Improving Agricultural Statistics in the COMCEC Region
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2.4 Results of Standard Self-Assessment Questionnaire
The results of the Standard Self-Assessment Questionnaire are presented below. As of 14
February 2014, 31 responses have been received and processed. Additionally, the UDA team
completed SSAQs for 5 countries based on previous country assessments, metadata or
panorama reports. The results presented below for 36 COMCEC Member Countries represent a
71 percent sample for the African group, 59 percent for Arab group and 61 percent for the
Asian group, implying an overall sampling ratio of 63 percent for COMCEC Members. The
status of the responses to the survey and the case studies are reported in Annex 3. Although
these sample sizes are large enough to conduct statistical analysis for the sub-regions and
COMCEC Region as a whole, it should be noted that especially for Africa, the responses are
from countries with more developed statistical systems and tend to form an upward bias. The
results of the survey are presented in Table 19 below for the COMCEC Region and the three
sub-regions. The results at the country level are presented in Annex 4.
a. Organization
All COMCEC Member Countries appear to have a statistical law governing the statistical
systems in the countries. The statistical law generally also covers agricultural statistics and is
operational. 82 percent of countries in the African and Asian groups stated that they have an
Agricultural Statistics Advisory Committee, or similar, to coordinate and bring different
stakeholders together. For Arab group this ratio is 50 percent, and the average for COMCEC
Member Countries is 71 percent. As far as the legal, institutional and structural infrastructure
is concerned, COMCEC Member Countries generally appear to have a suitable environment for
the development of agricultural statistics (Table 19).
Table 19: Legal Status of Statistics and Coordination (%)
Existence of a
Statistical
Law?
Coverage of
Agricultural
Statistics in
Statistical Law?
Is the Statistical
Law
Operational?
Statistical
Advisory or
Coordination
Unit?
African Group 100 100 100 82
Arab Group 100 92 92 50
Asian Group 100 100 91 82
COMCEC 100 97 94 71
Source: SSAQ Results.
One third of the statistical systems in COMCEC Member Countries are decentralized and two
thirds are centralized. The Asian group is more centralized than the Arab and African groups.
In the Asian group there is no coordination of decentralized statistical units. 23 percent of the
Arab group countries have a single institution responsible for all statistical activities including
agricultural statistics (Table 20).