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The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2020 (SOCO 2020) aims to discuss policies and mechanisms that promote sustainable outcomes – economic, social and environmental – in agricultural and food markets, both global and domestic. The analysis is organized along the trends and challenges that lie at the heart of global discussions on trade and development. These include the evolution of trade and markets; the emergence of global value chains in food and agriculture; the extent to which smallholder farmers in developing countries participate in value chains and markets; and the transformative impacts of digital technology on markets.Along these themes, SOCO [...]

The Maghreb's oases systems provide a major contribution to the region's food security, economy and protection of natural resources and play an essential role in the settlement of populations through job creation. Despite this potential, oasis ecosystems are threatened by a range of complex factors related to the expansion of agricultural land, increasing scarcity of water resources and competition for water. The project “Adaptive management and monitoring of the Maghreb's oases systems", implemented by FAO in Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania from May 2016 to December 2019, brought together several key stakeholders from these three oasis countries, in order to address [...]

Key findings of this report show that much progress has been made towards the goal of ending hunger. Yet, many countries continue to face moderate to high degrees of undernourishment, especially where economies made least progress in transitioning towards high-productivity, modern agriculture and non-farm economic development and where policy stances have been weak in promoting agricultural development, reducing gender inequalities, and improving infrastructure and basic social services. The decline in undernourishment has come with a rise in the prevalence in overweight and obesity. The spread of this form of malnutrition has come with dietary shifts towards the consumption of more animal-sourced [...]

Biodiversity loss is accelerating at an unprecedented rate across the planet putting a great number of species on the brink of extinction. A decline in the plants, animals and micro-organisms threatens food security, sustainable development and the supply of vital ecosystem services. In order to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, there is an urgent need to take action to halt biodiversity loss and consequently ecosystem degradation. Since the introduction of the Aichi targets, released by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2010, the United Nations have been empowered with greater influence on decision-making impacting biodiversity. [...]

Updates for many countries have made it possible to estimate hunger in the world with greater accuracy this year. In particular, newly accessible data enabled the revision of the entire series of undernourishment estimates for China back to 2000, resulting in a substantial downward shift of the series of the number of undernourished in the world. Nevertheless, the revision confirms the trend reported in past editions: the number of people affected by hunger globally has been slowly on the rise since 2014. The report also shows that the burden of malnutrition in all its forms continues to be a challenge. [...]

This brochure presents a series of knowledge platforms which make data and information on food and agriculture available, accessible and usable worldwide. This work contributes to the five priorities of FAO to achieve a world without hanger, malnutrition and poverty in a sustainable manner, with a focus on the exchange of knowledge, information and data as a key step towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The evaluation of FAO’s statistical work examines the relevance and the effectiveness of statistics in the era of “leave no one behind”. It appraises the progress made by FAO and the challenges faced in establishing functional statistical governance, providing quality statistics, and adopting sustainable capacity development at the global, regional and country level.The evaluation found that statistics remain core to FAO’s overall work. Members demand for data to support SDG indicator implementation and the use of statistics in policy-making has increased. FAO’s profile has been raised through its methodological work on the SDG indicators and outreach work on national standards.However, [...]

Agriculture plays a critical role in Fiji’s development by upholding food and income security, promoting the advancement of communities and offering opportunities in international trade. In 2013, agriculture accounted for 9 percent of Fiji’s GDP, with the industry growing by 3.4 percent thanks largely to increased production of sugarcane, yagona, taro and coconut (according to the FBoS). In 2014, an agricultural statistics unit, headed by a trained statistician, was established in the MoA in an effort to improve data collection and analysis in the agriculture sector. This has led to the implementation of an agricultural survey and, consequentially, the identification [...]

The FAO Statistics Division is monitoring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on national agricultural censuses and provides an overview of its effects on ongoing activities. The information presented is the result of a rapid appraisal and informal consultations with national agricultural census authorities.Revised 13 May 2020New countries addedSee also: National agricultural census operations and COVID-19

FAOSTAT is FAO's most comprehensive digital platform on food and agriculture statistics, offering free access to 20 000 indicators on food and agriculture from over 245 countries and territories. The brochure presents FAOSTAT fundamental role in supporting FAO's effort for collecting, analyzing, interpreting food and agriculture statistics and disseminating them globally.