Improving Agricultural Statistics in the COMCEC Region
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agricultural statistics” reports prepared for FAO’s regional meetings, “country
statistical situation reports” of The Euro-Mediterranean Statistical Cooperation
(MEDSTAT), “global assessment” reports of United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe (UNECE). Country reports have already been prepared for 8 of the COMCEC
Members in this study. Panorama reports have already been prepared for Benin,
Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivore, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal and Togo
in CountrySTAT, while MEDSTAT published a country report for Egypt, and UNECE
presented global assessment reports for Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, FAO’s metadata
reports include Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran and Pakistan, to name a few. Even with
this incomplete list, it can be seen that almost half of COMCEC Members already have a
report on the state of agriculture in their countries. The problem is that these reports
are conducted for and by different organizations, and are difficult to access as they are
not deposited in one location. It is recommended that an outlet be found for these
reports, apart from the national websites of the disseminating countries. SESRIC, as
the statistical research and training centre for Islamic countries, could be a potential
host for this platform.
 None of the COMCEC Member Countries have an integrated comprehensive online
database for agricultural statistics. An integrated database not only facilitates
dissemination to users, adds value to existing statistics and makes agricultural
statistics visible, but also shows where the deficiencie and missing links are. Building a
database requires careful thinking and planning about what the structure, coverage,
time span, level of disaggegation, degree of integration, etc. of the database. Otherwise
it results in a storage of lots of data with little use.
 COMCEC Member Countries should make every effort to integrate agricultural
statistics into their National Statistical Systems. They should seriously consider placing
agricultural statistics in National Statistical Offices and maintain close ties to the
Ministries of Agriculture, contrary to the current situation in most countries.
Agricultural economics have a better chance to flourish in the NSO, since most of the
recent domains of agricultural statistics are in this office (such as national accounts,
social statistics, consumer prices, trade, food consumption, labor force, agro-industry).
Agricultural statistics in NSO will benefit from these and many more externalities.
COMCEC Members should hold a workshop to discuss integration and coordination
issues, in which heads of statistics and agricultural statistics participate. This can be
the subject of one of the annual meetings of the OIC-Statistics Commission.
 The OIC-Statistics Commission is an existing and active platform for the National
Statistical Systems of the OIC Member States for sharing knowledge and exchanging
experiences and best practices with a view to enhance their performances while being
guided by the objectives and principles to strengthen the solidarity and cooperation
among the Member States. (SESRIC, 2014c) The effort here should be to include
integration of agricultural statistics to the National Statistical Systems, in the
commission’s agenda.