Asia and Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics - 24

8 - 12 October 2012, Da Lat, Viet Nam

The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) organized the twenty - forth session of the Asia and Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics (APCAS 24), in Da Lat, Viet Nam from 8 to 12 October 2012 at the kind invitation of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.

Purpose of the meeting
The 24th Session of the Commission was organized to: (i) assess the current status of food and agricultural statistics 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.

Attendance
The Session was attended by a total of 65 participants, including 48 delegates from 21 member countries, viz.  Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, People's Republic of China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United States of America and Viet Nam.  Thirteen staff from FAO and four observers from IRRI, SEAFDEC, and UNESCAP also participated in the Sessions.

Results
Thirty-one technical documents, including an update on recent developments in agricultural statistics in the countries of the region, were discussed. In addition, a number of discussions were held on (1) country assessment methodology for assessing statistics capacity in agricultural and rural statistics, (2) regional action plan of the global strategy to improve agricultural and rural statistics, and (3) priority areas for discussion in the next round of World Programme for the Census of Agriculture (WCA). The Session included:

• A review of FAO’s activities in food and agriculture statistics, particularly in Asia and the Pacific since the last Session of the Commission;
• State of food and agricultural statistics in countries of the region;
• Implementation of Global Strategy to improve of agricultural and rural statistics in the region;
• Progress and vision on World Programme for the Census of Agriculture (WCA);
• Methodological developments in food security statistics;
• Data collection methods and ICT in the Region; and,
• Recent advances in economic, social, and environmental statistics on the agricultural sector.