[Index]
STATISTICS FOR A BETTER AGRICULTURE
Geneva, 5 June 2001
How do we measure the quality of the food? How much does
agriculture affect our environment? What role does agriculture play in rural
development? How will new technology affect agriculture and competitiveness
between North and South? What is the role of women in agriculture? Is the
family farm endangered with extinction?
In the wake of the current crisis in international agriculture,
these are some of the many questions which will be addressed by the 2nd World Conference on Agriculture Statistics in Rome from 5 to 7 June 2001.
The title of the Conference is CAESAR: Conference on Agricultural and Environmental Statistical Applications in Rome.
The Conference is hosted by the Italian National Statistical
Institute (ISTAT). All the major international organizations are taking
part: the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Statistical
Office of the European Union (Eurostat), the International Statistical Institute
(ISI) and the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the United
States Department of Agriculture.
Few sectors have undergone such dramatic structural changes
as agriculture during the last century. Enormous productivity increases driven
by technological developments both in the areas of machinery and biotechnology,
led to plummeting employment. Seventy years ago 30% of the US population lived
on 6.5 million farms. Now about 3% live on 2 million farms. Agriculture
is dominated by a few thousand huge farms, which account for some 80% of output.
Similar trends exist in other industrialized countries.
Increased output is of course good but there are serious
externalities. First, more and more farmers have difficulties in earning
their living on farming alone which threatens rural development which all
countries try to promote. Agriculture will always be a corner stone in all
policies for rural development.
Second, technological-driven large-scale farming had impacts
on the environmental balance.
A third and a very important issue is related to food
security. Here there are two aspects: do we have enough food at the right
time at the right place? and is the food we are eating safe?
Food security in the first aspect focuses very much on trade
policies when it concerns developed countries while for developing countries,
taking North Korea as an example, it is a matter of securing supply of food
for the people.
The second aspect of food safety has recently got increased
attention. The current crisis calls for much closer scrutiny and monitoring
of the input to agriculture as well as its production processes. This in turn
will create enormous new challenges of agriculture statistics. CAESAR, which
gathers all important international organizations in agriculture statistics
as well as the world's most important national statistical offices, is the
starting point for this challenge.
Politicians and the public are increasingly requesting more
accurate, detailed and timely statistics not only on output but also on the
quality of output based on the improved monitoring of inputs and the production
processes.
These aspects will be addressed already in the opening plenary
session by Mr. Luigi Biggeri, President of ISTAT; Mr. Corrado Pirzio
Biroli, Head of Cabinet for the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural
Development and Fisheries; Mr. Keith Collins, Chief Economist, United
States Department of Agriculture; Mr. Hartwig de Haen, Assistant
Director-General of FAO; and by a representative of the Italian Ministry of
Agriculture.
For further information please consult the CAESAR website:
http://www.istat.it/caesar
or contact the Organizing Committee:
Federica Piersimoni and Laura Machetti
ISTAT/DISE/AGR
Via A. RavĂ , 150
I 00142 Rome
Tel: (+39 06) 5952 4256 / 45 34
Fax: (+39 06) 5410 528
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
Ref: ECE/STAT/01/03