2008 African Statistics Day
18 November 2008
Rising food prices and agricultural development in Africa: The role of statistics
African Statistics Day is celebrated annually on 18th November. This year, the focus of the day is on the role of statistics in addressing the challenges of rising food prices and agricultural development.
Recent progress against hunger and poverty could be reversed by the higher food prices that are currently impacting around the world. Earlier this year a United Nations report on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals estimated that higher prices could push as many as 100 million more people into absolute poverty, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. Strengthening the agricultural sector - by improving the collection, management and use of agricultural data - is vital at this time of crisis.
Fighting hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the sheer scale of hunger is greater than in any other
region of the world. In 2001-03, approximately 1 in 3 people in the region were
living with insufficient food.
It is these people who are most seriously threatened by increases in the cost of staples like wheat, maize and rice. Even though prices have fallen in recent months, they are still predicted to stay well above 2004 levels for most food crops, and this is expected to be the case until 2015.
Amongst the countries most at risk are Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, Ghana and Tanzania. While providing immediate food aid is a vital part of addressing the crisis, time and resources must also be devoted to longer-term solutions such as encouraging the growth of the agricultural sector.
Agriculture is dominant in most African economies (employing 65% of the labour force in Sub-Saharan Africa) and promoting growth in this area is essential to reducing poverty and achieving food and nutrition security. However, in many countries, public expenditure on agriculture does not reflect the importance of the sector to the economy.
A major reason for this is the lack of up to date information available for monitoring, evaluation, policy making and future planning. Comprehensive, reliable and consistent statistics collected in a timely manner are very important in assessing the current situation and directing funds to where they are most needed.
Gathering information in Uganda
One country which is setting about improving its statistics on agriculture is
Uganda. Over 80% of Uganda’s population are employed in the agriculture sector,
which contributes 31% to the national Gross Domestic Product and over 90% to
export earnings. The modernisation of the sector is seen as essential to the
Government’s long-term vision of eradicating poverty by 2017.
On African Statistics Day 2008, Uganda will launch its 2008/09 Census of
Agriculture (CA). This will generate data for proper planning, monitoring and
evaluation of the sector to enable modernisation and the establishment of a food
and agriculture system. Information will be collected on holdings, tenure, land
utilisation, crop patterns, use of machinery, farm population and the labour
force. The fact that the Government of Uganda is almost entirely financing the
census demonstrates its recognition of the importance of statistics in policy
making.
This year, African Statistics Day reminds the world of the importance of a strong agricultural sector - bolstered by accurate statistical data - in the fight against poverty.
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