Agric Ministry upgrades data collection system
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has introduced a project to modernise its data collection.
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Dubbed, “Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing System (CAPI), ” the project, to be implemented through MoFA’s Statistics Research Information Directorate (SRID), is aimed at improving the quality and credibility of agricultural statistics and also minimise human error in agriculture data collection and analysis.
The project will also enable MoFA’s SRID to move away from the paper-and-pencil method of data collection.
Training
The Deputy Director of SRID, Mrs Phyllis Mends, made this known at a training workshop in Tamale for 50 district departments of agriculture (DDA) staff selected from across the country.
It was to introduce the participants to the electronic devices and software to be used for the implementation of the project.
The two-day training workshop was jointly organised by the SRID, and Feed the Future Ghana Agriculture Policy Support Project (APSP) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
It was on the theme: “Strengthening mutual accountability in the agriculture policy process.”
Benefits
In her address, Mrs Mends explained that the CAPI system would help the SRID to produce credible data and information to support appropriate and effective policy analysis, decision making and planning.
She added that the CAPI system would help to produce data that would be in support of the Ghana Agriculture Production (GAP) and market Price Surveys.
Mrs Mends, who is also the Head of the Agricultural Statistics and Census Unit of MoFA, noted that within the Ghanaian context, policy makers often lack quality data which in turn affects the quality of their findings.
She said the CAPI provides a holistic approach for quality agriculture data collection, including GIS plotting, analysis, and management.
She said the DDA staff were key in the agricultural data collection, thus the need to equip them with more effective and efficient methods of data collection.