and an annual programme of work for the Committee, monitor progress of the various components of the programme and set the agenda for the meetings. The Committee’s activities and tasks are organized by task teams, for which members of the Bureau will be assigned as leads and follow the implementation of the various programmes of work more closely. All members of the Committee will meet at least once a year in the margins of the UN Statistical Commission.

Finally, the UN-CEAG regularly reports progress on its programme of work to the UN Statistical Commission. More information on the mandate, governance arrangements and the functioning of the Committee can be found in its terms of reference.

Collaboration with technical experts groups

In the implementation of its mandate, the Committee will liaise with other relevant technical expert groups and groups/bodies under the umbrella of the Statistical Commission, mainly

Programme of Work (2026–2027)

The 2026–2027 programme of work sets a forward-looking agenda across five thematic areas. It continues key work on the World Programme for the Census of Agriculture, the Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators and the use of Earth observation data, while introducing new streams on the use of administrative data and agricultural surveys. Together, these workstreams are aimed at advancing methodological development, promoting innovation and strengthening national capacities to produce reliable, timely and integrated agricultural statistics.

The focus will be on enhancing methodological guidance for post-enumeration surveys to assess census coverage and data quality. This includes documenting country case studies and best practices to improve the accuracy and reliability of agricultural census results. The programme will also explore the feasibility of developing global methodological guidance for conducting censuses of aquaculture and fisheries, aimed at improving coherent, comparable and complete structural data on this sector.

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Following endorsement of the guidelines for the Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators by the Statistical Commission in 2026, this workstream will focus on documenting country implementation experiences, institutional arrangements and data collection practices. The outputs will include implementation notes, practical examples and case studies to support the institutionalization of agricultural research and development data aligned with Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators standards.

Looking ahead, the task team will focus on advancing the operational use of Earth observation within official agricultural statistics, emphasizing methodological consistency and institutional adoption. A key deliverable for 2026–2027 will be the development and publication of the guidelines on in situ data quality assurance and control. These guidelines will build on the preliminary quality assurance framework developed by the task team and be tested and validated by participating countries to ensure global applicability. Parallel efforts will aim to scale Earth observation-based yield estimation and disaster indicators into operational monitoring systems, promoting their integration with survey data and national early warning mechanisms. Collectively, these activities will strengthen the scientific foundation and sustainability of Earth observation-enabled agricultural and disaster statistics in support of national planning and the Sustainable Development Goals.

This workstream will focus on the use of administrative records as complementary sources to censuses and surveys. It will map relevant registers, compile case studies and identify best practices related to data access, quality control and integration in the statistical production workflows of agriculture statistics. Regional assessments, starting with Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe, will be documented and will inform the potential development of global methodological guidance on the use of administrative data for agricultural statistics.

This new workstream will document and compare diverse approaches to agricultural surveys across countries, focusing on both integrated and thematic designs. Building on the Handbook on the Agricultural Integrated Survey,17 and the methodological improvements under the “50 x 2030” Initiative, the work will produce a menu of methodological options to help countries to select fit-for-purpose approaches aligned with their capacities and data needs. It will also explore the possibility of establishing an international reference framework for agricultural surveys, informed by country experiences and existing tools from FAO, the World Bank and other partners.

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Main achievements (2013–2026)

The main achievements of the Committee so far are as follows: