Free-Plan 3.0 - Food and Agriculture Organization



INTERGOVERNMENTAL GROUP ON TEAINTERSESSIONAL MEETING Report of the Task Force on StatisticsMajor commitments from the last IGG and Intersessional meetings This report aims at following up on commitments related to data and statistics made during the last IGG held in Naivasha, Kenya, 25-27 May 2016 and the intersessional meeting held in Milan, Italy, in 2015. These two most recent meetings emphasized the need to cope with the dynamic nature of the world tea economy and address the vagaries of the market. Members urged the Secretariat and the overall IGG to strengthen the data collection process towards production of statistics of good quality to sustain the insights and outlook analysis of sector. The meetings underscored the need to enhance the cooperation with members on the data collection process carried through a set of questionnaires sent to countries. Such cooperation is expected to improve market transparency, foster market expansion and sustain evidence based policy development. In the framework of strengthening the data collection arrangement, the meetings considered a set of commitments including: (1) the engagement by members to identify focal points who should liaise with the Secretariat on matters related to statistics and projections in addition, to their (2) commitment to provide the Secretariat with information required to carry the analysis on the current situation and medium term outlook of the tea industry. Members were also encouraged to (3) express their interest in participating in the analytical studies prepared for future meetings. Members were called upon to use the interactive e-Forum developed by the Secretariat in their communication on data and statistics related matters. Additionally, the two meetings made a number of other commitments related to capacitating focal points through country financial support to ease their participation in the various fora organized by the Secretariat, including trainings on the medium-term outlook for tea. Focal points expected to be part of the official delegation attending the IGG/Tea meetings should play an active role in providing data and statistical inputs to the Secretariat. Update on Progress made so far Designation of country focal points on statisticsAll the countries have designated their focal points, and contacts have been availed to the Secretariat (see Table 1).Table 1 – Countries that have designated a focal pointCountryDetails receivedArgentinaYesChinaYesIndiaYesIndonesiaYesJapanYesKenyaYesMalawiYesSri LankaYesTanzaniaYesThe Secretariat should facilitate a capacity building workshop, perhaps back-to-back with the IGG, to allow the newly appointed members of the Task Force to become familiar with the Tea Viewer Model. Meeting the cost of focal points’ participation to such a training is still a challenge. Countries are encouraged to cover the expenses related to the activities of the Task Force while the Secretariat will provide the necessary technical assistance. Such a training will allow to address the high turnover of trained focal points following the Demo-Workshop on the Tea Viewer organized by the Secretariat in 2012. Providing timely and accurate statistics While the IGG meetings have consistently recognized that regular, timely and accurate data was crucial for a reliable and consistent database and Tea Model, most countries do not provide their statistics regularly and on time to the Secretariat (see Table 2).Table 2 – Evolution of responses to the questionnaires sent to members by the secretariatYear ProducingCountriesNon ProducingCountriesNo responseTotal questionnairesResponse rate (percentage)20102024267062.8620111622327054.2920121729247065.7120132027237067.1420141624307057.1420151727267062.8620161826267062.8620171826267062.86For the past 8 years, country responses to the Secretariat questionnaires have stagnated around a rate of 62 percent, showing that more than one-third of the members are not responding to data requests. Over the last 5 years, the Secretariat has received, on average, 16 filled questionnaires from producing countries and 26 from non-producing countries. This response rate is still below expectations, raising the debate over potential efficient ways towards strengthening the cooperation between the Secretariat and the IGG/Tea membership for better data collection.Selected information on trade, product diversification and data on wholesale and retail prices are highly needed for a better understanding of the supply chain. Members are encouraged to give due attention to the section of the questionnaires dealing with prices. The IGG should launch discussions on issues, challenges or constraints hampering the feedback to the questionnaires and define a way forward for any review. Such thoughts need to assess the way members review data provided and reinforce two-way feedback practices in the data collection process. Questionnaires, data provision and the World Tea Model AND The questionnaires – the Secretariat’s main instruments for data collection – have been recognized by the IGG/Tea sessions as a pertinent, specific and relevant tool to gather data on the tea industry. The supply data, for example, is very difficult to obtain from other sources, and the Secretariat fully relies on its questionnaires for such information. Trade data from the questionnaires, instead, can be integrated with other sources, such as COMTRADE and the Global Trade Atlas (GTA) from the Global Trade Information Services (GTIS).It is, however, extremely important that data for black, green, organic and instant tea are availed through the revised questionnaire in order to support the on-going product diversification. The questionnaires’ ability to support data collection for specific outputs planned by the Secretariat needs to be assessed. Upcoming activities which require specific data will focus on tea emerging consumption trends and generic promotion and smallholder tea farmers’ participation in the global value chain. The questionnaire will have to be strengthened to meet such new needs.The World Tea Model, developed to generate projections and simulations for the industry, serves as the basis for the outlook analysis discussed during IGG/Tea sessions. The membership needs to be more involved in the process of generating the projections. Beyond the traditional capacity building exercise, members’ ownership of projections and underlying assumptions on prices, supply, demand and/or any adjustments should be encouraged. The timeliness of the information needs to be enhanced, and the timeframe for a two-way feedback provision be clearly defined. Further future challenges Members are encouraged to express their interest in participating in the analytical studies in support of future IGG/Tea sessions as this has not been happening. Data provision, beyond trade statistics, including the provision of data on MRLs and exchange of information among different Working Groups, needs to be reinforced, especially when it comes to supporting the technical and policy reports prepared by the Secretariat. Data available at the national level need to be assessed and representative surveys identified if any substantive work on generic promotion is to be undertaken. There is also an urgent need to take stock on data availability at the national level. Developing a framework for generic promotion of the industry should build on available market surveys which should be representative. It is urgent to know the status of market surveys on tea in different countries. The Group is encouraged to communicate via the interactive e-Forum that was developed by the Secretariat and give feedback to the arrangement. ................
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