FAO Responds to Liberia’s Request to Build National Strategic Plan to Improve Agricultural Statistics
(c) FAO
Monrovia - A cardinal pillar of the second phase of the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics (GSARS-II) is the integration of agriculture into the National Statistical System to ensure national data coherence and data comparability between countries.
The GSARS-II offers support in the elaboration of a Strategic Plan for the development of agricultural and rural statistics that can serve as a framework for reference, when it comes to data planning on agriculture and other rural initiatives. Incorporating such a strategic national plan into the National Statistical System will guarantee the development of a coordinated system of agricultural statistics that will primarily respond to national information gaps.
It is from this perspective that Liberia requested technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for the development of its Strategic Plan aimed at improving agricultural and rural statistics in Liberia.
In response to Liberia’s request, FAO has organized a mission to Liberia from 7 to 18 August 2023 to work with the Technical Working Group (TWG), comprising the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), and other relevant stakeholders. The mission prioritizes the launch of the Liberia Strategic Plans for Agricultural and Rural Statistics (SPARS) development process.
The mission’s activities include:
- a three-day meeting with the TWG and other stakeholders on the practical approach to developing the strategy for the development of agriculture and rural statistics and preparing a roadmap document;
- a two-day meeting for roadmap validation by national authorities and a roadmap public presentation as the first phase of the strategic plan process in Liberia; and
- a coordination meeting for preparing assessment phase, among others.
The mission has paid courtesy visits to the Ministry of Agriculture, the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), and FAO Liberia Country Office on 7 August 2023 prior to a formal opening ceremony which took place in the afternoon in the MOA Conference Room located in Gardnerville.
About GSARS
The Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics (GSARS) was developed in 2009 as a blueprint for a coordinated and long-term initiative to address the decline in the agricultural statistical systems of many developing countries. The initiative implements its activities through a partnership between FAO, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and PARIS21, with the financial support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the European Commission.
The GSARS seeks to provide a “framework for national and international statistical systems enabling developing countries to produce, and to apply, the basic data and information needed in the 21st Century.” From its very inception, the Global Strategy was designed as a 15-year process to be implemented in several phases.
In its second phase, GSARS II facilitates the implementation of the 50x2030 Initiative, a multi-partner programme to close the agricultural data gap in countries eligible to the initiative. In May 2023, the Government of Liberia, FAO, World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and other partners officially launched 50x2030 Initiative in Liberia.
Earlier in November and December 2022, FAO also organized a technical workshop to design data collection tools for the agricultural production survey (AGPROD).
Links
Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics (GSIARS)