AFRICAN COMMISSION ON AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS (AFCAS)

1

• AFRICAN COMMISSION ON AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS
  (AFCAS)
• Twenty-first Session
• Accra, Ghana, 28 31 October 2009
• AGENDA ITEM IV.1
• OVERVIEW OF FAOs ACTIVITIES RELEVANT TO AFRICA
  REGION SINCE 20th AFCAS SESSION

2
CONTENT

• INTRODUCTION
• 1. STATISTICS DIVISION (ESS)
• 2. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN THE FIELD OF
  SEX-DISAGGREGATED DATA BY FAO REGIONAL OFFICE FOR
  AFRICA
• 3. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN THE FIELD OF
  FISHERIES STATISTICS IN AFRICA
• 4. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN THE FIELD OF WATER
  STATISTICS IN AFRICA
• ANNEX LIST OF MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE 20th
  SESSION OF AFCAS AND THEIR STATUS OF
  IMPLEMENTATION

3
1. STATISTICS DIVISION (ESS)

• Methodological development
• Improving FAOSTAT system (http//faostat.fao.org/d
  efault.aspx ) the system is now running
• Methodological guidelines and publications
• Published
• FAO/World Bank publication on TRACKING RESULTS IN
  AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN
  LESS-THAN-IDEAL CONDITIONS-A sourcebook of
  indicators for monitoring and evaluation.
• (http//www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/ess/docume
  nts/Sourcebook-Web-Version.pdf)
• FAO publication on DERIVING FOOD SECURITY
  INFORMATION FROMNATIONAL HOUSEHOLD BUDGET
  SURVEYS- Experiences, Achievements, Challenges.
• (http//www.fao.org/docrep/011/i0430e/i0430e00.htm
  )
• FAO/RAF publication on STATE OF FOOD AND
  AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SYSTEMS IN AFRICA in 2007
  which was produced from the analysis of replies
  received from more than 40 countries of the
  region to the biennial survey conducted during
  last AFCAS Session in 2007.
• FAO STATISTICAL YEARBOOK 2007-2008 provides a
  selection of indicators on food and agriculture
  by country.
• (http//www.fao.org/economic/ess/publications-stud
  ies/statistical-yearbook/fao-statistical-yearbook-
  2007-2008/en/)

4
1. STATISTICS DIVISION (ESS)

• Methodological development
• Methodological guidelines and publications
• Under preparation
• HANDBOOK ON THE USE OF GPS/PDA FOR CROP AREA
  MEASUREMENT. FAO, jointly with EU Joint Research
  Center, World Food Programme and CIRAD have been
  working on preparing this Handbook. A first draft
  of the Handbook has been completed and the
  document will be published early 2010.
• A HANDBOOK ON THE USE OF INTERNATIONAL
  CLASSIFICATION IN AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS is
  being prepared and a first draft will be
  completed by end of 2009 for publication in 2010.
• Methodological Review WORLD CENSUS OF
  AGRICULTURE 1990 and 2000 to be published in 2010
• FAO and PARIS21 are working on preparing
  GUIDELINES FOR INTEGRATION OF AGRICULTURAL
  STATISTICS IN NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT
  OF STATISTICS.

5
1. STATISTICS DIVISION (ESS)

• Field Programme
• The main areas of support are agricultural
  censuses, on-going systems of agricultural
  statistics and institutional strengthening,
  agricultural statistics for food security and
  early warning information systems, as well as
  statistical data processing and dissemination.
• The projects are usually funded by FAO Technical
  Cooperation Programme Funds and Trust Funds..
• The most recent activities related to field
  programme include
• Formulation of agricultural statistics and census
  projects Senegal, Uganda, Eritrea, Sao Tomé e
  Principe.
• Preparation or implementation of agricultural
  censuses Mozambique, Uganda, Burkina Faso,
  Benin.
• Formulation and implementation of a support to
  permanent agricultural statistics system as
  follow-up to successful implementation of the
  census of agriculture and livestock, Niger.
• Agricultural statistics for food security and
  early warning information systems Ethiopia
• Support to preparation of Supply Utilization
  Accounts and Food Balance Sheets Zanzibar
  (Tanzania), Senegal, Kenya, Cote dIvoire.
• CountrySTAT project being implemented in 17
  Sub-Saharan Countries.
• Formulation of UEMOA funded CountrySTAT project
  for UEMOA HQs and selected member countries of
  this sub-regional organization.
• Formulation of a CountrySTAT project in Algeria

