FAO Agricultural Development Economics Working Papers
About the series (ISSN 2521-1838)
The FAO Agricultural Development Economics Working Paper series, also known as ESA Working Paper series, was created in 2001 and it collects research and policy analysis on agricultural and economic development. The aim of the series is strengthening the capacity of member countries to improve decision-making on food security and nutrition, resilience, climate-smart agriculture, sustainable markets, agribusinesses and rural transformations.
Background paper for The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024
Working paper, 2025
Hunger and food insecurity reduction has stagnated in the years after the pandemic, putting the world far off course to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 2.1. In addition, while some progress has been...
Available in:English
Conceptual and methodological issues
Working paper, 2025
Measures of agricultural land inequality have primarily relied on the distribution of farm size, using information from agricultural census data. In this paper, we use an expanded approach, recognizing the complexity and the multiple dimensions...
Available in:English
A cross-country approach
Working paper, 2025
This study provides country-level estimates of productive inputs and assets utilized by farming households, including land, fertilizers, agrochemicals, water management technologies, improved seeds, and mechanization in 19 countries across the world covering the period 2014–2020,...
Available in:English
A comparative study and application to cocoa farmers in Cameroon
Working paper, 2025
How should the cost of a decent life be quantified, and are living income indicators valid welfare measures for agrifood policies? This paper critically examines two methodologies for estimating living income benchmarks (LIB) and their...
Available in:English
Background paper for The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024
Corporate publications, 2024
Repurposing public support to food and agriculture has gained significant global attention. However, resources allocated to support the food and agriculture sector may not be high enough for significant repurposing in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper...
Available in:English
Background paper for The State of Food and Agriculture 2024
Corporate publications, 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...
Available in:English
A multicountry analysis
Working paper, 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. Since the...
Available in:English
A stress test for Ethiopia and Nigeria
Working paper, 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....
Available in:English
Accounting for market structure to inform policies
Working paper, 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...
Available in:English
Calculating marginal abatement cost curves for agricultural investments
Working paper, 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...
Available in:English