National Agricultural Data Providers and Users are meeting in Kigali, Lemigo Hotel, for a two-day workshop on the role of agricultural statistics in planning and policy formulation.
The meeting, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), aims at identifying current gaps and come up with a detailed work plan. Delegates from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda also attended the meeting.
While officially opening the workshop, Rapahel Rurangwa, the ministry’s Director General in charge of planning, said that accurate agricultural statistics are critical for taking informed decisions and making better plans.
He emphasized that agricultural data are important for planning and policy formulation, planning and policy-making, policy analysis, and in planning and policy documents.
He added that the data are used to develop strategies on how can agriculture contribute to the national economy in terms of production and quality.
Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis and Nutrition Survey, Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey, Population and Housing Census, Food and Nutrition Security Monitoring System, eSOKO System, Informal Cross Border Trade Information System, Sectorial Assessments and Administrative records are sample of sources of data for agricultural planning, policy formulation and analysis, Rurangwa said.
During the meeting, participants also discussed on available agricultural statistics, inventorying the users’ needs, private sector needs, collection and analysis of agriculture sector data in the US, data needs & data collection activities of international donor organizations, and packaging & dissemination of data and information.
