From the field

In a landmark achievement for agricultural innovation, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has clinched the coveted ICT Innovator of the Year Award 2nd runner up at the 2025 Zimbabwe ICT Excellence Awards. The recognition honours FAO’s groundbreaking initiative, Earth Observation for Agricultural Statistics (EOSTAT), which is revolutionizing crop monitoring systems and strengthening national capacity for data-driven agrifood systems transformation.

In this interview, FAO Chief Statistician and Director of Statistics Division, Mr José Rosero Moncayo, talks about the key expectations arising from the work of the 29th Commission for Agricultural Statistics. He explains that understanding the impact of a lack of statistics is crucial for formulating agricultural policies, and provides details on the important '50x2030 Initiative'.

Blog by Maksat Turlubaev – Head of the Bureau of National statistics, Agency for Strategic planning and reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan 

Cambodia Embraces Digital Farming to Boost Sustainability and Resilience

Blog by Andrew Johnny, Statistician General, Statistics Sierra Leone

Zimbabwe has taken a major stride in modernizing its agricultural statistics systems through the integration of Earth Observation (EO) technologies. This week, the country is hosting a training workshop organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), bringing together national experts for a hands-on training aimed at enhancing the country’s capacity to generate timely, accurate, and reliable crop type, crop acreage and crop yield statistics.

Blog by Michael Rahija, Regional Statistician, FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean

 

Thailand has taken a significant step toward enhancing forest data transparency by publishing data on their national forest inventory (NFI) in the Food and Agriculture Microdata (FAM) Catalogue, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This achievement highlights Thailand’s commitment to sustainable forest management, climate action and international cooperation.

Enumerators gather a wide range of statistics, supporting policy makers in making decisions to help agriculture better meet people’s nutritional and livelihood needs.

The 50x2030 Initiative to Close the Agricultural Data Gap aims to support agricultural data collection, processing, and dissemination efforts of National Statistical Offices and Ministries of Agriculture. The Initiative responds to the demand for more and higher quality agricultural data, in view...

Agriculture is a cornerstone of Viet Nam’s economy, employing tens of millions, contributing significantly to the national GDP, and ensuring food security and rural livelihoods. However, traditional farming practices and limited access to real-time data, constrain productivity, climate resilience, and resource efficiency. As digital technologies reshape global agrifood systems, Viet Nam stands at a critical juncture to leverage data-driven decision-making to enhance its agricultural sector. 

Cambodia accelerated the digital transformation of its agricultural sector through a high-level workshop and training in Phnom Penh, where policymakers, experts and development partners showcased AI, satellite data and digital systems to modernize farming, enhance climate resilience and drive sustainable, data-driven growth.

FAO won the SDG Custodian Agency Prize at the seventh annual GEO SDG Awards, which recognizes the productivity, innovation, novelty and exemplary efforts in the use of Earth observations to support sustainable development.

Forests across Asia and the Pacific region cover 740 million hectares, accounting for 18 percent of global forest cover. These forests are not only critical for the livelihoods of more than 450 million people, but also play a critical economic role, with annual trade in primary forest products surpassing USD 90 billion. 

Accurate data is key to achieving FAO’s mandate and driving progress toward the SDGs. Yet, despite its critical importance, official data is not always readily available and may be difficult to obtain due to limited statistical capacities, as well as insufficient funding and dissemination processes.

Mongolia has taken a major step towards ensuring greater forest data transparency with the publication of the country’s Multipurpose National Forest Inventory (NFI) and make it available to the global audiences through the Food and Agriculture Microdata (FAM) Catalogue, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Nepal has taken a significant step toward forest data transparency and sustainable forest management by making its National Forest Inventory (NFI) metadata and resources available on the Food and Agriculture Microdata (FAM) catalogue.

Results from Pacific fishing areas are presented at Honiara Summit in Solomon Islands

The Department of Forestry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) has taken a significant step towards enhancing forest data transparency by registering its national forest monitoring system (NFMS) data on the Food and Agriculture Microdata (FAM) Catalogue, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Why gathering statistics on agriculture is worth the challenge