Review of monitoring and evaluation capacities in the agriculture sector
Evaluation and results-based management are amongst the best-known instruments to strengthen accountability and learning, and ultimately improve policies and practices. How are these instruments applied by Ministries of Agriculture, and are officials working in this sector equipped with adequate capacities and resources to carry out the evaluation? This report summarizes the results of a study which aimed to shed some light on these questions. The role of the Ministry of Agriculture in assessing results for sectoral public policies or programmes varies greatly between countries. Essentially, the M&E units in Ministries of Agriculture are mostly engaged in monitoring, with evaluation being quite rare. This raises the need to support M&E units to fulfill their mandate by playing a role in measuring results and drawing lessons to improve interventions in the sector and contributing to monitoring and evaluation of national policies and strategies, including the SDGs. The study was carried out over a six-month period through interviews with officers working in M&E units in 23 countries by the FAO Office of Evaluation (OED) in collaboration with EvalForward, a community of practice on evaluation for food security, agriculture, and rural development.
- Published in MONITORING & EVALUATION
Monitoring and evaluation of child labour in agriculture
This fact sheet describes the course that demonstrates how strong monitoring systems of agricultural programmes can incorporate child labour indicators, suggesting useful strategies. It also provides methodologies to consider when evaluating and reporting on evidence that suggests child labour may have been impacted by an agricultural initiative.
- Published in MONITORING & EVALUATION
Mid-term evaluation of the project “Monitoring water productivity
While population growth and economic development are putting unprecedented pressure on renewable, but finite water resources, especially in arid regions, scarce land and water resources are affecting food security and sustainable water management. FAO identified the need to implement a digital database built upon remote sensing and information technologies that can monitor and report on agricultural water productivity over Africa and Near East, accessible through the FAO Water Productivity through Open access of Remotely sensed derived data portal (WaPOR). The WaPOR database is now operational at continental level (all African and Near East countries covered by the 250 m spatial resolution data), national level (two beneficiary countries can access the WaPOR database at 100 m resolution) and subnational level with a spatial resolution of about 30 m, so far including eight areas of interest (river basins or irrigation schemes). Water Accounting Plus (WA+) reports based on remote sensing have been completed for three river basins as planned (Litani in Lebanon, Awash in Ethiopia and Jordan basin). An action framework at national level for capacity building and participatory decision making is currently being developed to make effective a “demand-driven” approach based on national and local needs.
- Published in MONITORING & EVALUATION
Development of Halal Agricultural Production Systems in Mindanao, Philippines
The economy of Mindanao is dominated by the agriculture sector. With one-third of its land area devoted to agriculture, the island has been tagged as the country’s food basket. The majority of the country’s total production of high-value commodities, such as rubber, pineapple, banana and coffee, comes from Mindanao. It also supplies over 40 percent of the country’s food requirements and contributes more than 30 percent to the national food trade. The Department of Agriculture (DA) continues to stimulate productivity and gain wider market niches by harnessing emerging global opportunities for local producers. One such opportunity is the growing global market for Halal foods, known to be worth USD 2.95 billion for meat alone, which other non-Muslim countries such as Thailand, Australia, Brazil and Belgium have already successfully entered. In the 2004-2010 Medium Term Philippine Development Plan, Mindanao was cited as the part of the country most suited to the development of the Halal industry. The plan identified the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the only region with Muslim identity, as the focal area for Halal development. The Philippine Development Plan (2017-2022) aims to expand the economic opportunities of those currently engaged in producing agriculture, forestry and fisheries products and, at the same time, increase access to economic opportunities for small farmers and fishers in order to achieve inclusive growth. The government will also continue to promote climate change adaptation measures, organic agriculture, urban agriculture and Halal food production.
- Published in VALUE CHAIN / MARKETS
Scaling up inclusive innovations in agrifood chains in Asia and the Pacific
The publication looks at innovations happening at all stages of the food value chain: from production to manufacturing and retailing. This also includes the extended value chain, for example input supply, financial services and agribusiness support services. Yields are improving and primary production is becoming more resilient as a result of digital technologies such as precision agriculture, agricultural drones, and digital farming services and marketplaces; and novel business models such as plant factories, crowdsourcing for farmers. Data and robotics help lift productivity and food safety in the manufacturing process. Online grocery commerce and food delivery services are revolutionizing the way consumers purchase food. Distributed ledger technology, such as blockchain, allows making payments and tracing back food products along the chain in order to increase transparency and trust. New business models are springing up to shorten the chain by removing or shifting stages and to make it fairer and greener, stimulated by enabling technologies and changing customer behaviours. Innovations such as these are discussed and illustrated by almost 200 practical examples from 21 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, across various types of firms and commodities.
