MANAGING AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE NSDSTHE EXPERIENCE OF UGANDA

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORUGANDA BUREAU OF STATISTICS

ISI Satellite Meeting Maputo, August 2008

OUTLINEIntroduction

Status of Agricultural Statistics in Uganda

Efforts to mitigate the situation

Institutional arrangements

The NSDS and the Agricultural Sector

Conclusions

Introduction

Agriculture is the most dominant sector in Ugandas economy currently it contributes about 21% of GDP and employs more than 80% of the population.

Agricultural Statistics in Uganda covers crops, livestock and fisheries hence the Ministry responsible is called Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries

Other players include parastatal bodies for major cash crops (coffee, cotton, tea)

Status of Agricultural Statistics in UgandaThe Agricultural Statistical System and infrastructure have never been fully developed in Uganda though a good start had been made in the 1950s and 1960s under the Agricultural Reporting Service of the Ministry responsible for agriculture.

The last published agricultural census results were those for 1963-65

Agricultural Reporting Service of the Ministry of Agriculture then, collapsed with the decentralization policy that devolved administrative, planning and monitoring functions from the centre to the districts

Before development of the Integrated Framework for Agricultural Statistics in Uganda in 2000, there was no comprehensive national work program on agricultural statistics

Poorly coordinated efforts in agricultural statistics production resulted in low quality and inconsistent products that did not meet user needs

Efforts to mitigate the situationThe NSO became an important source of agricultural statistics from its National Household Survey rounds of 1995/96, 1999/2000 and 2005/06

The 2002 Population and Housing Census carried an agricultural module to facilitate creation of a sampling frame for subsequent agricultural surveys

The agricultural modules will continue to be accommodated in the Long Term Household Survey program of the NSO (2007-2017)

Efforts to mitigate the situation

The Livestock census was conducted in 2008 by the Ministry of Agriculture with technical support from the National Statistical Office Joint supervision done

Uganda is currently undertaking a census of agriculture (Sept 08-Sept. 09) Spearheaded by the National Statistical Office in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture The exercise is jointly supervised

Census of Agriculture in picturesThe Speaker of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda Unveils the Census 2008 logo in November 2008

Institutional arrangements to support Agricultural statisticsThe Integrated Framework for Agricultural Statistics in Uganda (2000) could be viewed as the first Agricultural Sector Strategic Plan for Statistics.

An important feature of the Framework implementation arrangements was the proposed formation of a National Agricultural Statistics Coordination Committee (NASCC) and the National Agricultural Statistics Technical Committee (NASTC).

Both Committees (NASCC & NASTC) drew membership from a cross section of data producers and users, policy makers and implementers in the agricultural sector.

Operationalization of NASCC and NASTC While the two committees were well-intended and TORs carefully developed, only the NASTC has been fully operationalized

NASTC has contributed to reviews and approval of workplans for agricultural censuses and surveysProvided technical guidance on sampling design and quality controlFacilitated sharing of good practices in development of agricultural statistics

Integrating agricultural statistics into the National Statistical System - the NSDS framework A sectoral approach was used in the design of the NSDS. This involved dialogue with stakeholders in the agricultural sector

Agricultural Statistics cannot be developed in isolation, it must be part of the national strategy for developing statistics in all the sectors

In Uganda, under the NSDS a detailed process of consultations led to development of a vision for the entire National Statistical System

The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries was among the pioneer Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) under Ugandas NSDS

The process of designing an agricultural strategic plan for statistics in the context of NSDS

Selection of contact personsContact persons selected were statisticians from the Agricultural Planning Unit All planning unit staff of the ministry of agriculture were sensitized as a starting point

Identification and use of ChampionsThe Commissioner Agricultural Planning was the Champion for statistics in the ministry. The Commissioner also doubled as the chairperson to the NASTC

The Champion was the main change agent in the Ministry of Agriculture

The process of designing an agricultural strategic plan for statistics in the context of NSDSCreation of a Committee for StatisticsEach department of the ministry was represented on the committee Crop husbandry, Livestock & FisheriesThe Committee was used to monitor statistical developments within the Ministry and other sister institutionsThe Committee was a starting point for inter-departmental harmonization

Creating Training opportunities NSO mobilized resources to support training in Statistical Analysis, sampling, M&E, etcSome trainings were done together for NSO staff and MDAs staffThis created some form of common ground for developing statistics in both the NSO and the MDAs.

Managing with the right InformationAssessments were made in the agricultural sector

To establish the status quo level of statistical developmentSWOT analysisStrategies for statistical development were based on the situational analysis and the SWOT analysis

The Agricultural Sector Strategic Plan for Statistics (SSPS) The SSPS for the Agricultural sector is a strategy that indicates the actions necessary for developing statistics in the sector. Any support for statistics in the sector must be based on the SSPSThe SSPS was developed in a consultative manner with all the key stakeholders in the sector and with support from the NSOThe SSPS is one of the building blocks for the NSDS

International NetworkingTapping and sharing experiences

A team from Malawi NSO on an NSDS study tour atUBOS

Highlights of the assessment of the Agricultural sector under the NSDSAnalysis of the sector indicated that there are:Many data gaps

Limited coordination between producers and users; particularly between the ministry and parastatal bodies attached to the ministry

No budget lines for statistics in the ministry

Inadequate staffing levels in the statistics unit

Strategies for developing statisticsunder the NSDS..Coordination and management Increase coordination between data producers and usersScaling up the statistics unit in the MDA responsible for agricultural statisticsStreamline data flow channels between the center and local governmentsCarry out periodic data needs assessments in the sectorSensitize local governments on the importance of an Early Warning System informed by statistics

Strategies for developing statisticsunder the NSDS..Human Resource Development and management Train staff in data management and statistical analysis

Develop the capacity of individual farmers to keep records of their farming operations

Develop the capacity of local governments to generate accurate statistics with support from the National Statistical Office

Strategies for developing statisticsunder the NSDSStatistical InfrastructureDevelop a Master Sampling Frame

Develop standard reporting formats for all field staff

Create an information system for the agricultural sector

Conclusions Agricultural statistics is generally poor in Uganda

In the absence of regular Agricultural censuses, National Household surveys have provided a stop gap

Inter-sectoral committee on agricultural statistics has worked but it has its own challenges

The solution to managing agricultural statistics lies in the development of the NSDS

ConclusionsThe National Statistical Office in Uganda has supported the Ministry responsible for Agricultural statistics to develop an Agricultural Sector Strategic Plan for Statistics

The Agricultural Sector Strategic Plan for Statistics is a good management mechanism of agricultural statistics

Agricultural statistics cannot be developed in isolation. The Agricultural Sector Strategic Plan for Statistics is one of the building blocks for the NSDS

THANK YOU