Presentation to the 20 th Session AFCAS conference delegates on the

1. Presentation to the 20th Session AFCAS conference delegates on the State of the Food and Agriculture Statistics System in South Africa Moses Mnyaka Statistics South Africa 11 December 2007

2. Contents • Introduction • Source of information and data producers • Influence on statistics by natural and political factors • Lack of a national agriculture statistical system • Coordination between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Statistical Agency • Conclusions

3. Introduction • Importance of the agriculture sector in the South • African society. • Growth in the economy contribution of non-agriculture • sectors • Globalisation, global warming and climate • change • Increase in food prices and input cost • Bio-fuel strategy

4. Source of information and data producers • Various sources generate food and agricultural • statistics (amongst them, Stats SA, Ministry of • Agriculture and private sector) • Stats SA collects data through short term surveys and • periodic censuses at enterprise and household level • DoA collects monthly crop estimation data livestock data • and administrative data of horticulture • Statistics compiled by DoA are used by Stats Sa to • calculate quarterly and annual GDP estimates • Census data are used for benchmarking, planning, • monitoring and evaluation and research work • Rainfall for past season lower than the long term mean • Drought affected the SADC region

5. Influence on agricultural statistics by natural and political factors • Drought affected the SADC region • Diseases on livestock and poultry • Lack of sufficient structures to monitor food prices • A lot of farmers leave the industry due to the high input • cost • Shredding of jobs and a shift from permanent • employment to seasonal/contract employment • Land reform program had a negative effect in the • agriculture industry • Refusals for participation due to poor service delivery • The elections of the office bearers of the ruling party

6. Lack of a national agriculture statistical system • Concepts and definitions not being harmonised by • various data producers • Sound methodology at best international practices could • be improved • Lack of coherence and coordination on produced • statistics • Shift of focus from official statistics to private sector • generated data by media • Political instability, crime, lack of sufficient publicity led to • low response rate • Response rate was fairly good on large enterprises • Scarcity of expertise on the field of agricultural • statistics • High staff turnover

7. Coordination between the Ministry of Agriculture and the statistical agency • Limitation of resources (financial, personnel • and skills) • Sharing of available resources • Clear mandate of the two institutions in • dealing with agricultural statistics • Like the other countries, challenge has been • which institution should be responsible for • agricultural statistics

8. Conclusion • Improvement of the quality of agricultural statistics through • collaboration, coordination and sharing of resources by • data producers • Drafting and implementation of a 5 year strategy on • agricultural statistics • Promotion of a national agriculture statistical system • Partnership between various stakeholders • Food security is of crucial importance over bio-fuel • industry • Expansion of agricultural statistics to cover small scale • farming • Formulation of an Advisory Committee on a • permanent basis • Conducting of separate fishing, forestry and • agricultural services censuses parallel to the Census of • Agriculture

9. THANK YOU