Improving Agricultural Statistics in the COMCEC Region
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3 Case Studies
Introduction
Eight country visits were conducted by the senior experts of UDA resulting in the preparation
of eight case studies. The purpose of the country visits were to verify the responses received
by the SSAQ prior to the visits, and to obtain an in-depth understanding of the agricultural
statistics system in these member countries.
These eight countries visited were Morocco and Sudan in North Africa, Cameroon in West
Africa, Uganda in East Africa, Turkey in West Asia, Iran and Afghanistan in South Asia and
Malaysia in Southeast Asia. The country visits lasted 5 days each and were conducted in 2014,
throughout January and the first week of February.
To facilitate comparison, the case studies in the following sections of this study are presented
in similar formats, following the structure of the SSAQ. They each start with a review of the
organization of the agricultural statistics system. This is followed by main outputs of the
agricultural statistics system. The next topic of resources allocated to agricultural statistics
show how difficult it was to estimate the allocation of budget, staff and equipment. The budget
allocation systems in almost all countries did not permit the identification of the agricultural
statistics component. Furthermore, the wider view of the agricultural statistics meant that
there were many other contributing units to the agricultural statistics units, externally both to
the ministries of agriculture and national statistics offices. National accounts, food production,
foreign trade, labor force, credits, irrigation, forest products, fish products, are a few of the
many agricultural statistics compiled outside the agricultural statistics unit. The years during
which large scale agricultural censuses or surveys conducted made a big impact on the
resources allocated to agricultural statistics, are also presented. The next sections are devoted
to the methodological issues and the review of the main censuses and surveys conducted and
other data sources. The final sections provide a review of the various reports that
disseminated agricultural statistics.
Each case study ends with an analysis of the country’s SWOT and also includes a brief needs
assessment based on the interviews, discussions and observations made during the visits. In
section 3.9, after the presentation of all case studies, these analyses are put together in an
overall SWOT analysis and needs assessment which was performed for all the cases studied. It
should be noted that the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for each country
differ. A weakness of one country could be seen as strength for another. What constitutes a
threat for one country may be conceived as an opportunity for another. The results of this
analysis are also used in the conclusion and recommendations chapter of this study.