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Towards a data users’ framework to advance Sustainable Development Goal 2

Table 1. Global FNS Data Gaps
Developing Countries
Indicator % of countries missing data
Cold Storage 78%
Food Consumption Score 73%
Percent of Area Devoted to Modern Varieties 72%
Official Flows to FNS-Brazil 66%
Relative Rate of Assistance 65%
Trade Bias Index 62%
Access to Agricultural Extension Services 61%
Time-Bound Nutrition Targets 61%
Governments Promote Complementary Feeding 61%
Nominal Rate of Assistance 60%
Family Farm Prevalence 59%
Consumer Tax Equivalent of Farmer Support 59%
Welfare Reduction Index 59%
Trade Reduction Index 59%
NGO 58%
Share of Female Researchers 54%
Agricultural R&D as Percent of Agricultural GDP 53%
Share of Researchers with PHD 53%
Developed Countries
Indicator % of countries missing data
Support to Biofuel Production 31%
Simple Average Applied MFN Tariff, Biofuels 31%
Support to the Marine Sector 24%
Support to the Marine Marketing and Processing Sector 24%
Support to the Aquaculture Sector 21%
Source: End Rural Hunger project

There are reasons to hope that agricultural data will improve in the future. For example, new
technologies such as cell phones may decrease data collection costs. More rigorously designed and
implemented household and agricultural surveys have potential for better measuring the production
and consumption of small-scale farms (Carletto, Jolliffe, and Banerjee, 2015). Satellite imaging can
potentially provide cheaper, more accurate, and more regionally disaggregated data on physical and
environmental issues. There are efforts to create agreed protocols for how to measure food loss and
waste. Increasing political attention is being devoted to the issue. For instance, the United Nations
(UN) has recently launched an Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Food Security, Agricultural and
Rural Statistics to document good practices and guidelines on concepts, methods, and statistical
standards. A Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition program (GODAN) has brought to-
gether 100 partners to improve data (GODAN, 2016). The open data successes of the GODAN ef-
forts will be shared during the GODAN summit during this year's United National General Assem-
bly (UNGA) in New York.

68 International Journal of Population Studies | 2016, Volume 2, Issue 1