Publications

Greening for the greater good – The case of Action Against Desertification in Northern Nigeria

08/2023

By using a multimethod strategy, we seek to generate more rigorous evidence on landscape restoration and its impacts at the household level. Using pre-restoration remote-sensing data, a machine-learning algorithm is used for the identification of similar pieces of land to Action Against Desertification (AAD) restoration sites.

Africa’s unique transformation from a household livelihood strategies perspective

07/2023

Livelihood diversification continues to be the norm rather than the exception globally. This means that, to be successful, livelihood support interventions need to consider households’ decisions in terms of the distribution of labour, time and risk management strategies.

Economic transformation and diversification towards off-farm income in rural and urban areas – A global update with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa

07/2023

This working paper is the update of an earlier cross-country study on household income sources using an expanded harmonized dataset. The analysis presented covers a total of 93 surveys representing 41 countries – nearly double that of the previous study – to depict rural and urban households’ livelihood strategies across different levels of economic development.

Fiscal reform in Costa Rica – Price elasticities of major food categories to inform decision-making

07/2023

In the context of fiscal reform in Costa Rica (value added tax revision), the definition of a new basic tax basket – canasta básica tributaria (CBT), incorporating nutritional criteria is underway in the country. In this study, price elasticities of major food categories were analysed using a Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) model and data from the 2018 National Survey of Household Income and Expenditures – Encuesta Nacional de Ingresos y Gastos de los Hogares (ENIGH).

Price elasticities of major food categories to inform fiscal reform in Costa Rica

07/2023

In the context of fiscal reform in Costa Rica (value added tax revision), the definition of a new basic tax basket – canasta básica tributaria (CBT), incorporating nutritional criteria – is underway in the country. Measuring price elasticities is essential because it allows knowing the extent to which food demand reacts to price changes, anticipating changes in the quantities demanded as a result of fiscal policy changes, ...

Guidelines to increase the resilience of agricultural supply chains

05/2023

This paper presents guidelines to help policymakers and stakeholders strengthen the resilience of agricultural supply chains—highlighting risk analysis, cost–benefit assessment, business adaptation, and the crucial role of governments in creating enabling environments and supporting responses to growing shocks such as COVID-19 and climate change.

Farmer income and decoupled direct payments in North Macedonia

04/2023

This policy brief summarizes the key findings and policy recommendations of the corresponding working paper “Decoupling direct payments in North Macedonia: impacts on farmer income”. North Macedonia’s ambition to join the European Union requires reforms of the agricultural sector and subsidy system.

Decoupling direct payments in North Macedonia – Impacts on farmer income

04/2023

North Macedonia’s ambition to join the European Union requires reforms of the agricultural sector and subsidy system. One major reform is the alignment to the rules of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union on direct payments, including the “decoupling” of direct payments from production quantities.

Commodity investment needs in the eyes of Ugandan farmers and experts

03/2023

This policy brief highlights the main findings from the FAO Agricultural Development Economics Technical Study ‘Identifying commodity-specific priority investments in selected districts of Uganda’. The findings include a ranking from one to eight of priority investment areas from the perspective of farmers and local experts, who ultimately produce or support the production of the five commodities.

Identifying commodity-specific priority investments in selected districts of Uganda

03/2023

FAO Agricultural Development Economics Technical Study, No. 29. Building on the previous work by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) supporting the identification of priority agricultural sectors and possible locations with high agricultural transformation potential in Uganda, this technical study provides more granular information from Ugandan farmers and district agriculture officers on which investments are needed the most to increase productivity.

Promoting the development of family farming in Peru

03/2023

The policy brief provides the main results and highlights of the FAO Agricultural Development Economics Technical Study “La agricultura familiar en el Perú: brechas, retos y oportunidades”. The analysis applies a family farming typology based on the level of the farm’s net agricultural income as well as the national poverty lines.

Geographically prioritizing commodity investments in Uganda

11/2022

This policy brief highlights the main findings of a new methodology to identify geographical areas where, in theory, investments are likely to have big impacts in terms of both agricultural growth and poverty reduction.

A tool to support the spatial prioritization of commodity-specific investments – An application to Uganda

11/2022

In this paper, we propose a simple methodology to select a limited number of geographical areas to prioritize for commodity-specific investments in Uganda. Similar to other approaches for prioritizing investments geographically, the basic idea behind the proposed method is that districts with high agro-ecological potential should be prioritized for commodity-specific investments as they are where investments are likely to have the highest impact.

Guiding policies and investments to reduce agriculture-led deforestation in Viet Nam - Expanding beef and dairy sectors, while reducing deforestation risks

10/2022

FAO Agricultural Development Economics Technical Study, No. 21. The study unpacks the potential, current and future, linkages between beef and dairy development and deforestation, using Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces in Viet Nam as case study, where the beef and dairy production increases are important and potential impact on the primary forests is of particular concern.

Lebanon’s agrifood system in times of turbulence – Obstacles and opportunities

10/2022

FAO Agricultural Development Economics Technical Study, No. 20. Lebanon currently faces one of the worst economic crises of this century. The political deadlock, the economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have further intensified the country’s existing economic fragility.

Prioritizing investment in Paraguay’s agriculture is vital for recovery

10/2022

The findings reported in this brief have been adapted from the FAO Agricultural Development Economics Technical Study No. 19 "Inversión pública productiva en la agricultura para la recuperación económica con bienestar rural: un análisis de escenarios prospectivos para Paraguay".

Agricultural transformation – Trends in farm size, crop diversification and mechanization in Nicaragua and Peru

09/2022

FAO Agricultural Development Economics Technical Studies, No. 18. Structural change is a process in which the amount of labour, capital and land dedicated to agriculture (and other sectors) changes over time. In this study, we focus on the cases of Peru and Nicaragua using their two most recently administered agricultural censuses.

A mid-term perspective on agricultural diversification in Guyana

08/2022

Guyana’s agrifood systems are facing an increasing level of risk: rising sea-levels are eroding its coastal area, where much of the agricultural activity is located; recent off-shore oil discoveries threaten to crowd-out non-oil sectors; and a dependency on a limited number of agricultural export commodities exposes the agricultural sector to price and market volatility.

Diversification perspectives of Guyana’s agrifood sector

08/2022

Guyana’s agrifood systems are facing an increasing level of risk: rising sea-levels are eroding its coastal area, where much of the agricultural activity is located; recent off-shore oil discoveries threaten to crowd-out non-oil sectors; and a dependency on a limited number of agricultural export commodities exposes the agricultural sector to price and market volatility.

Analysing changes to price incentives during the first wave of COVID-19

08/2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a shock on agrifood systems around the world, with the potential for low- and middleincome countries to be particularly affected. As containment measures disrupt access to agricultural inputs and markets, governments have sought to insulate domestic consumers from world price fluctuations and ensure local availability by changing export and import policies and introducing price stabilisation measures, among other responses.

Agrifood economics and policy

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