FAO uses new proxy to report on SDG Indicator 2.4.1

Monitoring progress on SDG Indicator 2.4.1, the indicator measuring the ‘’Proportion of agricultural land under productive and sustainable agriculture’’ has been a challenge for most countries. This is due to the complex nature of data requirements and the need to have a robust farm-survey system in place for regular data collection on 11 themes across three dimensions of sustainability: environmental, economic and social.

In order to assist countries in monitoring the sustainability of their agricultural systems, FAO, in collaboration with a group of countries and under the guidance of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDG), developed the SDG Indicator 2.4.1 proxy. It is based on seven sub-indicators that can be easily computed from available national statistics, or from data already provided by countries to FAO and published in FAOSTAT.

Using the SDG Indicator 2.4.1 proxy, FAO has recently provided to the UN Statistics Division (UNSD) the first ever global and regional storyline on productive and sustainable agriculture. FAO also used the proxy to expand SDG 2.4.1 data coverage to most countries over the 2015-2021 period, with data and metadata made available by UNSD on 28 Jun 2024. FAO also disseminates the underlying sub-indicator data via a dedicated Shiny app.

FAO is available through its regular capacity development activities i.e. technical assistance and training on SDG 2.4.1 to provide support to countries on the use of the proxy as an interim solution for reporting on the indicator.