Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Re: Data collection and analysis tools for food security and nutrition - Online consultation on the V0 Draft of the Report proposed by the HLPE Steering Committee and the Project Team

BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION COMMENTS ON V0 DRAFT OF HLPE REPORT ON DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS TOOLS FOR FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION

With these comments, we would like to acknowledge the effort borne by the contributors to and the importance of the analysis in this zero-draft report.

We fully believe in the work of the HLPE of the CFS and in the importance of bringing greater attention to the need to understand what is happening in the agriculture sector. We’re pleased to have supported the Data Workstream in the Multi-Year Program of Work, alongside the governments of Uganda and the United States.

Major problems in the data space, such as (i) inadequate capacity of countries to produce, analyse, and use statistics; (ii) inadequate funding of statistics at the global, national, regional and local levels; (iii) the need for improved forecasting and other techniques to complement survey-based techniques; and (iv) transparency of, ownership of, and open accessibility to agricultural statistics, are yet to be solved if we are to achieve the ambitious goals we set in 2015 with the Agenda2030, and in particular the SDG 2 and its related indicators.

The opportunity offered by this HLPE report, therefore, is timely and significant. The CFS process is a means of engaging a diverse set of stakeholders on very significant questions: what do we know about the world’s agriculture, food and nutrition and how might we strengthen our understanding? The V0 draft surveys the field and delves into a construct for the answers, which we hope will be a point of emphasis in this process. The report itself and the process as a whole could be made more impactful if they delve into a rationale on how and why decision makers should tackle this issue as a means of addressing the increase in the number of hungry, the lack of adequate access to food security and nutrition and the burgeoning climate crisis. All of these issues require improved statistics to make evidence-based decisions. This report is a generational opportunity to address the why, how and what of agricultural statistics at a higher level.

The urgency, that we therefore have, is to make sure that agricultural statistics become a priority for leaders the world over. We suggest the report directly address:

  • Why we need improved agriculture, food and nutrition security statistics.
  • Quantify the scale of the challenges that we collectively face at the national and global levels.
  • Propose possible solutions and partnerships to address this – both current and unexplored.

Answers to these key questions will empower the CFS to assess and consider how its Member States and diverse stakeholders might collectively contribute. This would strengthen its impact, that of the HLPE and the workstream under which this work is being conducted.

We thank the CFS and the HLPE for this opportunity to contribute and would welcome an opportunity for our technical experts to provide further input, as appropriate.