6
1. STATISTICS DIVISION (ESS)

• Development and implementation of CountrySTAT for
  17 Sub-Saharan countries
• Project funded by Bill and Melinda Gates
  Foundation operational since beginning of 2008
  for 17 Sub-Saharan African countries (Angola,
  Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte dIvoire,
  Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique,
  Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda,
  Zambia).
• The project aims at developing CountrySTAT system
  in order to organize, integrate and disseminate
  statistical data and metadata on food and
  agriculture coming from different sources.
• Focus on capacity building and technical support
  activities has been conducted at global and
  country level, including
• First Consultative Meeting of the project in July
  2008 in Dakar, Senegal for francophone countries
  and in September 2008 in Zanzibar, Tanzania for
  Anglophone countries
• Basic CountrySTAT training in October 2008 in
  Rome, Italy
• PC-Axis Meeting in Rome, Italy in 2008
• Advanced CountrySTAT Training in October 2009 in
  Rome, Italy
• PC-Axis Meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania in October
  2009
• Second Consultative Meeting in Accra, Ghana in
  October 2009
• Preparation of several methodological and
  training material in IT and Statistics
• Support to several national trainings and
  workshops
• As a result, several countries have launched or
  are about to launch their CountrySTAT and the
  project is extended until September 2010.

7
1. STATISTICS DIVISION (ESS)

• Food Security Indicators
• The Division has developed the Food Security
  Statistics Module (FSSM) for deriving a suite of
  food security indicators, including the MDG
  hunger indicator, from the available food data
  collected in the National Household Surveys (NHS)
• .
• This software uses organized food data files of
  the NHS to produce a large range of food security
  statistics at national and sub national levels
  useful for policy makers to better focus their
  poverty alleviation programmes.
• Regional and country level FSSM training has been
  carried out during the past years and nationals
  of more than 35 African countries have been
  trained and provided the FSSM software. A few
  countries have used those results as inputs for
  their National Food Security Programme (NFSP) of
  Food Insecurity Assessment reports (FIA). Malawi
  and Kenya have published their FIA reports.
• The Division is still providing support to
  African countries having more recent NHS food
  data using the updated FSSM version which has
  been updated with modules of food requirement and
  micronutrients. The latter analysis is useful to
  analyze the quality food consumed in terms of
  micronutrients, amino acids and proteins.

8
1. STATISTICS DIVISION (ESS)

• Capacity Building (Workshops, Seminars, Training
  Sessions)
• ESS has organized several technical meetings,
  workshops and seminars
• A Joint FAO/Uganda Bureau of Statistics Round
  table meeting on the FAO World Programme for
  Census of Agriculture 2010 (April 2008, Kampala,
  Uganda) for English speaking countries.
• Training Workshop on Agricultural Statistics in
  Rabat, Morocco April, 2009 for countries of North
  Africa and the Near East
• The second Wye City Group Meeting in June 2009 in
  Rome with a focus on issues related to the
  revision and preparation of a supplement for
  Non-OECD countries to the handbook Rural
  Households' Livelihood and Well-being Statistics
  on Rural Development and Agriculture Household
  Income.
• A Round table meeting on the new FAO World
  Programme for Census of Agriculture 2010
  (November 2008, Cairo, Egypt) has been organized
  for North Africa and Near East countries.
• Technical meeting on use of GPS for crop area
  measurement in agricultural surveys in Africa
  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November, 2008
• International Statistical Institute (ISI)
  Satellite Meeting on Agricultural Statistics
  August 2009, Maputo, Mozambique back-to-back with
  the 57th Session of the International Statistical
  Institute (ISI) in Durban, from 16 to 22 August
  2009.
• Several training sessions on CountrySTAT have
  been organized and conducted in FAO-HQ and in
  countries where related the CountrySTAT project
  is being implemented as indicated above.

