FAO Outlines Roadmap to Improve Agricultural Statistics

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reaffirmed its support for strengthening agricultural statistics systems across Latin America and the Caribbean during the 32nd session of the Latin American and Caribbean Commission on Agricultural Statistics (LACCAS) forum, held March 26–28 in Paraguay.

At the event, José Rosero, Director of the Statistics Division, FAO, emphasized that the meeting enabled the organization to define a two-year work plan and establish a roadmap to support national governments in developing data-driven public policies.

“The Commission is giving us clear guidance on how to support countries in improving agricultural statistics. We heard about their needs related to agricultural censuses, food systems statistics, and food security data, among other areas,” said Rosero Moncayo

The session addressed the measurement of key indicators in agri-food systems, including emissions, workforce size, value-added contributions, food spending distribution across value chains, and the cost and affordability of healthy diets.

During the closing session, Iván Ojeda, Director, Paraguay’s National Statistics Institute (INE), underlined the importance of scientific evidence for policy formulation. He acknowledged the challenges ahead, including securing resources, implementing field operations, and promoting the use of collected data. “Producing statistics is one challenge. But perhaps the bigger challenge is ensuring that the information is actually used, given the time and human resources it takes to collect,” said Ojeda.

The 32nd LACCAS session was coordinated by Paraguay’s INE, the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, FAO Paraguay, and FAO’s Statistics Division. It was supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) and the National Secretariat of Tourism (SENATUR), which declared the event of national tourism interest.

Representatives and technical experts from national statistics offices of 23 countries participated, including Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay.