Improving Agricultural Statistics in the COMCEC Region

3.4

Uganda

Agriculture is the key component in Uganda’s economy, although its contribution has been

declining over years. According to FAO estimates, 58 percent of the total area of Uganda is used

for agricultural purposes. The sector as a whole accounts for 23.9 percent of the country’s GDP

and almost half of the total export revenue in 2013. Furthermore, agriculture provides

approximately 80 percent of the country’s employment and most industries and services in the

country are dependent on this sector. Consequently, it is very important that data related to

agricultural sector is accurate, timely, consistent, disaggregated and accessible, so that

planning and decision-making is facilitated. Additionally, comprehensive agricultural statistics

is also required to monitor and evaluate the impact of agricultural policies and programmes.

All producers and users of food and agricultural statistics are aware of the growing demand for

statistical data, and information about the agricultural sector has increased dramatically in the

recent years. This increase was brought about by the increasing need for timely statistical

information that supports and serves as a basis for analysing, monitoring and evaluating

development policies for the agricultural sector, including food security.

Organization of the Agricultural Statistics System

Since 2006, the progress of statistics in Uganda has been enhanced by the implementation of

the Plan for National Statistical Development (PNSD). The Agricultural Sector Strategic Plan for

Statistics (ASSPS) 2007-2011 instead provided a basis for improving agricultural statistics

production by establishing critical gaps, shortages, intersections and inconsistencies in the

three subsectors of crop, livestock and fisheries. The Plan was also intended to improve an

integrated, harmonized, coordinated and coherent National Agricultural Statistical System

(NASS).

In the future, the performance of this Plan for this period will be measured against the sector’s

ability to:



Coordinate the management of agricultural data/information in the sector;



Strengthen the capacity for collection, analysis and dissemination of agricultural data;

and



Produce and publish accurate, user-friendly and good quality agricultural data to

inform national and international development priorities.

The NASS was advanced to address the challenges of uncoordinated data generation, based on

the following building blocks.



An agricultural module in the Population and Housing Census (PHC) every 10 years.



A census of agriculture every 10 years, one or two years after the PHC.



A core agricultural sample survey module on household based holdings integrated into

the core Uganda National Household Survey.

UBOS, 2014a.

Ibid