- Published in ICTs, VALUE CHAIN / MARKETS
Enhancing the Livelihoods of ‘Hidden Women’ in Global Smallholder Value Chains
Women smallholder farmers often face complex social and economic barriers that prevent them from exercising agency and securing decent livelihoods. This Discussion Summary Paper draws from an online discussion co-hosted by Business Fights Poverty, Unilever and Oxfam, on how companies and their partners can recognize, value, and enhance the contributions of the hidden women on whom our global food supply systems depend. Read it to learn about the key levers of change, case studies and lessons learned, and how to collaborate for transformational change.
- Published in VALUE CHAIN / MARKETS
Research Series Issue 65: Impacts of agricultural value chain development in a mountainous region: Evidence from Nepal
This analysis investigates the potential mechanism and the practical significance of the impacts of agricultural value chain development in a geographically challenging rural area of a developing country.
We use data from a primary survey administered in the hill and mountainous region in Western Nepal. We show that linking small-scale producers with regional and local traders can help increase agricultural income. We unpack the potential mechanism of the impact pathway and show that the increase in agricultural income is a consequence of higher agricultural revenues, owing to a higher volume of sales at lower prices.
The positive impact on household income is practically significant in that it translated into improved food security, dietary diversity and household resilience. Targeted value chain interventions that strengthen and stabilize small-scale producers’ access to markets can contribute to rural poverty reduction via an increase in agricultural income.
- Published in NEPAL
Buy or make? Agricultural production diversity, markets and dietary diversity in Afghanistan
Increasing on-farm production diversity and improving markets are recognized as ways to improve the dietary diversity of smallholders. Using instrumental variable methods to account for endogeneity, we study the interplay of production diversity, markets and diets in the context of seasonality in Afghanistan. We confirm an important seasonal dimension to the interplay. Improved crop diversity over the year is positively associated with dietary diversity in the regular season, but not in the lean season. Livestock species diversity remains important for dietary diversity throughout the year, but particularly so in the lean season when the influence of cropping diversity is low. Market aspects become important for dietary diversity specifically in the lean season.
- Published in AFGHANISTAN, NUTRITION
Patterns of Regional Agri-food Trade in Asia
This paper analyzes the implication of economic structural change and dietary transformation on changing patterns of agri-food trade among 17 Asian development countries. Sub-regional trade in Central, South, and Southeast Asia is the focus of the paper, along with trade with other partners outside the sub-regions. The paper finds that Asian markets for total agri-food exports and exports of nutritious foods are generally more important than the markets outside of Asia and for many of them, the importance of Asian markets increases over time. While net exporters and importers co-exist in each sub-region, with a few exceptions, sub-regional trade is often less important. Many small countries trade only with one or two large neighbors and less so with each other.
The dietary transformation impacts trade in nutritious foods in diverse ways. With income growth, increased domestic demand for nutritious foods seem to lead to more imports of these foods. While many South and Southeast Asian countries have a comparative advantage in exports of some nutritious food products, growth in these exports can be negatively affected by rising domestic demand. Although nutritious food exports continue to play important roles in total agri-food exports, export growth of nutritious food is often slower than overall growth of agri-food exports. The dietary transformation also seems to lead to increases in demand for processed foods which many Asian countries meet through imports, often, accounting for a large component of total agri-food imports. On the other hand, processed foods generally account for a small portion of agri-food exports. However, there are a few countries where processed food export growth is rapid. In these cases, the sub-regional market is expanding, but with few exceptions, it is still less important than trade with countries outside the sub-regions.
- Published in SRI LANKA, VALUE CHAIN / MARKETS
Dysfunctional Horticulture Value Chains and the Need for Modern Marketing Infrastructure: The Case of Nepal
This brief provides an overview of Nepal’s agriculture sector and horticulture value chain, and of four agricultural wholesale markets. It notes that inefficiencies in the value chain lead to high seasonal and spatial price fluctuations for fruit and vegetables, and suggests ways of improving wholesale markets, production, and marketing.
- Published in NEPAL