The New Statistical Yearbook 2012Global Yearbook and Regional

Yearbook for Africa

• The old statistical yearbook was primarily a compendium of data tables

• The new “World, Food, and Agriculture,” will be innovative in two key ways

• Thematic-driven, statistical overview of major trends and issues related to food and agriculture

• The architecture, which is utilizing open source resources, that is being applied to build the publication

The Concept• Organized by major topics/themes, statistical overview• Text, graphs/maps, and data tables• Data from a variety of sources:

– FAO departments– Sister UN agencies– International partners

• Target audiences:– Decision-makers/policymakers– Researchers– Journalists– International organizations

• Improved readership and accessibility

The Structure

• Foreword• Special feature• Part I: Overview• Part II: Feeding the World• Part III: Hunger Dimensions• Part IV: Sustainability Dimensions• Part V: Metadata

Special feature• Focus on major statistical activities, especially those being

undertaken by the division in the current year :– Statistics for evidence-based policy-making, and informed decision-

making– Progress on the three pillars of the “Global Strategy on Improving

Agricultural and Rural Statistics– Market information and transparency under the G20– Towards an improved framework for measuring undernourishment– Towards better statistics/datasets for measuring climate

change/investment/agricultural national accounts

Part I: The Overview• Setting of agriculture activities• Macro economy (GDP, Agr. VA, imports, exports, exchange

rates, ToT, etc. )• Resources :– People and demography– Land and water availability– Labor– Capital/investment/external assistance– Inputs– Rural Infrastructure

Part II: Feeding the World

• Food production index• Crops (changing cultivation patterns,

productivity trends)• Livestock and feed systems (trends)• Fisheries (aquaculture and capture fishery

trends)• Trade, food stability and food security• Risks, hazards and shocks

Part III: Hunger Dimensions• Food consumption patterns and dietary

diversification• Health and sanitation• Undernourishment• Prices of food-security staples• Poverty and inequality• Gender• Emergencies, short-term and protracted crises,

natural disasters• Food assistance

Part IV: Sustainability Dimensions

• Climate and environment • Biodiversity• Feedstocks for bio-based economy • Feedstocks for renewable industries

Part V: Metadata

• Concepts and methods• Definitions and sources

The Architecture

• Statistical software: R (open source)• Graphical: LaTeX

Benefits of script (vs. menus)• Re-generation of output with new data rapid• Reproducibility and traceability• Management by Division in entire process• Low cost for regional additions

Planned spinoffs• Website• Pocket book• Regional books

– Regional statistical yearbook is to filter-out regional versions from the global version

– An automated procedure will do the “data extraction, transform and render into tables, charts, graphics, maps” as a subset for the RAF countries

– additional analysis to the themes from the Regional perspective.

• Smart phone apps

Thank you for you attention