COMESA Secretariat through the Statistics Unit has developed a framework for conducting production surveys in the horticulture sector. The framework was developed in close consultation with Member States and funded by the European Union Development Fund (EDF11) through the Regional Enterprise Competitiveness and Access to Markets Programme (RECAMP).

The Framework will respond to demands by policymakers for statistics in the horticulture value chain.

At the 15th COMESA Committee Meeting on Statistical Matters Meeting held virtually on 14 – 15 October, the Framework was presented to the delegates for review and adjustments were made before it was adopted.

Head of the Statistics Unit at COMESA Secretariat Mr Themba Munalula said the Framework will now be presented to the COMESA Intergovernmental Committee Meeting for adoption.

Prior to this development, a Technical Working Group comprising of relevant COMESA departments, institutions and representatives from 14 Member States namely Burundi, DR Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Somalia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe met on 14th February 2024 and provided content for further adjustment of the Framework to cover all key areas.

Mr. Munalula revealed that this was a crucial step in the consultative process, aimed at gathering valuable insights from stakeholders for the completion of a comprehensive framework of horticulture production surveys.

Other key steps have been conducted such as a capacity building and validation workshop held on 15 – 19 April 2024 and a virtual dissemination event held on 30 July 2024.

The main objective of the dissemination was to comprehensively communicate the data requirements for horticulture production surveys to stakeholders as well as garner their support to fulfil these data needs. The event was attended by relevant COMESA divisions, institutions, Member States and development partners.

The COMESA Medium Term Strategic Plan Productive Pillar places a strong emphasis on the establishment of value chains. Among these is the horticulture value chain. However, agricultural surveys in most Member states are focused on major cereals and legumes. As such little or no data exists on the extent of horticultural production. From a conceptual perspective, the surveys in Member states would have to be augmented with a specific methodology for capturing horticultural production.