Belize Joins Regional Talks on Food Security Data and AI in Statistics

This week, Director General of the Statistical Institute of Belize, Diana Castillo, joined counterparts from across Central America and the Caribbean in the Dominican Republic at the 31^st Meeting of the Central American Commission for Statistics of the Central American Integration System, CENTROESTAD, as well as a specialized workshop focused on the use of Artificial Intelligence tools in the production of official statistics.  For Belize, participation in the meeting is expected to strengthen the country’s capacity to generate reliable data on agricultural production, food availability and trade flows. The meeting is part of a regional initiative led by the General Secretariat of the Central American Integration System, SICA.  The coming together is to revise and improve the Food Balance Sheet, a key statistical tool used to measure the availability of food within countries and guide public policy decisions related to food and nutrition security.  During the workshop, representatives from Panama, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala shared their experiences in developing and utilizing Food Balance Sheets, while Colombia presented its model for producing and disseminating the information through collaboration between its national statistics office, agriculture ministry and social welfare institutions.  Regional experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, also provided methodological recommendations to improve the calculation of Food Balance Sheets across SICA member states and outlined the technical assistance available to countries participating in the initiative.  Officials say the information can help policymakers make more informed decisions on food security, nutrition planning, agricultural development and economic resilience.