The 7 measures are assessed both in terms of the direction and consistency of their trend and in terms of their current status according to the system-wide methodology adopted for the global SDG Progress Chart, and also by FAO itself for its SDG Progress Report. Of the 7 indicators, only one has a clearly defined numerical target, whereas a further 3 have a conventionally or scientifically established upper bound, which, however, cannot serve as a normative target for the purpose of this progress assessment, given that countries that lie below this upper bound should not necessary strive to reach the upper bound.
Therefore, the four main progress assessment methods, considering the trend and the current status for indicators with and without a numerical target, are as follows:
Trend assessment for indicators with a numerical target: Ratio actual vs. required (CR)
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Trend assessment for indicators without a numerical target: actual growth (CAGR) compared to baseline
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Status assessment for indicator with a numerical target: distance to the target
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Status assessment for indicators without a numerical target: quintile distribution
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The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for is calculated as:
where t0 (2015) is the beginning of the assessment period. The ratio of actual vs. target growth rate (CR) is calculated as:
A full methodological note for each of the 7 measures and the two different assessment approaches can be found in the Annex 2.
Translation of progress assessment into a country score:
- Example of country results
Country results are disseminated through a set of complementary modalities, including an aggregate score, a dashboard based on traffic-light colours, and a full dataset of absolute values for each of the 7 sub-indicators. The global SDG database will only disseminate aggregate country scores for current status and trend toward productive and sustainable agriculture. More granular scores at the level of the 7-sub-indicators, along with complementary dashboards and visualizations can be accessed through FAO’s dedicated shinyapp here: https://foodandagricultureorganization.shinyapps.io/SDG_241_PROXY/
- Aggregate single-country score
For each country, scores assigned to each sub-indicator based on the applicable method described in Annexes 2 and 3 are averaged, and the average score determines the classification of the country into one of five bands with respect to the trend towards productive and sustainable agriculture as well as status with respect to productive and sustainable agriculture, as follows:
Score
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Trend towards productive and sustainable agriculture
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1 –< 1.5
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Band 1: Deterioration away from productive and sustainable agriculture
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1.5 –< 2.5
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Band 2: Slight deterioration from productive and sustainable agriculture
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2.5 –< 3.5
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Band 3: No improvement towards productive and sustainable agriculture
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3.5 –< 4.5
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Band 4: Slight improvement towards productive and sustainable agriculture
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4.5 – 5
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Band 5: Improvement towards productive and sustainable agriculture
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Score
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Current status with respect to productive and sustainable agriculture
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1 –< 1.5
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Band 1: Very far from achieving productive and sustainable agriculture
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1.5 –< 2.5
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Band 2: Far from achieving productive and sustainable agriculture
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2.5 –< 3.5
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Band 3: At a moderate distance to achieving productive and sustainable agriculture
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3.5 –< 4.5
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Band 4: Close to achieving productive and sustainable agriculture
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4.5 – 5
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Band 5: Productive and sustainable agriculture already achieved
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The two conditions for proceeding to the calculation (if not met, no score is calculated) are:
- A minimum of 4 out of 7 sub-indicator are available for the country
- A minimum of 1 sub-indicator for social & economic dimension and 2 sub-indicators for the environmental dimension
- Single country dashboard
For additional insight into the situation of a particular country, it is possible to display a dashboard of results for its trend and current status with respect to productive and sustainable agriculture. In the example below, we can see that the country is making slight or good progress towards a number of sub- indicators, yet it is still far or very far from the target for most indicators.
By applying the scoring system, the country will be categorized into Band 4 with respect to trend and into Band 2 with respect to Current Status. Therefore, the country is making “slight improvement towards productive and sustainable agriculture”, even though it is still “far from achieving productive and sustainable agriculture”.
Table 2. Country level dashboard example
Proposed Proxy measure
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Trend
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Current status
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Gross production value per hectare
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5
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2
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Gross output diversification
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5
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2
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Nitrogen use efficiency
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4
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3
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Agriculture component of water stress
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1
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1
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GHG emissions intensity in agriculture
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3
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2
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Agricultural value added per worker
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4
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4
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Informal employment in agriculture
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1
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1
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Average score
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3.3
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2.4
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