Timely data key in food security, human displaceme...

Timely data key in food security, human displacement management

Bridget Mabanda

Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) director-general Taguma Mahonde said the government must act to address challenges related to environmental degradation, climate change, food insecurity, pandemics, economic instability and human displacement.

In his remarks on African Statistics Day commemorations held in Bulawayo yesterday, Mahonde said emerging issues require timely and flexible production of indicators often in collaboration with strategic partners.

“Government must take appropriate action to address these challenges by understanding and monitoring the existing situation through use of relevant and timely data. The statistical community continues to deliver data for monitoring social economic development,” said Mahonde.

Currently, statistics on agriculture are produced through censuses and surveys.

Mahonde, however said technological advancement has brought the use of earth observation satellites to estimate crop yields and in 2021, Harare and Bulawayo provinces were used as pilot cases for collecting data on urban agriculture.

He said statistics on agriculture have various uses that include assessing the national food security situation and measuring contribution of the sector to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) among other things.

ZIMSTAT is a member of the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee, which produces statistics on the prevailing food and nutrition security situation in the country through livelihoods assessments.