AFCAS29 highlights how gaps in Africa’s agricultural statistics threaten effective policy action

The 29th Session of the African Commission on Agricultural Statistics (AFCAS29) has opened in Hammamet, Tunisia, with a call to accelerate cooperation and innovation to meet the urgent need for high-quality agricultural statistics in Africa.

Statistics experts from more than 40 African countries are attending the event organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and hosted by the Government of Tunisia, under the theme “Effective Partnerships and Leveraging Statistics for Transforming Africa's Agrifood Systems.”

In remarks delivered on his behalf, H.E. Ezzeddine Ben Cheikh, Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries of Tunisia, welcomed delegates to Tunisia and stressed the importance of concrete, tangible outcomes from the Session.

“It’s not possible to have agricultural development without recent, reliable and easy-to-use data,” he said. “Agricultural information is a strategic asset to strengthen our collective resilience against the challenges the continent faces.”

FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, Abebe Haile-Gabriel, highlighted in his keynote address that reliable statistics are fundamental to transforming Africa’s agrifood systems. 

“Accurate data empowers farmers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to make informed decisions regarding crop choices, resource allocation, and investments, thereby improving efficiency, inclusiveness, resilience and sustainability of agrifood systems,” Haile-Gabriel said.

FAO Chief Statistician José Rosero Moncayo warned in his remarks that major data gaps continue to hinder the region’s ability to monitor agriculture effectively. He noted that many countries are still not collecting information on topics such as land, fertilizer and pesticide use, and plant and water resources. Even for core figures like agricultural production, less than 50 percent of African countries report any data. He emphasized that much stronger efforts are needed to improve the availability and consistency of agricultural statistics across the continent.

“There is a serious scarcity of data, which is a situation that limits our capacity to inform evidence-based policy and decisions,” Rosero Moncayo stressed.

AFCAS29 at a glance

Throughout the week, AFCAS29 participants will review progress across several priority areas, including:

• implementation of the 50x2030 Initiative, which aims to see 50 countries with robust, regular agricultural survey and data systems in place by 2030. So far 23 African countries are taking part. Future funding of the global initiative will also be discussed;
• an update on the 2030 World Programme for the Census of Agriculture (WCA 2030), including a request for countries to endorse new guidelines and commit to planning and conducting their agricultural census during the 2026–2035 cycle;
• improvements in compiling Food Balance Sheets which are the national accounts that show a country’s food supply;
• current challenges on fisheries and forest statistics and actions taken to address them; the use of geospatial data, big data and machine learning to fill agricultural data gaps, generate faster production estimates, and strengthen early-warning systems, with countries invited to share experiences and potentially shape a regional agenda on innovative data approaches;
• an update on the implementation of the first phase of the Agricultural Science and Technology indicators (ASTI) in Africa as well as next steps looking forward; and
• leveraging the newly established Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) statistical domain recently approved by the UN Statistical Commission, among other topics.

Established in 1962, AFCAS is a statutory body of FAO and serves as the primary regional forum for reviewing progress in agricultural and rural statistics, setting methodological standards, and guiding countries on the production, harmonization and use of high-quality data.

Through its biennial sessions, AFCAS strengthens collaboration among African member states and supports the development of robust statistical systems that underpin evidence-based agricultural and agrifood system policies.

AFCAS29 is taking place from 24–28 November 2025.