FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Collecting and Compiling Food and Agricultural Prices in Latin America and the Caribbean: Current Status and Future Directions The 25 th Meeting of the FAO/OEA-CIE/IICA Working Group on Agricultural and Livestock Statistics for Latin America and the Caribbean Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10– 12 November 2009

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Importance of Agricultural Price Statistics Production planning Trade and Investment decisions Economic analysis Compilation of national accounts Formulation, monitoring and impact assessment of policies Agricultural income is an important source of livelihood in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS FAO price datasets FAO provides datasets of prices at different levels  Producer prices (FAOSTAT)  Wholesale/Retail prices (GIEWS)  World market prices (EST - Commodity Price Database) Different databases at FAO that serve different purposes  FAOSTAT => support macro-economic analysis  GIEWS => food security monitoring and action  EST - Commodity Price Database => market analysis But, these datasets are not yet integrated

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Key characteristics of GIEWS price dataset Coverage:  13 LAC countries, 2 of which do not report to FAOSTAT (annual price questionnaires)  market prices, mainly retail but also wholesale prices  selected markets, in few cases national averages available  monthly prices, starting in most cases in 2006 Pros and cons of this alternative database versus FAOSTAT –better timeliness (pro) –wider geographical coverage (pro) –wholesale prices on few commodities (con) –lack of national averages (con)

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Current Status of Agricultural Price Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean Moderate response rate from LAC to FAO questionnaires (approx 14 annual responses = 50%) Decreasing trend in reporting Inadequate data coverage Some countries cannot compile annual national averages although data collection takes place Many countries do not collect producer prices at all Lack of availability and poor quality of metadata FAO datasets disseminate mostly raw prices, while no derived indicators are developed yet

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Constraints in producing food and agricultural price data in Latin America and the Caribbean High cost of data collection and lack of resources Technological and methodological constraints Lack of adequately trained technical staff to undertake processing Limited coordination amongst various institutions Problems in FAO reporting mechanism Insufficient emphasis on monitoring data quality General lack of timely availability of price data

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS A new way of collecting price data? Does it make sense to keep collecting prices at the farm- gate? Or should farm-gate prices be replaced by market prices (rural wholesale prices)? Collection of disaggregated data, not national indexes? Quarterly transmission of monthly/quarterly data, not annual averages? Collecting prices on few products specific to each countries? Send a questionnaire to all countries to collect: description of available price data and methodology suggestions and expectations. What are your priorities? How do you want to proceed?

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Future Directions for Improving Price Statistics Developing a new methodology for price data collection Establishing data quality frameworks Enhancing analytical value of prices data (methodology to compile and analyse derived indicators) Improving institutional capacities for data collection and compilation (methodology to aggregate data at different levels (time, geographic, item)) Platform for integration of national datasets

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS FAO technical support for Improving Price Data Systems in LAC Countries Agricultural prices is one module of the new FAO Statistical Capacity Building strategy Collaboration with a regional funding body: need to identify pilot countries for each module. Countries are invited to contact FAO.

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS The Meeting is requested to provide its views on: Mainstreaming food and agricultural price statistics in national statistical systems Strengthening national capacities related to food and agricultural price statistics in the region Key priority areas for FAO technical assistance: Data collection? validation? analysis? dissemination? Institutional framework?  Opportunity to send a questionnaire to all countries to collect metadata on price data availability and methodology, as well as suggestions and expectations on FAO work

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Obrigado Gracias Thanks