Improving Agricultural Statistics in the COMCEC Region
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OPPORTUNITIES
Definition Criteria
Prospect for gain or
improvement from a
particular set of
circumstances related to
agricultural statistics
- Organization
o Growing need for statistics for planning and decision-making,
o Emerging issues of global warming, food poverty and climate
changes,
o Coordination for new agricultural census period,
o Construction of common in-country databases such as Land Parcel
Information System (LPIS).
- Resources
o Needs of international funding agencies,
o Increasing external fundings for improving and strengthening
statistical systems,
o Demand from international databases such as FAOSTAT.
- Methodology
o Fast developments in Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT),
o Easy access and use of new ICT,
o Easy access to international methodologies, concepts, definitions and
classifications through Internet,
o Livestock databases for animal health and follow up,
o Developments in data collection technologies (Remote Sensing & GIS
techniques),
o Construction of LPIS.
- Output /Availability/Timeliness
o Recognition of importance of agricultural in national economy,
o Growing agricultural internal and international markets,
o Participation in CountrySTAT,
o Participation in FAOSTAT.
WEAKNESS
Definition Criteria
Vulnerabilities,
limitations or
unfavorable conditions
within the infrastructure
of agricultural statistics
system
- Organization
o Structures, roles, responsibilities (work flow & protocols)
o Policies,
o Plans,
o Procedures,
o Common standards,
o Response arrangements.
- Resources
o Lack of financial resources,
o No sustainability due to unavailable long run budgets,
o Low staffing capacity,
o Lack of physical place of work,
o Lack of ICT equipment,
o No databases for data management,
o No interactive database for dissemination to external users,
o Lack of transportation opportunities.
- Methodology
o Lack of knowledge,
o Low level data quality,
o Obsolete or missing farm registers,
o Obsolete definitions, methodologies, classifications,
o Data collection without clear objectives.
- Outputs/Availability/Timeliness
o Non-availability of metadata,
o Non-availability of micro-data,
o Limited electronic dissemination,
o Data with low level of confidence based on administrative records,
o Missing domains (Investment, Labor Market, Market Information,
Utilization, Greenhouses, Irrigation, etc).