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Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies

FAO launches two tools at Africa Food Systems Forum to support smarter agrifood public spending
New methodology and Policy Optimization Tool (PolOpT) will help governments track public expenditure and make more effective use of existing resources. Read more from the event in Kigali...
Rwanda gives green light to FAO’s Policy Optimization Tool to support smarter agrifood spending
Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources validates Policy Optimization Tool (PolOpT) results as Rwanda looks to make public spending on food and agriculture more effective. Read more...
New manual on Agrifood Systems Public Expenditure Analysis goes online ahead of Africa Food Systems Forum 2026 in Kigali

The guide is fruit of a collaboration between FAO's Agrifood Economics and Policy Division and FAO's Investment Centre and is designed to support policymakers, development partners and researchers in generating evidence on how public resources support agrifood systems. See more...

FAO supports Kenya to strengthen monitoring of commodity policies and public expenditure on food and agriculture

Fresh insights are presented to Kenyan partners on public spending on food and agriculture, as well as producer “price incentives” across 12 commodities, including cereals such as maize, wheat, sorghum and rice; staple crops such as cassava, beans and potatoes; and export crops such as tea and coffee. Read more...

MAFAP programme supports Rwanda’s evidence-based agrifood policy agenda at EPRN Annual Economic Research Conference
Announced at the 2026 Conference of the Economic Policy Research Network, FAO is set to work with Rwanda to optimize its food and agriculture budget using the Policy Optimization Tool (PolOpT) for agrifood systems transformation. Read more...
MAFAP programme and Rwanda review agricultural spending and price incentives for farmers

FAO and national stakeholders review and validate data and preliminary findings on food and agriculture spending and price-incentives for coffee, tea, rice, milk, wheat, and Irish potato during a three-day workshop in Musanze. Read more...

MAFAP programme and Bangladesh strengthen evidence-based agricultural investment planning in Dhaka
The MAFAP team, in partnership with the Government of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), convened a high-level workshop in Dhaka to assess and validate initial findings from a policy analysis of the agriculture sector. Read more...
MAFAP team and government partners review food and agriculture spending and policy support ahead of Mozambique’s new agriculture sector strategic and investment plans

Government officials and technical experts in Maputo validate preliminary findings on public expenditure for the last 16 years to support the country’s new agrifood strategy and investment planning. Read more...


MAFAP programme welcomes Nigeria’s 6.5 trillion smarter agrifood public spending
Public-expenditure analysis and scenarios for optimal allocations across policies, investments and programmes in agriculture to maximize economic, social and environmental benefits helped guide the allocation of over one-third of the budget plan for agrifood investments in 2026–2027 in Nigeria's National Agrifood Systems Investment Plan (NASIP). Read more...
Annual MAFAP–Gates Foundation retreat focuses on policy progress

Two-day meeting in Rome reviews Phase III progress on policy monitoring, policy reforms and future priorities for 2026–2027. Read more...


A taste for Rwandan coffee
Amid a surge in coffee exports, Rwanda is strengthening how it tracks and traces transactions across the value chain, equipping authorities to better monitor sector performance and meet evolving regulatory requirements for exports. Read more…
MAFAP team highlights price incentives and public expenditure analysis at regional exchange on decoupling agriculture from deforestation in Africa
At a regional knowledge exchange in Addis Ababa, the MAFAP programme shared policy-monitoring evidence and insights from its recent sorghum price incentives analysis to support policy coherence and inform the repurposing of agricultural support. Read more...
MAFAP team trains task force on policy optimization for new agriculture strategy and investment plan in Mozambique
Multi-ministerial task force prepares next agrarian sector strategy and investment using regional guidelines and FAO's Policy Optimization Tool (PolOpT). Read more...
MAFAP team engages in Mozambique’s new agricultural sector strategy and investment plan
Maputo ministerial meeting focused on priorities for the Strategic Plan for Agrarian Sector Development (PEDSA) 2026–2035 and the National Agricultural Investment Plan (PNISA III) 2026–2030, as well as on how FAO's Policy Optimization Tool could support their implementation. Read more...
Analysis of price incentives for sorghum and other cereals in Ethiopia 2005–2024
The MAFAP programme has published a new policy-analysis report on sorghum in Ethiopia, which has been been used by the Ethiopian Government's for its upcoming National Sorghum Flagship Programme. Read more.
MAFAP programme supports Burkina Faso in preparing its next national exports strategy

At Ouagadougou workshop, the country's exports promotion agency, APEX-Burkina, draws on MAFAP analysis to identify priority export commodities. Read more.


