Data collection and analysis tools for food security and nutrition

Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century
RRI
Responsible research and innovation
RuLIS
Rural Livelihoods Information System
SATIDA
Satellite Technologies for Improved Drought Assessment
SDG
Sustainable Development Goal
SIS
Smart information system
SLF
Sustainable Livelihoods Framework
SMS
Short Message Service
SPARS
Strategic Plans for Agricultural and Rural Statistics
SSF
Small-scale fisheries
UFISH
Global Food Composition Database for Fish and Shellfish
UNICEF
United Nations Children's Fund
UNSD
United Nations Statistics Division 
USDA
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USSD
Unstructured Supplementary Service Data
VAM
Vulnerability, analysis and mapping
WB
World Bank
WEAI
Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index
WHO
World Health Organization
WWF
World Wildlife Fund

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xvi 
]
KEY MESSAGES
•
Throughout the world, high-quality, timely and relevant data are key to inform actions that promote 
better access to food and improved nutrition. 
•
Despite the abundant and growing availability of data and information relevant to food security and 
nutrition, often policymakers are not aware of the existence and relevance of such data or do not use 
them appropriately, due to challenges at each step of the data cycle, which includes: defining priorities 
and data needs; reviewing, consolidating, collecting and curating data; analyzing the data using 
appropriate tools; translating data into relevant insights to be disseminated and discussed; and, finally, 
using data for decision-making.
•
Fundamental data gaps still exist to correctly guide action and inform policymaking, especially in 
terms of timely and sufficiently granular data on people’s ability to locally produce and access food, 
on their actual food and nutrient consumption, and on their nutritional status. Increased and sustained 
financial investment is needed to overcome these gaps. 
•
Several other constraints limit the effectiveness of data-informed policy action, especially in low-
resource countries. Key among them is the low level of data literacy and analysis skills (for both 
qualitative and quantitative data) on the part of many data and information users at all levels – from 
data collectors and analysts, to decision-makers, and to the people, as the ultimate beneficiaries of 
food security and nutrition policies. 
•
The complexity of the system of public and private actors and institutions involved in food security 
and nutrition data, coupled with the rapidly changing characteristics of today’s data ecosystems due to 
the digital revolution and the pervasiveness of the internet, brings to centre stage the need for global 
coordination to improve data governance. Particularly urgent is the need to reach agreement on the 
nature of FSN data and information as a public good, and, on that basis, to establish a global legal 
framework that allows for the broadest possible circulation of relevant information, while preserving 
the rights of the people to whom the data ultimately belongs.

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[
1 
INTRODUCTION
Kenya, 12 March 2021, a chicken farmer inputs data about eggs on a notebook.
© FAO/Luis Tato

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DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS TOOLS FOR FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION
2 
]
W
hen the UN Secretary General, 
Antonio Guterres, opened the 
UN Food Systems Summit, on 23 
September 2021, he described current 
food 
systems
as “failing”.
1
Even before COVID-19 
made its unsettling appearance in late 2019 
and before the aggression of the Russian 
Federation against Ukraine, lack of sufficient 
progress towards the targets of Sustainable 
Development Goal 2 (SDG2)
2
had made it 
clear that existing food systems worldwide 
had been unable to ensure 
food security
and adequate nutrition for all, and that 
significant transformations were needed 
to correct this situation. Few can doubt the 
extent of persistent hunger, food insecurity 
and widespread malnutrition in all its forms 
in the world today (FAO 
et al.,
2017; 2022). Yet, 
evidence to highlight the nuanced scope of 
such failure and approaches to address food 
system solutions are still lacking.
The actions of public and private agents 
involved in managing and operating food 
systems, from production to distribution 
and consumption, are crucially affected by 
the extent of data and information they have 
access to. Despite the rapidly growing amount 
of data and information available today, this 
report outlines how its 
timeliness, reliability, 
relevance, depth of analysis, and extent and 
clarity of communication
require improvement 
to more effectively guide strategic 
policymaking in agriculture, food security and 
nutrition (FSN).
3
This report, produced in response to a request 
from the Committee on World Food Security 
(CFS), focuses on the role that 
data collection 
and analysis tools 
play in supporting effective, 
evidence-informed decision-making by public 
and private agents. It covers the points explicitly 
made by the CFS
4
and proposes solutions to 
support actions intended to reverse the negative 
trends in food insecurity and malnutrition, which 
have been linked to political and social instability 
(FAO
 et al., 
2017), the effects of climate change 
(FAO
 et al., 
2018) and economic slowdowns (FAO 
et al.,
2019), and which have been exacerbated by 
the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic 
and by the Russian Federation–Ukraine conflict.
The CFS has stated the rationale for this report 
as follows:
 Although it is widely recognized that sound 
decisions are based on good information and 
data, in many countries, particularly low and 
lower middle-income countries, timely and 
reliable rural, agricultural and food security 
statistics are largely lacking. Despite all efforts, 
1 See 
https://www.un.org/en/food-systems-summit/news/un-
secretary-generals-remarks-food-systems-summit
 and 
https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=58tQl6-SaQA
.
2 The second goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable 
Development (commonly referred to at the SDG2s) reads: “End 
hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote 
sustainable agriculture”. It includes five targets in terms of outcomes 
and three targets regarding means of implementation. Target 2.1 
reads: “By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in