9
1. STATISTICS DIVISION (ESS)

• Global Strategy for Improving Agricultural
  Statistics
• Since 2008, and under the auspices of the United
  Nations Statistical Commission, FAO has been
  working with other International Agencies and
  Countries to develop a Global Strategy for
  Improving Agricultural Statistics.
• The purpose of the Global Strategy to Improve
  Agricultural Statistics is to provide a vision
  for national and international statistical
  systems to produce the basic statistical
  information in support of policy and decision
  making, as it relates to the agricultural sector,
  required for the 21st century. The immediate
  goals are
• Countries will agree upon a minimum set of core
  agricultural data and will pledge to provide such
  a minimum core data set annually to meet the
  current and emerging needs of policy and decision
  making, markets and trade, and investment.
• Agriculture will be integrated into the national
  statistical systems in order to meet policy maker
  and other data user expectations that the data
  will be comparable across countries and over
  time.
• The integration will be achieved by an agreed
  upon conceptual framework as a foundation and an
  establishment of innovative methodological
  systems and solutions to build the national
  statistical infrastructure
• The Strategy has been reviewed and discussed at
  several international meetings and will be
  submitted in November 2009 to the FAO Conference
  for adoption and in February 2010 for endorsement
  by the United Nations Statistical Commission..
• A detailed presentation of the Global Strategy
  will be made during this AFCAS Session.

10
1. STATISTICS DIVISION (ESS)

• Partnership for Implementation of Global Strategy
  for Improving Agricultural Statistics in Africa
• FAO is working with several partners to quick
  start the implementation of some aspects of the
  Global Strategy for Improvement of Statistics.
• An informal Meeting of main Stakeholders was
  organized on this subject in August 2009 in
  Maputo in parallel to the ISI Satellite. It was
  agreed that a Capacity Building Programme could
  be developed for Africa, given the fact that
• Countries in Africa Region are among those who
  need the most assistance to strengthen their
  agricultural Statistics system
• A lot of background work has already done during
  the last 10 years and main issues have been
  identified and what needs to be done through
  biennial meetings of the FAO African Commission
  on Agricultural Statistics (AFCAS) and several
  international and regional meetings
• Interest of several Partners and countries to
  initiate action confirmed at the informal
  Stakeholders meeting in Maputo in August 2009 as
  side event to ISI Satellite meeting on Global
  Strategy (selected countries, Regional training
  institutions, Regional Remote Sensing Centers,
  Development Partners). Main components/sub-program
  mes discussed and confirmed.
• A preliminary proposal is being developed for a
  stakeholder meeting in early 2010 in Tunis at
  AfDB HQs to start the development of programme
  components (Technical assistance component,
  Training component, Research and development
  component).

11
1. STATISTICS DIVISION (ESS)

• FAO Capacity building strategy and programme
• The FAO Statistics Division has developed a new
  Capacity Building Strategy and programme which
  builds on the findings and recommendations of the
  external evaluation of FAO work in statistics as
  well as other recent assessments of countries
  capacity in food and agricultural statistics done
  by FAO and other Institutions, particularly
  PARIS21.
• The Strategy aims at addressing the deterioration
  over the last decades of the capacity of many
  countries in agricultural statistics
  (particularly in Africa).
• Through the Programme, to be implemented in close
  partnership with other Agencies and Institutions,
  the FAO Statistics Division will focus its
  assistance to member Countries on methodologies
  and tools developed and consolidated by the
  Division and for which it has proven expertise
  and comparative advantage. The assistance will be
  driven by national demands and built around the
  Strengthening of the Institutional coordination
  and capacity through the integration of
  Agricultural Statistics into the National
  Strategies for Development of Statistics (NSDS).
• FAO and AfDB are working together to implement
  this strategy in selected countries
• A detailed presentation on this Strategy will be
  made during this Session
• Other activities
• Data on Government Expenditures on agriculture
  collected from African countries for monitoring
  the commitment to invest 10 of national budgets
  in Agriculture. FAO is closely cooperating with
  New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD)
  in this undertaking.
• The questionnaires on the State of Agricultural
  Statistical Systems in Africa have been sent
  again to countries. .About 30 country replies
  have been recorded. Compiled resultants will be
  presented during the Session of this Commission.

