The East African Community has launched an agricultural database that provides a one-stop centre for online statistical data on food and agriculture. Dubbed the East African Community Region STAT Database, it is expected to facilitate exchange of information among the EAC member states on agriculture statistics and will ultimately provide the required indicators for monitoring and evaluation of the Community’s food action plan. 

The Italian Development Co-operation provided funding of up to $1 million plus technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation for a period of two years. According to Marco Gambamala, the EAC agriculture statistics expert, the database is expected to aggregate the various agricultural statistics indicators published in the five web sites of EAC partner states.

“It will facilitate the exchange of information among the partner states on agriculture statistics using common standards and classifications, and will ultimately provide the required indicators for the monitoring and evaluation of the EAC Food Security Action Plan,” said Mr Gambamala.

The EAC STAT database will be linked to all the countries’ websites and as the individual countries update their data, it will automatically update the region’s data. The EAC STAT database is a web-based information technology tool for food and agriculture statistics at the national and subnational levels.

In practice, it acts as a one-stop centre that centralises and integrates data coming from various sources and harmonises it according to international standards while ensuring data quality and reliability.

“Each partner state’s national government will make a substantial contribution to ensure its deployment and continued training and maintenance,” said Mr Gambamala.

Enos Bukuku, the EAC’s Deputy Secretary-General for Planning and Infrastructure, said the EAC Treaty provides for the partner states to co-operate for the achievement of agricultural production and food security.