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India and other countries of the Asia Pacific Region would cooperate in the use of modern techniques including remote sensing for gathering and processing agricultural data. The five-day Conference of Asia and Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics (APCAS), which ended here today, deliberated on coordinated use of available tools in the region. Precise data is an invaluable input for taking informal economic decisions.
The Conference was inaugurated by Minister of State for Agriculture, Shri Kantilal Bhuria on 20th September, 2004 and was also addressed by Agricultural Secretary, Smt. Radha Singh and delegates from international organisations and participating countries. The delegates included those from India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Japan. The Conference covered the whole gamut of food and agricultural statistics. The head of the Indian delegation was elected as the Chairperson of the 20th Session of APCAS. 100 delegates including about 40 delegates from 16 countries participated in the Session.
The discussion in the Session focused on agriculture in its broad sense covering crop production, livestock, forestry and fishing in the member countries. The subjects on the agenda included application of remote sensing in the forecast of crop area and production, forestry and fisheries, use of trade flow data in agriculture policy formulation, development of Country STAT as a vehicle for organizing national agriculture sector data, strengthening regional data exchange system in food and agricultural statistics in Asia and Pacific countries, analysis of agricultural census and surveys, including livestock census data and plan for forthcoming world census of agriculture in 2010.
During the five-day Session, presentations were made by delegates from India and abroad. FAO representatives also actively participated in the Session. Analysis of information received through Country Questionnaires revealed the current status of food and agricultural statistics in member countries with special reference to legal framework, administrative records as source of data, manpower and budget for agricultural statistics and frequency and coverage of agricultural census and surveys. The member countries actively participated in the round table discussions, which facilitated exchange of experiences in diverse facets of food and agricultural statistics.
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