12
2. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN THE FIELD OF
SEX-DISAGGREGATED DATA BY FAO REGIONAL OFFICE FOR
AFRICA

• The FAO Regional Office for Africa (RAF)
  continued to provide technical and financial
  support to African Member Countries for in the
  area of gender statistics.
• In follow-up to the recommendation that Member
  Countries intensify user-producer dialogues to
  facilitate the emergence of a common
  understanding among data producers and users on
  the importance of producing gender-disaggregated
  agricultural statistics, the Organization
  continued to support the production of the
  thematic census reports entitled Gender profile
  of the agricultural sector, prepared with
  statistical data collected by censuses in Niger
  and Tanzanias.
• In reference to the recommendation that FAO is
  to ensure that the experience gained in Africa
  during the 2000 WCA in the production of sex
  disaggregated agricultural data be built on
  during the WCA 2010, the Organization has
  finalized an electronic tool kit entitled
  AGRI-GENDER DATABASE, a statistical toolkit for
  the production of sex-disaggregated agricultural
  data which will be officially launched during
  this Session of the Commission.
• Furthermore, FAO supports the Economic Commission
  for Africa to integrate sex-disaggregated
  agricultural data into the African Gender and
  Development Index being developed by the latter
  Institution.
• With regard to the recommendation that Member
  Countries and FAO alike endeavour to fine-tune
  new complex gender sensitive concepts like
  sub-holder and sub-holding while building data
  producers and users capacity hereto, the
  Organization recently re-engaged with relevant
  stakeholders in Senegal, Benin and the Food
  Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia
  to expand their experience in collecting such
  data.

13
3. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN THE FIELD OF
FISHERIES STATISTICS IN AFRICA

• The FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Information and
  Statistics Service (FIES) has continued to
  compile process and disseminate the FAO global
  databases on fishery statistics with close
  collaboration with members. In addition,
  specifically for this region, FIES regularly
  updates two regional databases on capture
  production corresponding to the FAO Fishing Areas
  34-Eastern Central Atlantic (from Morocco to
  the Democratic Rep. of the Congo) and 47-
  Southeast Atlantic (from Angola to South
  Africa).
• In 2007, a revision of the statistical divisions
  for the Southeast Atlantic database was jointly
  proposed and endorsed by FAO and the South East
  Atlantic Fisheries Organization (SEAFO), a
  regional fisheries management organization which
  covers the high seas of the South East Atlantic
  Ocean. Its Convention was signed in 2001 by
  Angola, Namibia, South Africa, United Kingdom (on
  behalf of St. Helena and its dependencies of
  Tristan da Cunha and Ascension Islands) and
  distant water fishing countries. The revision of
  the statistical divisions aims at obtaining
  clearly separate data between catches taken
  inside and outside Economic Exclusive Zones
  (EEZs) of coastal states. During the last two
  years, the two organizations have been
  collaborating in setting up the new statistical
  framework and exchanging the information
  received.
• After the development of an inventory of marine
  resources and stocks, an inventory of national
  fisheries in the Committee for the Eastern
  Central Atlantic Fisheries (CECAF) area is
  currently under a validation process, for
  eventual publishing as part of the web based
  Fishery Resources Monitoring System (FIRMS). The
  same process is underway for the South West
  Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC)
  region. FIRMS is a formal Information Partnership
  arrangement launched in February 2004 which
  currently brings together 13 Inter-Governmental
  Organizations and FAO. Other similar draft
  inventories are available or under development in
  the Benguela Current region, and in the Red Sea
  region.

14
3. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN THE FIELD OF
FISHERIES STATISTICS IN AFRICA

• The FAO Strategy for Improving Information on
  Status and Trends of Capture Fisheries
  (Strategy-STF) was adopted by the 25th Session of
  the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) and
  endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly
  (UNGA) in 2003. with the overall objective of
  providing a framework for the improvement of
  knowledge and understanding of fishery status and
  trends as a basis for fisheries policy-making and
  sustainable management.
• Since the last AFCAS session, activities related
  to fisheries statistics supported by FAO through
  the FishCode STF project include
• The holding of two sub-Regional Workshop on
  Improving information on Status and Trends of
  captured fisheries i) for West Central Gulf of
  Guinea Region in collaboration with the newly
  established Fisheries Committee West Central Gulf
  of Guinea (Accra, Ghana from 26 to 28 June 2007),
  and ii) for the Gulf of Guinea in Collaboration
  with the Fisheries Committee for the Gulf of
  Guinea (Douala, Cameroon 15-18 April, 2008). Both
  workshops identified information requirements,
  gaps/bottlenecks in data collection and provided
  recommendation for improvement.
• As follow up of the sub-regional workshop,
  national activities for the improvement of
  fisheries data collection were formulated for
  Côte dIvoire, Benin, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria,
  Republic of Congo, Cameroon, and the Democratic
  Republic of Congo The activities are presently
  being implemented.
• Support to the establishment of an ad hoc working
  group on fisheries statistics for the Fisheries
  Committee West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC).
• Support to the second meeting of the Working
  Party on Fisheries Statistics (WPFS) of the South
  West Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC)
  during 28-30 April 2008 in Mombassa, Kenya.
• Development and implementation of a training
  course on fisheries data collection for District
  Fisheries Officers in Tanzania and Kenya.
• Further support to the implementation of Big
  Numbers Project. The Global (Big) Numbers Project
  (G(B)NP) is a joint activity of FAO and WorldFish
  Center and funded through PROFISH and own
  contributions by the two organizations.

