Distinguished Participants
Colleagues from ESCAP and FAO,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is with great pleasure that, on behalf of the FAO Director-General, Dr. Jacques Diouf and on my own behalf, I welcome you all to this Expert Consultation on Development of Food and Agricultural Statistics for Food Policy.
As you know, access to food is a basic human right. At the 1996 World Food Summit convened at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy, world leaders including heads of state and Government recognized the role of food in the well being of people. It set a goal of reducing the number of malnourished people in the World by half by the year 2015. This number was then estimated at 820 million.
The World Food Summit Plan of Action emphasized the importance of easy availability of information on food. It recommended that appropriate measures be taken to establish Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems at global and national levels.
The present Expert Consultation has been convened as part of FAO’s efforts to address these concerns and issues in food information systems. Your expertise will be very useful in finding ways and means to tackle various components of food information systems. While each of you will contribute on specific aspects of such systems, we expect to benefit from your experiences with regard to its different components.
I note from the agenda that a paper on “agricultural statistics for food policy” will be a major document of the meeting. You will debate on the statistical activities required to support national food security programme and food policy. Crop forecasting plays an important role in this respect. It is thus crucial that the agenda item on “advance estimates of crop production and their use for food security” be also thoroughly discussed.
Marketing plays an important role in food policy. Food needs to be made available at different locations according to the local requirements. It has to be transported from food surplus to food deficit areas, mostly through commercial channels. Information on food marketing is thus essential for Government and private traders in improved decision making. This information is also useful for consumers in making choices while acquiring food items. I am pleased that papers are scheduled for discussion under this agenda item.
Too often post harvest losses are not given appropriate attention. As losses occur in small quantities at different stages of food handling and processing, it is not easy to realize that cumulative post harvest losses represent a significant proportion of crop production. In perishable items, it has been reported to be upto 30 - 40%. We have to recognize that estimating such losses is not an easy task. It is for this reason that an agenda item on this subject has been included for the consideration by the Expert Consultation.
To support food policy, data from various sources have to be analyzed. Not only data from scientifically designed surveys are useful for this purpose, but all quantitative and qualitative information regarding food have to be considered. I suggest that you give appropriate attention to the agenda item on “use and analysis of data for national food security”. I am pleased that papers will be presented under this topic.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Identification of food shortage and food surplus areas is very important for the government to ensure that food is made available to those in need at appropriate time. Not only the information on where food will be needed, but also the information on quantities required in each locality is important. As mentioned earlier this is of paramount importance to world leaders. I noted that an interesting experience in the identification of food insecure and vulnerable localities has been documented for presentation at this Expert Consultation.
A major problem in estimating the number of malnourished people is the methodology to be adopted. There may be no agreement on the best method in this regard. In our current work relating to food consumption and nutrition, FAO Headquarters has evolved a methodology to estimate the prevalence of food inadequacy. It has been documented for your consideration during this meeting.
Information technology has played an increasingly important role in the planning and monitoring of economic development, including the agricultural sector. National food security programme should benefit from this technological advent. It is expected that discussions under agenda item on “agricultural information network in support of food security” will contribute to improving information flow for decision making in food policy.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The opinions you express in this Expert Consultation are your own views. They do not reflect any position of your organizations or countries, because you are attending in your personal capacity. Consequently, I urge you to exchange ideas frankly during your deliberations. We look forward to your useful recommendations.
Finally, I trust that you will have fruitful discussions in a friendly atmosphere. I wish you a good stay in Bangkok.
Thank you.
