DUSHANBE, July 26, 2013, Asia-Plus -- Internet access will be provided to statisticians in 100 jamoats across Tajikistan to ensure timely dispatch of information to the district statistics agencies.

This work will be carried out within the framework of the “Support for Strengthening of the National Food Security Information System in Tajikistan” Project, which is being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Country Office in Tajikistan and the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan under financial support of the European Union.  A total cost of the project is 2 million Euros.

The project national manager Sanginboy Sanginov told journalists on July 25 that they have developed the plan of shift from a continuous survey of dehqon (peasant) farms to a sampling survey of them.  According to him, it is impossible to conduct the continuous survey because some 110,000 such farming units now operate in the country.

“An electronic database of 60,000 dehqon farms has been established and the methodology of the sampling survey has been developed on the basis of this database,” Sanginov said, noting that workshops on how to use that methodology have been conducted for 256 statisticians in 50 districts.  

Simultaneously, the project has begun work on improvement of the system of collection and distribution of information on consumer prices, Sanginov noted.

The objectives of the “Support for Strengthening of the National Food Security Information System in Tajikistan” Project are to establish and strengthen information systems for food security in order to improve the quality of food security and relief interventions; to assist the government of Tajikistan and its international development partners to effectively respond to the short, medium and long-term food security needs of the population; and to improve market information systems and services to promote the development of private-sector agriculture and trade.

To achieve these goals, the project has the following components: 1) defining a suitable methodology for evaluating crop extent; 2) improving agro-meteorological data management and crop yield forecasts; 3) improving access to standardized food security and early warning data and definitions through adequate information systems; 4) improving capacity to analyze food security information and formulating effective response policies and strategies to prevent food crises and reduce chronic food insecurity; 5) improving communication and collaboration among national and international stakeholders; 6) improving access to timely market prices for key commodities through a better collection and dissemination system; and 7) increasing understanding of emerging food security, agriculture and related issues such as market trends in new initiatives, including the productive and social safety net programs.