UK donates $25 million to improve global agricultural statistics
ROME, April 4- A new global partnership focused on
improving agricultural statistics for farmers around the world gained an
important investment today. The United Kingdom's Department for International
Development (DFID) signed an agreement with the United Nation’s Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) to donate $25 million for the Global Strategy to
Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics. Other countries are expected to soon
follow suit.
The UK investment covers the program’s first phase, from 2012 to 2016, and will support mainly African and Asian countries, according to FAO. The emphasis is on improving how governments organize and manage their statistical systems and on technical assistance and staff training in national statistics offices and ministries of agriculture. DFID's contribution will also support research to identify innovative approaches for cost-efficient data collection, analysis and dissemination. This includes digital and georeferencing technology and devices, such as smartphones, GPS and satellites.
Improved information and statistics enables farmers to develop better
agricultural policies for eradicating hunger and poverty and makes it easier to
monitor changes taking place. However, FAO says many developing countries
lack good statistical systems and collect data using costly, labour-intensive
and time-consuming methods. Unreliable agricultural statistics and weak
information hinder policy decision-making. This can lead to increased costs,
weak policy design and reduced impacts from these policies.
Ethiopia is a good example of how an upgraded statistical system can bring
about profound change, FAO pointed out.
Previously, the
national crop production estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture and the
Central Statistical Agency (CSA) often differed greatly, making it difficult
for policy-makers to develop sound agricultural policies or to plan food aid
allocation and distribution. FAO supported a project bringing the CSA and the
Ministry of Agriculture together, using new technologies to improve harvest
area measurements, yield estimates and market price monitoring. Today,
production estimates have converged and provide reliable data to underpin food
security and agriculture policies.
For more information on the program: http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-capacity/ess-strategy/en/
