|
|
|
You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAO unveils new data domain tracking agricultural research & development trends
|
|
Tuesday, 05 May, 2026, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
|
|
Rome, Italy
|
Publicly-oriented agricultural research and development systems have been growing at an average annual rate of 1.8 percent in the past two decades, reaching $50.4 billion in 2023, while the number of agricultural researchers has grown even faster, new data presented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The figures encompass a relative surge since 2009 after sluggish expansion in the first decade of the millennium. The findings come from a new data domain available to all on FAO’s FAOSTAT portal, the world’s most comprehensive data base for agricultural themes. The new service represents the development, expansion of coverage and frequency, and technical improvements of a service that began in 1981 as a joint venture between the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the former International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) to collect agricultural research data. It is now brought back to FAO in an effort to institutionalise it with our member countries, thanks to a grant from the Gates Foundation.
Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI), such as those contained in FAOSTAT’s new domain, are in demand to assess research performance and impact, and to set policy and investment priorities to increase agricultural growth and productivity. Agricultural R&D is associated with lowering food prices and high economic returns, and it is increasingly central to improving the efficiency of resource utilisation, lowering carbon footprints and producing more output with fewer inputs such as land, labour and chemicals, and enabling key food crops to adapt to changing environmental conditions.
José Rosero Moncayo, FAO chief statistician, said, “This new domain will strengthen evidence-based policymaking and advocacy for more effective agricultural research systems. It addresses a longstanding gap by providing, for the first time, a regular, globally agreed framework to monitor agricultural R&D. This represents an important milestone, enabling countries to set and track commitments on investment and research capacity through a harmonised measure of national efforts that generate benefits for all, recognising science and technology as global public goods.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|