Asia and Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics - 21
11 - 15 September 2006, Phuket, Thailand
Background
The Asia and Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics (APCAS) is a statutory body of FAO. APCAS brings together senior statistics Officials from FAO member countries of the Asia and Pacific region, who are responsible for the development of agricultural statistics in their respective countries. They review the developments in their agricultural statistical systems since the last session and exchange ideas with experts from FAO and other organizations on the state of food and agricultural statistics in the continent.
Membership
As per the Statute of the Commission, the Membership of the Commission is open to all Member Nations of FAO and Associate Members whose territories are situated wholly or partly in the Asia and Pacific Region or who are responsible for the international relations of any non-self-governing territories in the Region.
Purpose of the meeting
The biennial meetings of the Commission are organized to: (i) assess the current status of food and agricultural statistical development in member countries; (ii) inform the member countries about the FAO activities in food and agricultural statistics during the preceding biennium, particularly in Asia and the Pacific; and (iii) discuss new developments in agricultural statistics. The 21st Session of the Commission focused on:
- Statistics on rural households’ living and well-being
- Meta data as a tool to Improve Quality and Usefulness of Statistics
- Use of Community-level Data from Agricultural Census.
A review of the status and developments in Food and Agricultural Statistics in the Region was carried out with a questionnaire on metadata. The delegates were required to collaborate with concerned departments in their respective countries to obtain comprehensive information in the questionnaire. These questionnaires were processed and presented by FAO at the Session.
Participants
The Session was attended by a total of 72 participants, including 60 delegates from 20 member countries, viz., Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United States, and Viet Nam. Ten representatives of FAO, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) also participated in the Session, in addition to one observer each from Timor-Leste and Thailand. Senior Officers from Royal Government of Thailand which hosted the Session, were present during the Opening of the Session.