15
3. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN THE FIELD OF
FISHERIES STATISTICS IN AFRICA

• FAO FIES has started a new TCP Project
  TCP/GUI/3204 Support for the establishment of a
  fisheries information system for artisanal marine
  fisheries and inland fisheries in Guinea. The
  primary goal is to review and adapt the fisheries
  data collection system for Guinea and support the
  development of a comprehensive Fisheries
  Information System.
• Latest publications
• FAO Yearbook, Fishery and Aquaculture Statistics,
  2006 and 2007 (in press).
• The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2008.

16
4. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN THE FIELD OF WATER
STATISTICS IN AFRICA

• The FAO Land and Water Division (NRL) manages the
  AQUASTAT Programme, which is FAOs global
  information system on water and agriculture
  (http//www.fao.org/nr/aquastat). Its aim is to
  provide users interested in global, regional and
  national analyses with comprehensive information
  related to water resources and agricultural water
  management across the world, with emphasis on
  countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the
  Caribbean.
• The information system consists of
• Databases The AQUASTAT main country database, as
  well as databases on African dams, on
  institutions, on river sediment yields, and on
  investment costs in irrigation
• Countries and regions Standardized text by
  country and by region on the state of water
  resources and agricultural water use
• Climate information tool A tool to provide
  climate estimates for the land surface of the
  globe
• Water resources Review of the statistics of
  renewable water resources by country
• Agricultural water use Review of agricultural
  water use by country
• Global irrigation map Global map of irrigated
  areas, which is a spatial dataset on areas
  equipped for irrigation
• Maps and tables A selection of downloadable maps
  and datasets on water and agriculture.
  Geo-referenced AQUASTAT information is also
  available on GeoNetwork
• Publications AQUASTAT publications related to
  water and agriculture.

17
4. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN IN THE FIELD OF WATER
STATISTICS IN AFRICA

• AQUASTAT is responsible for the MDG Water
  Indicator 7.5, which is equal to the proportion
  of renewable water resources withdrawn.
• On average every 5-10 years country and regional
  information is updated through a detailed
  questionnaire..
• The online country database contains about 100
  items, related to population and geography
  climate and water resources water use
  irrigation and drainage development and
  environment and health (http//www.fao.org/nr/wate
  r/aquastat/data/query/index.html).
• AQUASTAT collaborates with FAOSTAT on the one
  water-related item available in FAOSTAT, which is
  the Area equipped for irrigation to ensure
  consistency.
• AQUASTAT has been involved in the preparation of
  the questionnaire for the World Census on
  Agriculture 2010 and Theme 3 Irrigation and
  water management follows the AQUASTAT structure
  and definitions.
• AQUASTAT contributes to and is a major data
  provider for international flagship publications,
  and plays a key role in the development of the
  UN-Water federated water monitoring system. It
  collaborates with UNSD on standardization and
  harmonization of water-related data and
  definitions, and with the Global Water Systems
  Project (GWSP) on the preparation of a global map
  of dams and reservoirs.
• AQUASTAT concentrates on capacity building
  through projects Benin, Ethiopia, Somalia
  Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique and Timor-Leste.
• It organizes and participates in workshops on
  understanding and improving the methodologies
  used for the estimation of water resources and
  use, in collaboration with regional economic
  organizations (ECOWAS, ECLAC, ESCAP, etc.).
• It collaborates with different universities and
  research institutions on the improvement of
  data,.

18

• LIST OF MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE 20th
  SESSION OF AFCAS AND THEIR STATUS OF
  IMPLEMENTATION