Administrative Records for Official Statistics: Food for Thought on Uganda's Livestock Data

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology to rapidly assess routine livestock data systems and identify options for improvement. The methodology has been developed by the Uganda Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) and the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) in collaboration with the FAO-World Bank-ILRI-Africa Union Inter African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) Livestock Data Innovation in Africa Project. Uganda, as several other developing countries, does have a system of routine data collection which explicitly targets livestock. The paper describes the routine livestock data system of Uganda; presents and applies to Uganda a methodology to rapidly assess livestock administrative records; and suggests options for improvement, with a focus on 'field experiment' or pilots with control groups as effective ways to promote institutional changes in the system of routine livestock data collection.