The U.N food agency, known as Food and Agriculture Organization said Monday that food insecurity has increased in the Asia-Pacific region which is home to more than 60 percent of the world's over 1 billion hungry people.
"Nearly 18 percent of the region's population was undernourished in 2009, compared to 16 percent in 2006 -- the first time since the Green Revolution in the 1960s that the share of the hungry in the region has increased," it said in a statement released Monday at the first day of the five-day meeting held in Cambodia's northern town of Siem Reap.
Senior government statisticians from 17 Asia-Pacific countries and FAO experts are now gathering in Siem Reap at a regional forum to discuss ways to improve governments' access to reliable and up- to-date agricultural data to ensure effective agricultural and rural development policies and programs.
The meeting which will end on Friday will review recent developments in national agricultural statistic al systems in the region while senior national statistics officials will exchange ideas with experts from FAO and other international bodies on the state of food and agricultural statistics in the region.
Giving speech at the inauguration of the 23rd Session of the Asia and Pacific Commission on Agricultural Statistics (APCAS), Cambodia's Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Chan Sarun said "As we all agreed that sufficiency and accuracy of the statistical data is very important for the policy makers and concerned stakeholders in developing agriculture sector. The absence of reliable data leaves them no choice other than guest estimates according to their own common sense or convenience".
Access to reliable food and agricultural statistics is crucial for formulating effective government policies and programs for food and livelihood security at a time when countries in the region face the twin challenges of high food prices and the persisting adverse impact of the international economic crisis.
The Commission provides a unique opportunity to put forward proposals that may contribute to the further development of agricultural statistics in the Asia-Pacific region.
Cambodia will showcase its fisheries statistics, socio-economic survey and gender issues in agriculture in the country.
FAO experts will explain the ongoing global strategy to improve agricultural statistics, review the implementation of FAO's current round of World Census of Agriculture in the region and assess national agricultural statistical priorities.
"The APCAS session will discuss efforts to integrate agricultural statistics into national statistical systems in Asia and the Pacific and statistical capacity building efforts in the region," said Jairo Castano, FAO senior agricultural statistician, based in Bangkok.