Policy-monitoring workshop sharpens focus on food and agriculture trends in Burkina Faso
National stakeholders review public expenditure and price incentive trends of rice, maize, millet, sorghum, groundnuts, onion, cotton, sesame and cattle. Read more!
New report out on Ghana's public spending on food and agriculture

The Public-expenditure analysis of the food and agriculture sector in Ghana 2016–2023 is the latest report by the MAFAP programme. Read more here.

MAFAP programme shares key recommendations on cashew nut price-setting reform at Mozambique Nuts Institute National Meeting

Find out more!

MAFAP programme strengthens ties on policy collaboration in Rwanda and spotlights PolOpT at ANAPRI 2025 Conference
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The Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) programme, within the Agrifood Economics and Policy Division at FAO, is a leading policy support initiative that has been working since 2009 with mainly African countries to strategically prioritize, reform and implement agrifood policies for inclusive agricultural transformation. 

MAFAP does this by supporting governments with agrifood policy monitoring on public expenditure on food and agriculture and price incentives for key country commodities, with policy prioritization to optimise their public budgets and prioritize their investments in commodities, and with agrifood policy reforms to address issues on food and nutrition, pricing, marketing, strategy development and trade. 

Countries where MAFAP is providing support
Videos
Nigeria Policy-Monitoring Review launch
13/08/2025

Watch the high-level launch of the Nigeria Food and Agriculture Policy Monitoring Review in Abuja with the Minster of Agriculture and Food Security,...

Nineteen officials meet to sharpen skills at policy monitoring and data validation workshop in Burkina Faso
26/02/2025

Le Faso covers MAFAP's policy monitoring upskilling workshop in Burkina Faso

All about agrifood reform in 1 minute with Thibault Meilland
06/05/2024

Find out from Policy Advisor Thibault Meilland how the MAFAP Programme is supporting countries through a 4-step process to repurpose and reform their...

All about agrifood policy prioritization in 1 minute with Marco V. Sánchez
06/05/2024

Find out in this 1-minute video with Agrifood Economics and Policy Deputy Director Marco V. Sánchez how the MAFAP Programme is partnering with countries...

All about agrifood policy monitoring in 1 minute with Valentina Pernechele
06/05/2024

Find out in 1 minute from Economist Valentina Pernechele how the MAFAP Programme is helping countries through policy monitoring and data analysis on...

News
FAO launches two tools in Africa to support smarter agrifood public spending
04/09/2026

New methodology and policy optimization tools will help governments track public expenditure and make more effective use of existing resources.


Rwanda gives green light to FAO’s Policy Optimization Tool to support smarter agrifood spending
31/08/2026

Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources validates Policy Optimization Tool (PolOpT) results as Rwanda looks to make public spending on food and agriculture more effective.

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Publications
Understanding how public expenditure in the food and agriculture sector supports access to healthy diets in Bangladesh
07/09/2026

This report examines how public expenditure in Bangladesh’s food and agriculture sector supports access to healthy diets. Using the FAO-adapted SUN...

Agrifood Systems Public Expenditure Analysis (ASPEA) – Methodology and classification framework
27/08/2026

Public spending and policies are an important tool for shaping agrifood systems and advancing food security, climate resilience, biodiversity conservation...

Spending smarter on food and agriculture – The opportunity to make public spending more effective for triple wins with FAO’s Policy Optimization Tool (PolOpT)
26/08/2026

This is the new 2026 edition brochure on FAO's Policy Optimization Tool (PolOpT). Read more...

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E-Learnings
Monitoring price incentives for food and agriculture: the MAFAP method
02/11/2021

Learn how policies influence prices at different stages of the value chain, such as at producer, wholesale and retail level, is fundamental to determine...

Monitoring public expenditure on food and agriculture: the MAFAP method
02/11/2021

Learn how public spending on food and agriculture is a critical to better understand agricultural public expenditure and how it affects agricultural...

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Contact

Marco V. Sánchez

Deputy Director

Agrifood Economics and Policy Division & Officer-in-Charge of the MAFAP programme

[email protected]