Executive summary

At the midpoint of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda), the latest data indicate that most of the food- and agriculture-related SDG targets are still far from being achieved. The lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with other crises such as climate change and armed conflicts, are having widespread impacts on all dimensions under the 2030 Agenda, including poverty, food security and nutrition, health and the environment. Progress made in the past two decades has stagnated, and in some cases even reversed, compounding the challenges in eradicating poverty and hunger, improving health and nutrition, and combating climate change.

The latest estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) put the global hunger figure for 2022 between 691 million and 783 million people. These estimates imply that, since 2015, the increase in the number of undernourished people in the world has eroded practically all progress that had been made during the preceding decade. Furthermore, food insecurity has increased significantly from 25.3 percent of the global population in 2019 to 29.6 percent in 2022. While the prevalence of severe food insecurity at the global level showed a marginal decline from 11.7 percent in 2021 to 11.3 percent in 2022, it remains far above pre-pandemic levels – equivalent to 180 million more people, compared to 2019.

Indicators focused on malnutrition present a mixed picture. Although stunting has declined from 26.3 percent in 2012 to 22.3 percent in 2022, the rate of reduction is not nearly close enough to meet the global target. In 2022, 6.8 percent children under 5 years of age were affected by wasting, while the prevalence of overweight children, measured at 5.6 percent, has stagnated in the past decade, requiring greater efforts towards the 2030 target. Similarly, the prevalence of anaemia in women – a risk factor for adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes – has not improved between 2015 and 2019, the latest year with available data.

While government spending on agriculture, one of main sources of investment in the sector, has increased in nominal terms, the agricultural orientation index has declined between 2015 and 2021. On the other hand, agricultural export subsidies, a source of market distortions, have been declined consistently in the past two decades down to negligible levels in 2021. There have been some improvements with respect to food prices globally. In 2021, the share of countries facing moderately to abnormally high food prices was 21.5 percent, down from the record high of 48 percent in 2020. However, this figure is still above the 2015–2019 average (15.2 percent), reflecting continued increases in food prices, mainly supported by elevated production and transport costs on account of costlier fertilizers and energy.

The world’s smallholder farmers produce around one-third of the world’s food, contributing substantially to agrifood systems and economies worldwide. However, their labour productivity continues to lag behind that of larger-scale producers, with more pronounced differences in higher-income countries. In 90 percent of reporting countries, small-scale food producers also show an average annual income of less than half that of large-scale food producers. Disparities also persist in the domain of land ownership. In one-third of assessed countries, fewer than 50 percent of women and men involved in agricultural production have ownership and/or secure tenure rights over the agricultural land. Among landowners, the share of men having ownership is at least twice that of women in almost half of the countries. Of the 71 countries that reported on the level of legal protection of women’s rights to land (not limited to agricultural land), close to 60 percent have no, very low or low levels of protection for women’s land rights in the law.

Turning towards the indicators that measure environmental dimension of food and agriculture, progress remains slow and uneven across geographic regions. Currently, the world remains far from maintaining the genetic diversity of plant and animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, either in the field or in genebanks. Similarly, despite their contribution to global food security and nutrition, global fish stocks are threatened by overfishing, pollution, poor management and other factors, including illegal fishing, with more than one-third (35.4 percent) of global stocks overfished in 2019. The proportion of sustainable fisheries’ contribution to global gross domestic product (GDP) declined to below 0.1 percent in 2019. On the other hand, there is evidence from many countries that the implementation of effective fisheries management measures is having a positive impact on fish stocks and, as a result, the share of landings from biologically sustainable stocks is on the rise. By the end of 2022, the Agreement on Port State Measures targeting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing reached 74 Parties (including the European Union) or, effectively, 100 states.

Agricultural losses directly attributed to natural disasters, which are increasing both in frequency and intensity, amounted to USD 19.3 billion in 2021 based on data from 22 countries. The percentage of food lost after harvesting on farms and at transport, storage, wholesale and processing levels is estimated at 13.2 percent globally in 2021, compared to 13 percent in 2016. These percentages mask improvements and deteriorations at regional and subregional levels, as estimates vary greatly across (sub)regions. Similarly, while the level of global water stress remained at a safe 18.2 percent in 2020, this figure hides large regional variations, with certain regions experiencing high or even critical levels of water stress. Meanwhile, water use efficiency stood at USD 18.9/m³ in 2020 worldwide, denoting an increase compared to 2015 but a slight drop as compared with an efficiency of USD 19.4/m³ achieved in 2019.

Forests provide vital goods and ecosystem services and are crucial to mitigating climate change. While the world’s forest area continues to decrease, the rate of decline has slowed compared to previous decades, falling from 31.9 percent in 2000 to 31.2 percent in 2020. At the same time, the world continues to progress towards sustainable forest management. Between 2010 and 2020, the share of forests under certification schemes, the proportion of forest within protected areas and the proportion of forests under a long-term management plan increased globally. However, land degradation remains a major concern, with the world having lost at least 100 million hectares of healthy and productive land every year between 2015 and 2019.

Mountain ecosystems are crucial biodiversity centres that are affected easily by both natural and anthropogenic factors. While vegetation cover of the world’s mountains remains roughly stable at approximately 78 percent, with a slight decrease since 2015, detrimental changes in land cover during the 2000–2018 period represents approximately 1.6 percent of the world’s total mountain area.

To ensure progress across the social, economic and environmental dimensions discussed above, it is crucial to improve data capabilities. Despite extensive efforts towards building stronger data and statistical systems for Sustainable Development Goal monitoring, significant data gaps still exist. Without comprehensive, disaggregated, timely and reliable data, it is difficult to effectively measure the pace of progress across different regions and socioeconomic groups, and direct efforts and investments where needed. Robust data systems are essential for formulating evidence-based policy, anticipating future needs and designing the urgent actions needed to realize the 2030 Agenda.