WaPOR Featured at OECD Conference on Sustainable Agricultural Productivity

Paris, France – FAO’s open-access portal for monitoring water productivity through remote sensing, WaPOR, was featured at the OECD Conference titled “Sustainable Agricultural Productivity to Address Food Systems Challenges: Measurement, Data, Drivers, and Policies” on 28 October 2024 at the OECD Headquarters in Paris.

The conference was organized by the OECD’s Trade and Agriculture Directorate, in collaboration with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, and the United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS).

The day-long conference focused on bridging the gap between academic and policy communities, with participants from OECD member countries, experts, and practitioners. Through panel and breakout discussions, it addressed key questions on sustainable agricultural productivity, current trends, and measurement challenges, while exploring how innovation, R&D, and best practices can drive sustainable growth and the trade-offs involved.

During the session on Technologies for Sustainable Agricultural Productivity moderated by Spiro Stefanou, Administrator, USDA ERS, Jiro Ariyama, International Water Expert at FAO, showcased WaPOR. Ariyama explained how the tool supports farmers in assessing the productivity of their fields, especially in relation to their water use (water productivity), in identifying high performing fields and farmers and understanding which practices lead to the best production outcomes.  He emphasized that policymakers must consider the sustainable availability of water at the regional or site level when promoting productivity improvements.  WaPOR data supports irrigation scheme managers and water professionals in reporting on agricultural water use. WaPOR will be featured in the next issue of the Compendium of Action Sustainable Productivity Growth Coalition Compendium (See the 2023 Issue)

The conference also featured other FAO experts. David Laborde, Director of Agrifood Economics, referenced FAO’s 2022 roadmap to achieve SDG 2 and the 1.5°C climate targets, stressing the need for productivity gains in agriculture. Francesco Tubiello, Senior Statistician and Team Leader, shared FAO’s work on SDG Indicator 2.4.1 – Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture, along with relevant sub-indicators. Nevena Alexandrova-Stefanova, Policies and Capacities for Innovation Unit Leader in the Office of Innovation, highlighted the indicator framework for assessing Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS).

The session underscored the global dialogue on sustainable agricultural productivity, with a strong focus on policy. Discussions also emphasized the role of natural capital accounting in improving the understanding of environmental inputs while acknowledging that trade-offs will be inevitable. The Global Forum on Agriculture, held on 29 October 2024, continued the conversation by focusing on achieving policy coherence to facilitate progress toward sustainable agricultural productivity.