Rome, Italy
June 11, 2008
The quality of statistical
information from 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa will be
dramatically increased with grant funding from the
Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, reported FAO
today.
The US$ 5.6 million grant over two years will allow the 17
countries identified, through the FAO country statistics
information system (CountrySTAT), to substantially improve the
quality, accessibility,relevance and reliability of their
national statistics on food and agriculture. In so doing, it
will facilitate planning and decision-making by policy makers
and analysts, particularly in the push to reduce hunger and
poverty.
“Ensuring reliability of country data is crucial both to
governments and to those working with countries to reduce
undernourishment and strengthen agricultural and rural
development. With good and reliable data it is much easier to
pinpoint where assistance is working, where it may be weak and
understanding possible future needs”, says Hafez Ghanem, FAO
Assistant Director-General for the Economic and Social
Development.
The countries involved in the two-year project are: Angola,
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast,
Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal,
Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The statistics gathered in CountrySTAT centre around the
following areas:
• food - its production, utilization, trade (imports, exports,
prices) and consumption;
• resources, notably availability, use and trade (imports,
exports, prices); and
• economics, namely inputs and their prices, production and
output prices.
To date 20 countries and regions are involved in the development
of CountrySTAT with different degrees of implementation and
coverage. The grant from the Gates Foundation will allow FAO to
enhance the depth and spread of its country information in 17
countries, nine of which currently use CountrySTAT in some
capacity, as well as its regional and global information
databases.
“Reliable data will help national governments, donors,
researchers and the agricultural development community set
priorities and policies that will ensure small farmers can
access the supplies and support they need to boost their yields
and incomes and build healthy, productive lives,” said Dr. Rajiv
Shah, Director of Agricultural Development for the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program. “Quality
data will help us make better decisions so that our investments
in agricultural development throughout Sub-Saharan Africa can be
as targeted and effective as possible.”
The foundation’s Agricultural Development Initiative is working
with a wide range of partners to provide millions of small
farmers in the developing world — most of whom are women —with
tools and opportunities to boost their productivity, increase
their incomes and build better lives for themselves and their
families. The foundation invests in efforts across the entire
agricultural value chain, from seeds and soil to farm management
and market access.
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead
healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses
on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift
themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United
States, it seeks to ensure that all people — especially those
with the fewest resources — have access to the opportunities
they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the
foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-chair William
H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and
Warren Buffett. |
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