Databases, tools and platforms
The FAO Agrifood Economics and Policy Division (ESA) develops and maintains a range of databases, tools and platforms to support agrifood policymaking. Each serves a specific purpose, and together they help governments translate evidence into action. The table below maps these resources to the five stages of the policy cycle.
- Intelligence: identifying policy issues, framing options, and preparing the ground for decisions.
- Monitoring and analysis: tracking policies, estimating policy incentives, public spending and their effects over time.
- Reform: modelling, defining scenarios and assessing policy options before decisions are taken.
- Implementation: supporting the design and delivery of chosen measures.
- Evaluation and learning: measuring results, evaluating impact, and feeding lessons back into the next policy cycle.
The mapping shows where each tool adds the most value. It also shows how the tools complement each other across the full cycle.
| Intelligence | Monitoring and analysis | Reform | Implementation | Evaluation and learning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AgIncentives | |||||
| Food and Agriculture Policy Decision Analysis (FAPDA) | |||||
| MAFAP data hub on price incentives and public expenditure | |||||
| Future of food dashboard | |||||
| MIRAGRODEP | |||||
| Policy Optimization Tool (PolOpT) | |||||
| GEOCredit | |||||
| MonitorEO | |||||
| NECTAR | |||||
| E-RIMA toolkit | |||||
| Environmental eXternalities ACcounting Tool (EX-ACT) | |||||
| Contract Farming Resource Centre | |||||
| Hand-in-Hand geospatial platform | |||||
| State of Agrifood Systems Data Platform |
| Primary purpose of the database, tool or platform. | |
| Contribution is secondary to the primary purpose of the database, tool or platform. |
DATABASES
Database
AgIncentives at FAO
AgIncentives is a global consortium of five leading international organizations that produces harmonized data and analysis on agricultural support and policy incentives. Covering most of global agricultural production and trade, it provides comparable indicators on agricultural support, including price incentives and public expenditures, across a wide range of commodities and policy instruments over more than two decades. The publicly available database is used to assess agricultural policies, analyze their impacts on food security and sustainability, and support evidence-based policymaking at national, regional and global levels.
Database
Food and Agriculture Policy Decisions Analysis (FAPDA)
The FAO Food and Agriculture Policy Decisions Analysis (FAPDA) database enable users to monitor and analyze agrifood policy decisions and strategic frameworks across 214 countries and territories and over 30 Regional Economic Communities. Policies are classified by broad target domain (consumer, producer, trade), sectors and cross-cutting themes such as Sustainable Development Goals and G20 policy basket, among others.
Database
Future of food and agriculture dashboard
This dashboard provides information on key driving forces (drivers) of agrifood systems in the context of broader socioeconomic and environmental systems. It provides historical data and, where possible, projections, for around 100 variables and indicators, clustered according to the eighteen drivers identified and analysed in the FAO report "The future of food and agriculture – Drivers and triggers for transformation".
Database
MAFAP data hub on price incentives and public expenditure
FAO’s Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) programme has developed a data hub that provides insights into how much sub-Saharan African countries are spending on food and agriculture. It also features price incentive indicators for key agricultural commodities, showing whether farmers or traders benefit from, or are disadvantaged by, current policies based on the prices they receive.
TOOLS
Computable general equilibrium models
Tool
MIRAGRODEP
MIRAGRODEP is a state-of-the-art recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model used by FAO to analyze policies, generate medium-term projections, assess disruptions, and support foresight on agrifood systems and food security. As a multi-region, multi-sector framework incorporating household-level data, it provides a consistent representation of the global economy, linking households, production systems, markets, trade and macroeconomic balances. By connecting policies, markets, people and the environment, MIRAGRODEP reveals how economic, technological, environmental and policy changes affect production, trade, household welfare and natural resources, helping decision-makers assess synergies and trade-offs across agrifood systems.
Tool
Policy Optimization Tool (PolOpT)
PolOpT is both a process and a state-of-the-art computable general equilibrium model, that supports governments in make better use of their food and agriculture budgets. This policy tool allows to identify how existing resources can be allocated more effectively across policies and subsectors to make progress on key agrifood sector transformation goals, while working within fiscal constraints and, if desired, factoring in environmental sustainability.
Earth Observation tools
Tool
MonitorEO
This tool is a Google Earth Engine app that standardizes Earth Observation-based monitoring of restoration/development projects using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) vegetation greenness (NDVI), water content (NDWI) and surface temperature (LST), reproducible control areas, difference-in-differences and trend testing. It was first calibrated and tested globally across 300 carbon off-setting project sites.
Tool
Near-real-time Earth Observation-based crop matching framework (NECTAR)
A near-real-time Earth Observation framework that matches seasonal agro-climatic conditions with crop requirements at pixel level, combining climate, water availability and soil suitability to flag emerging production risks. Tested across African countries for maize, wheat and rice, it provides early signals to support food security planning and drought response.
Tool
GeoCredit
Satellite-based credit scoring for smallholder farmers that turns free, tamper-proof crop data into a tool that expands access to agricultural finance and reduces lending risk. Piloted in Kenya with MkulimaScore360, GeoCredit boosted credit-model accuracy (AUC 0.846) and cut prediction variability by 36%, while surfacing creditworthy farmers overlooked by conventional scoring. Now scaling to more farmers in Kenya and expanding across Africa and Latin America.
OTHER tools
Tool
E-RIMA toolkit
Launched in 2023 as Shiny RIMA, the E-RIMA toolkit removes technical barriers related to analytical complexity while maintaining the scientific rigour of the Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis (RIMA) methodology. With its intuitive and user-friendly online interface, E-RIMA allows users of all backgrounds to conduct RIMA-based resilience analyses within minutes.
Tool
Environmental eXternalities ACcounting Tool (EX-ACT)
This tool helps users estimate and track the impact of agrifood systems interventions on the environment, and especially greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and biodiversity. It supports evidence-based decision-making by assessing agricultural commodities across the entire production, processing and distribution value chain.
PLATFORMS
Platform
Contract Farming Resource Centre
This comprehensive platform provides free and accessible resources on contract farming, supporting a thorough understanding of its dimension including agribusiness, its legal and operational aspects for anyone interested in this evolving field.
Platform
Hand-in-Hand geospatial platform
FAO’s open-access Hand in Hand (HIH) Geospatial Platform provides advanced information, including food security indicators and agricultural statistics, for more targeted agriculture interventions.
Platform
The State of Agrifood Systems Data Platform
The platform is designed to facilitate comprehensive agrifood systems analysis and enhance the ability of analysts to interpret and apply data for programming and monitoring at the country level. It offers a wide range of agrifood system indicators through interactive visualizations, bulk data downloads, and access to complementary sources, including surveys, censuses and statistical reports.