1. Assessing the inclusion of the agriculture sector in NSDSs
(IDA countries)
PARIS21 Secretariat
Meeting on Agricultural Statistics, Maputo, August 2009

2. What is an NSDS?
A National Strategy for the Development of Statistics is:
A national plan with a vision for where NSS should be in 5-10 years time
A prioritised and costed action plan for statistics and statistical capacity building to achieve the vision
A framework for coordination arrangements: both across NSS and between Development Partners
A framework for funding, both national and international
NSDS has become a benchmark (donors’ community)
What is an NSDS? While NSDSs are intended to be nationally led and adapted to countries’ specific situations, we can still point to some key commonalities.
Read
NSDS includes an assesment of statistical system, but is much more than that. A lot of efforts have been made by countries and partners over the last 10 years on this. 2

3. An NSDS can help by: Integrating statistics within policy processes
Looking across sectors, whole NSS
Addressing data limitations
Prioritising the use of resources
Coordinating donor support
Providing a robust framework and action plan for statistics and statistical capacity building
Acting as a catalyst for change to build confidence and break the vicious cycle 3

4. Where do we stand with NSDSs?
77% of IDA countries are implementing or designing a strategy:
Many IDA (International Development Association) borrower countries have embarked on the design and the implementation of strategic statistical plans or so-called National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS). The summary table below shows that at least 77% of IDA countries are implementing or designing a strategy with a remarkable percentage for African countries (93%) compared to Asia-Pacific and America (both 55%) 4

5. Where is agriculture in the NSDSs?
Of a total of 78 IDA countries…
43 countries (55%) have a NSDS…
4 to 10 countries have included agriculture more or less appropriately in their NSDS
only 10% of all IDA countries
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The assesments of country agricultural system :
Tend to focus on inputs (how many people / how much budget) and not on outputs –which data produced / what about quality?
Analysis of the data demand is in general extremely low, including in areas of utmost importance such as food security or poverty alleviation
Would benefit from using standardized approaches developped outside the agriculture world (DQAF , WB/PARIS21 stat. capacity indicators)
In general, action plans do not include appropriate survey programs, and budgets for meeting a potential demand have been adequately designedd in only 7 countries.
METHODOLOGY
How far agriculture has been included in the NSDS process through the analysis of three main items:
The assessment of the current status of the data demand, the data produced and the means of production (institutional, human, financial)
The development of a vision for the agricultural statistical sector
 The preparation for the implementation of the agricultural strategy: (identification of priority data needs (poverty alleviation, rural development, agri-environment, food security, food safety, access to market) and the definition of an action plan to meet the demands in terms of means of production, survey program and budget) 5

6. Where is agriculture in the NSDSs?
Inclusion of agricultural sub-sectors
Crops are better covered (in 33% of strategies)
… than livestock (20%)
Fisheries, forestry and agro-industry ignored
Read
Other sectors (Fisheries, forestry and agro-industry) are — for the majority of countries — completely ignored, sometimes irrespectively of their economic importance for the country.
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To what extent agricultural sub-sectors have been included in the strategy
Five sub-sectors have been considered: Crops, Livestock, Fisheries, Forestry and Agro-business 6

7. Where is agriculture in the NSDSs?
Inclusion of agricultural statistical domains
production (25% of the NSDS)
prices (15%)
other domains (trade, marketing, resources, consumption) are ignored for more than 90% of the existing strategies.
To what extent agricultural statistical domains are included in the strategy
Six domains have been taken into account:
Trade
Consumption
Prices
Resources (investment, land and water, labor, machinery, fertilizers, agro-chemicals)
Marketing
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Resources: investment, labour, land and water, machinery, fertilizers and chemicals 7

8. Why? First generation of NSDS was NSO-centric
MDGs => efforts on health and education
Statistical legislation covering the whole statistical system is not always appropriate
Agriculture is a complex sector with many stakeholders and data producers
Low capacities within Ministries of Agriculture
The rapid analysis of existing NSDSs shows that the agricultural sector is not well taken into account in the process of NSDSs. 8

9. Questions / points for discussions
do we need specific guidelines on the integration of Agriculture strategies in NSDSs ?
how can we improve our advocacy for statistics, strategic planning, managing for results –outside statistical community ?
how can we use / reinforce NSDSs as national vehicle for this global strategy ? 9