FAO at the International Conference on Agricultural Statistics (ICAS)

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) called for enhanced statistical capacities, innovative tools and funding to produce, access and use more and better data for policy-making.

“If we want to support sound policy decision making to achieve sustainable development, we have to count on a sound information basis. Data is what allows us to see, analyze and act upon the environment in which we are called upon taking action”, FAO Chief Economist Máximo Torero told the inaugural session of the International Conference on Agricultural Statistics (ICAS), which was organized in Washington DC from 17 to 19 May 2023.

Over the past years, FAO has adopted a new governance for data and statistics. In addition, FAO’s new Strategic Framework recognizes data as one of four key accelerators, emphasising its importance in working towards the Organization’s objectives and four betters - Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment, an a Better Life.  

ICAS is the most important international conference dealing with agricultural statistics. This year’s edition was hosted by the World Bank and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in coordination with FAO. It gathered around 500 participants from national statistical offices, ministries of agriculture, academia, development partners and international organizations to discuss how to harness data to inform agri-food systems transformation and to agree on a data agenda that guides policy-making.

During the three-day conference, 47 contributed and invited paper sessions and four plenary panel discussions were organized, with keynote addresses by FAO Chief Economist, Máximo Torero Cullen, FAO Chief Statistician, Pietro Gennari, and the Director of the Statistics Division, José Rosero Moncayo.

From strengthening national statistical capacities to innovative approaches and the use of alternative data sources, FAO presented its renewed data strategy to fill data gaps and accelerate food systems transformation. It relies fundamentally on flagship projects: the 50 by 2030 Initiative, the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics (GSARS), Voices of the Hungry project, the FAO Data Lab For Statistical Innovation and FAO’s programme “Measuring the SDGs. Improving country data for monitoring SDG achievements and informing policy decisions”.

ICAS, which celebrated its 25th session, was also an opportunity for FAO colleagues to learn through exchanges, enhance collaboration and synergies, and provide food for thoughts and innovative ideas for enhancing statistical work. The Organization organized a number of sessions to highlight FAO’s work on data and statistics and contribute to the debate on harnessing data to inform an equitable and sustainable agri-food systems transformation. These sessions covered the following topics:

• Food Security Diets and Nutrition
• Technological Innovations and Data Collection Strategies in National Censuses of Agriculture
• GSARS II — Continuous Efforts for Improvements in Agricultural Statistics in Developing Countries
• Innovations in Food and Agriculture Data Dissemination and Release of Microdata
• Developments in National Censuses of Agriculture in the 2020 Round and Implications for 2030 Round
• The Challenge of Measuring Agricultural Labor
• Expanded Use of FIES to Monitor Food Insecurity in Different Contexts
• Progress and Prospects in Accelerating Production and Use of Data on Agriculture and the Environment
• Data Disaggregation for Sustainable Development in Food and Agriculture
• Data Collection Options for Measuring Food Loss and Monitor Progress on SDG 12.3
• Use of Geospatial Data for Producing Official Agricultural Statistics

Here are the main takeaways from the Conference:

1. From data on agriculture to data on agri-food systems: we need a transition from the current compartmentalized and sectorial approach of food and agriculture to the more systemic and holistic agri-food systems approach.
2. There is a need for more and better financing for agricultural statistics to combat hunger, improve food security and nutrition, and ensure sustainable food supplies.
3. The use of technology is changing the way survey data is collected. Integrating innovative methods and alternative data sources is improving the data production chains. 
4. There is a need to set quality standards for key food and agricultural statistics and new data sources, as well as to assist countries in developing and implementing national data quality assurance frameworks for agriculture.
5. We need to promote open data and expand partnerships, in particular with research institutions, academia and high-tech companies.
6. There is the need to bring closer the communities of agricultural statisticians and agricultural economists, to improve the quality of the data that can serve these two communities.

“We mustn’t lose sight of the big overarching and cross-cutting challenges ahead of us. We need to set quality standards for key food and agricultural statistics and new data sources, as well as to assist countries in developing and implementing national data quality assurance frameworks for agriculture”, stressed FAO Chief Statistician, Pietro Gennari, while addressing the conference in his closing remarks.

“While the global community faces a critical juncture to transform food systems to be healthier, safer, more sustainable, more efficient and more equitable, we have to invest in our data processes to produce enough information and data to monitor all aspects of food systems, assess their change and performance and allow for the analysis of interactions between the different elements of the systems”, added José Rosero Moncayo, Director of FAO Statistics Division.

Moving forward, FAO Statistics community will gather from 16 to 20 July at the 64th World Statistics Congress, the leading international scientific congress on statistics and data science. Panellists are expected to discuss a variety of topics, including the role of official statistics, data governance, small area estimation, and the role of microdata to achieve sustainable development.