Filter by series
Publications
The opportunity cost of not repurposing public expenditure in food and agriculture in sub-Saharan African countries
12/2024
Background paper for The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024. This paper uses an innovative policy optimization tool to show how reallocating existing crop and livestock budgets in six sub-Saharan African countries could boost agrifood GDP, create rural jobs, lift thousands out of poverty, and enable millions to afford a healthy diet.
The hidden costs of coffee production in the Eastern African value chains
11/2024
Background paper for The State of Food and Agriculture 2024. There is growing recognition that significant costs associated with food systems remain unaccounted for in market prices. Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world and the most traded agricultural commodity. More than 30 million smallholder households rely directly on coffee income.
Impact of trade policy measures on agricultural markets during global disruptions – A multicountry analysis
10/2024
The past COVID-19 pandemic has led to severe economic consequences worldwide. The global health crisis has affected supply and demand, both domestic and international. However, the shock has been noticeably heterogeneous across sectors.
Targeting vulnerability hotspots along the agrifood system – A stress test for Ethiopia and Nigeria
05/2024
We leverage the multi-stressor nature of the COVID-19 generalized disruption as an opportunity to test the out-of-sample forecasting accuracy of both theory-based and data-driven vulnerability prediction models for the ex ante targeting of preventive interventions.
Agrifood value chains in low-income countries – Accounting for market structure to inform policies
05/2024
Recognizing that agrifood value chains (AFVCs) are essential to ensure food security and foster structural change, FAO seeks to reassess the array of policies and interventions needed to protect and strengthen AFVCs in low-income countries and fragile states.
Making public investments Paris Agreement-aligned in a cost-effective way – Calculating marginal abatement cost curves for agricultural investments
05/2024
This paper proposes a novel methodology for calculating marginal abatement cost curves (MACCs) for public finance in agriculture using granular data on specific activities from investment projects. The proposed MACCs target public investment decision makers from the international and national financing institutions, as well as governments.
Resilience in conflict-affected livestock value chains – Conceptual issues and methods for analysis
05/2024
Livestock value chains present a multitude of challenges in the analysis of resilience given their multidimensional role in livelihoods and complexities associated with their biological aspects of production. This paper discusses these challenges at length and provides some guidance on methodological and operational modalities to tease out these nuances.
Variations in the subnational cost and affordability of a healthy diet for selected countries in Africa
12/2023
Background paper for The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023. This background paper to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 presents an innovative analysis of within-country variability of the cost and affordability of a healthy diet (CoAHD).
Analysis of food demand and supply across the rural–urban continuum for selected countries in Africa
12/2023
Background paper for The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023. This background paper to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 analyses a key element of agrifood systems transformation: the change of patterns in food supply and demand.
The agricultural technical efficiency and food security nexus – Evidence from Nigeria
12/2023
Food insecurity is one of the world’s greatest challenges and there is still a strong debate on which structural strategies should be adopted to cope with it. In sub-Saharan Africa food insecurity is accompanied by very poor technical efficiency of farmers, particularly smallholders, resulting in below potential agricultural profits.
The role of true cost accounting in guiding agrifood businesses and investments towards sustainability
11/2023
Background paper for The State of Food and Agriculture 2023. This background paper to The State of Food and Agriculture 2023 describes how true cost accounting (TCA) and the lessons learned from its application can inform efforts to develop a sound economic foundation for sustainability in business and finance in agrifood systems.
Accounting for the hidden costs of agrifood systems in data-scarce contexts
11/2023
Background paper for The State of Food and Agriculture 2023. This background paper to The State of Food and Agriculture 2023 reviews the methods used, as well as the data required, to estimate the hidden environmental, social and health costs associated with agrifood systems.
True cost accounting applications for agrifood systems policymakers
11/2023
Background paper for The State of Food and Agriculture 2023. This background paper to The State of Food and Agriculture 2023 introduces true cost accounting (TCA) as an approach to measure and value the costs and benefits generated by agrifood systems in order to facilitate improved decision-making.
Urbanization is transforming agrifood systems across the rural–urban continuum creating challenges and opportunities to access affordable healthy diets
10/2023
Background paper for The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023. This background paper to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 discusses the dynamics and drivers of urbanization, the associated changes in agrifood systems and the corresponding risks and opportunities to ensuring access to affordable healthy diets for all.
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.
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).
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.
Resilience to food insecurity and gender differential decomposition in the Gambia
04/2023
The analysis of household resilience to food insecurity has become a key technical and evidence-based policy instrument for better tailoring development and humanitarian intervention designs. International development agencies must strengthen the capacity of vulnerable households to anticipate, cope with and adapt to shocks and stressors.
An ecosystemic framework for analysing evidence-informed policy systems for agricultural transformation – Case study of Benin
02/2023
The production and use of evidence for agricultural policy is critical to prioritizing and targeting effective agricultural transformation reforms in African countries. International development organizations have supported programmes that promote evidence-informed policies, however, this support has often been focused on short-term and externally driven solutions, with limited impact in the long run.