Indicator 2.4.1 Proxy - Progress towards productive and sustainable agriculture
Data on the official SDG indicator 2.4.1 is currently scarce, as countries still build their capacity to adapt their agricultural surveys to collect the necessary information. As a provisional, stop-gap solution, the UN Statistical Commission has approved the use of a proxy for monitoring progress towards productive and sustainable agriculture, based on widely available national-level statistics. The proxy consists of seven sub-indicators capturing the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic and social) in the agricultural sphere and shall be used as a “practical interim solution” while FAO continues to work with countries “to strengthen capacity-building activities for the official indicator”.
Target 2.4
By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality.
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"Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture".
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Indicator 2.4.1 Proxy: Progress Assessment
Impact
This proxy indicator measures progress in achieving more productive and sustainable agriculture. It is made up of relevant sub-indicators that will provide governments with strategic information for evidence based policies.
Key results
New data derived from a combination of key economic, social and environmental indicators, that proxies the original indicator 2.4.1, suggests that the world is at a moderate distance to achieving productive and sustainable agriculture (score 3.4 out of 5), while also having registered slight improvement towards achieving productive and sustainable agriculture (score 3.9 out of 5) since 2015.
At the regional level, Northern America and Europe (4.1), Eastern Asia and South-Eastern Asia (3.8), Oceania (3.7), and Latin America and the Caribbean (3.6), are close to achieving productive and sustainable agriculture. Central Asia and Southern Asia (2.8), Western Asia and Northern Africa (2.8), and Sub-Saharan Africa (2.7), as well as least developed countries (LDCs) (2.6) and landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) (2.6) are at a moderate distance to achieving productive and sustainable agriculture.
Over the period 2015-2021, most regions achieved a slight improvement towards productive and sustainable agriculture, with scores ranging from 3.5 to 4.4 out of 5. On the other hand, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) (3.3), and LLDCs (3.1) showed no improvement.
The overall picture is therefore one of slight improvement with respect to achieving the SDG Target 2.4 of ensuring sustainable and productive agriculture. However, most regions, and the world as a whole, remain at a moderate distance to the target. While more detailed analysis is required to investigate the root causes, the evidence suggests that all regions of the world urgently need sustained, concerted actions geared towards improving productive and sustainable agriculture by 2030, or otherwise risk missing the target by a wide margin.