FAOSTAT: Agricultural Science and Technology: ASTI - Expenditures

The ASTI Researchers Dataset provides indicators on human resources engaged in agricultural research and development (R&D) at the national level. Data are compiled from the human resources section of the ASTI questionnaire and presented in full-time equivalent (FTE) researchers to reflect the effective research effort devoted to agricultural R&D, using information on time allocation. The dataset disseminates two indicators: total agricultural researchers (FTE) and agricultural researchers (FTE) per 100 000 agricultural workers, the latter calculated using employment in agriculture data sourced from FAOSTAT to support cross-country comparability of research intensity.

The Statistics Division of FAO collects annually data on Government Expenditure on Agriculture through a questionnaire, which was developed in partnership with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF is the responsible institution for the Government Finance Statistics (GFS) methodology and annually collects GFS data, including Expenditure by Functions of Government (COFOG). The Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG) is an international classification developed by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and published by the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD), with the aim of categorise governments' functions according to their purposes. The FAO questionnaire aligns with Table 7 of the IMF GFS questionnaire, replicates the relevant aggregates and drills down to request additional detail related to Agriculture. The FAO dataset consists of a time series, from 2001 onwards, of Total Government Expenditure and expenditure in: Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting, along with its three disaggregated subsectors of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing; and Environmental Protection. In addition, expenditure in each detailed function are further disaggregated into Recurrent and Capital expenditure. Additional indicators include the Agriculture Share of Government Expenditure, and the Agriculture Orientation Index (ratio between the Agriculture Share of Government Expenditure and the Agriculture Value Added as Share of GDP). Data are reported for the highest level of government available (Consolidated general government, consolidated central government or budgetary central government) and are available for about 100 countries on a regular basis.

The Development Flows to Agriculture (DFA) republishes the OECD Creditor Reporting System (CRS) Aid Activity database, which provides comprehensive data on development flows from all donors to all recipients since the early 1970s. The use of CRS for compiling the DFA dataset capitalizes on the expertise of the OECD in this area, while minimizing respondents’ burden and avoiding duplication of efforts. FAO extracts components of Agriculture, forestry and fishing; rural development; agricultural industry; and general environment protection, and reorganizes these into a set of donor-recipient-purpose in terms of four flow types (Official Development Assistance (ODA) flows; Other Official Flows (OOF); private grants; and private sector instruments (PSI)). The objective of the DFA database is to provide readily available data to enable analysis on aid flows and the purposes they serve, with an emphasis on agriculture, its components, and environmental protection.

The domain provides detailed data on the value of agricultural production that is calculated by the agricultural production data and the price data at farm gate. Thus, the value of production measures the agricultural production in monetary terms at the farm gate level.

The food and agricultural trade indicators dataset is based on trade, production and gross domestic product (GDP) data. Agri-food trade data are collected, processed and disseminated by FAO according to the standard International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) Methodology. The data is mainly provided by UNSD, Eurostat, and other national authorities as needed. The source data is checked for outliers, trade partner data is used for non-reporting countries or missing cells, and data on food aid is added to take total cross-border trade flows into account. The trade database includes the following variables: export quantity, export value, import quantity, and import value. It includes all food and agricultural products imported/exported annually by all countries in the world. Production data details are available at https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QCL and GDP data details are available at https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/MK

The Rural Livelihoods Indicators domain brings together harmonized data and information on rural incomes, livelihoods and rural development across countries and over time. As part of the Rural Livelihoods Information System (RuLIS), it supports evidence-based policies to reduce rural poverty and supports SDG Indicators 2.3.1 and 2.3.2, while contributing to SDG Indicator 5.a.1.