Rural Development
Food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture
Targets and Indicators
2.1
By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round
2.1.1
Prevalence of undernourishment
2.1.2
Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
2.2
By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons
2.2.1
Prevalence of stunting (height for age <-2 standard deviation from the median of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age
2.2.2
Prevalence of malnutrition (weight for height >+2 or <-2 standard deviation from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age, by type (wasting and overweight)
2.2.3
Prevalence of anaemia in women aged 15 to 49 years, by pregnancy status (percentage)
2.3
By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment
2.3.1
Volume of production per labour unit by classes of farming/pastoral/forestry enterprise size
2.3.2
Average income of small-scale food producers, by sex and indigenous status
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
2.4.1
Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture
2.5
By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels, and promote access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as internationally agreed
2.5.1
Number of (a) plant and (b) animal genetic resources for food and agriculture secured in either medium- or long-term conservation facilities
2.5.2
Proportion of local breeds classified as being at risk of extinction
2.a
Increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant and livestock gene banks in order to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular least developed countries
2.a.1
The agriculture orientation index for government expenditures
2.a.2
Total official flows (official development assistance plus other official flows) to the agriculture sector
2.b
Correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, including through the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the mandate of the Doha Development Round
2.b.1
Agricultural export subsidies
2.c
Adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility
2.c.1
Indicator of food price anomalies
Progress and Info
Globally, hunger persists with nearly 1 in 10 of the world's population facing it in 2022, while 2.4 billion people experienced moderate to severe food insecurity. In the same year, nearly 60 per cent of countries worldwide saw significant increases in food prices due to conflicts and disrupted supply chains. Achieving zero hunger requires intensified efforts to transform food systems towards sustainability, resilience, and equity. Furthermore, accelerating improvements in diets, nutrition, health, and hygiene is crucial to meeting the SDG target of halving the number of children suffering from chronic undernutrition.
Target 2.1: After a sharp increase following the COVID-19 pandemic, global hunger stabilized at around 9.2% of the population from 2021 to 2022. Between 691 and 783 million people faced hunger in 2022. Considering the midrange (735 million), 122 million more people faced hunger in 2022 than in 2019, when the prevalence stood at 7.9%. Additionally, an estimated 29.6% of the global population – 2.4 billion people – were moderately or severely food insecure in 2022.
Target 2.2: Globally in 2022, an estimated 22.3% of children under age 5 (148 million) were affected by stunting, down from 24.6% in 2015 and 26.3% in 2012 (baseline year of WHO nutrition targets). Based on current trends, 1 out of 5 (19.5%) children under age 5 will be affected by stunting in 2030. Overweight affected 37.0 million children under age 5 (or 5.6%) and wasting affected 45 million (or 6.8%) in 2022.
Target 2.3: The income gap between small-scale and non-small-scale food producers remains significant. In 95% of countries with available data, the average annual income of small-scale producers is less than half that of nonsmall-scale producers. Among small-scale food producers, units headed by men typically generate higher incomes compared to those headed by women.
Target 2.a: In 2022, global public expenditures reached $36 trillion, of which $749 billion went towards agriculture—an all-time high. Agriculture represented 2.1% of total government expenditure, a recovery from the pandemic, and is only marginally below the 2019 level. Government expenditure on agriculture relative to the agriculture sector’s contribution to GDP, measured in terms of the agriculture orientation index, declined from the 2015 baseline of 0.50 to 0.43 in 2021, but rebounded to 0.48 in 2022.
Target 2.b: Total notified annual agriculture export subsidy outlays fell from its peak of $ 6.7 billion in 1999 to $33 million in 2022. As of 1st January 2024, only least developed countries (LDCs) and net food importing developing countries are allowed to use certain forms of export subsidies.
Target 2.c: In 2022, the share of countries facing moderately to abnormally high food prices reached a new record-high of 58.1% after falling by more than half in 2021 from the previous historical peak of 48% in 2020. The 2022 share represented a nearly four-fold increase from the 2015-19 average levels of 15.2%. Major disruption to logistics and food supply chains, following the breakout of the war in Ukraine, resulted in higher food and energy prices, particularly during the first half of 2022.