Brazzaville, Congo - The official launch of CountrySTAT Congo has took place in Brazzaville, on January 13th by the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Mr Rigobert Maboundoua.

It was attended by around 100 participants from the Ministries, representatives of the Technical and Financial Partners, Secretaries and General Managers of various departments, members of the Technical Working Group of CountrySTAT-Congo and the media.

The Congolese government invested more than $ 7 million dollars, on its General Agricultural Census (RGA) to update national statistics on agriculture, livestock and fisheries, through partnership with FAO.

'The RGA is a comprehensive operation aimed at carrying out a census of, among other fields, the livestock, fisheries, forestry and agroforestry. Such an operation will facilitate the formulation and evaluation of rural public policy and express the interest of the authorities to rationally control those policies,' Mr. Maboundou said.

The first phase of the current campaign will run until 31 January, 2015. The collected data will be than processed, analyzed and published in CountrySTAT

The last general agricultural census in Congo was held 28 years ago, and since 1986, data used for agricultural planning and programming have been approximated.

The RGA is part of the FAO-led Global 2010 agricultural census programme.

"The role of statistical information is critical for evaluating the achievements, choices and decision-making processes for a better allocation of resources" said the Minister during the ceremony.