This text is adapted from a policy brief prepared by James Henderson as background research for FAO member countries. Full text here. 

Introduction

Data and statistics is not a support function, it is a core element of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) constitutional mandate (Article I) and one of four cross-cutting accelerators in the Strategic Framework 2022–31. As a normative organization, FAO’s global standards, classifications, and indicators depend on the quality of its statistical foundations. This matters more as digital tools proliferate: AI, remote sensing, and model-based approaches can enhance coverage and timeliness, but they depend on validated official statistics to be meaningful. 

Without credible ground-truthed data, even the most sophisticated platforms risk producing misleading results. The institutional infrastructure that produces this data, the Statistics Division, regional statistical capacity-building, and the methodological work coordinated through the Office of the Chief Statistician, are core functions, not project-based activities. When they are pushed onto voluntary funding, they become fragmented, donor-driven, and vulnerable to the kind of funding shocks FAO experienced in 2025. Protecting statistical functions in the regular budget is about ensuring FAO can fulfil its mandate as a knowledge organization.

Why now

The five 2026 Regional Conferences (March–May) are the first formal input point for FAO’s Programme of Work and Budget 2028–29. The priorities they establish will be consolidated by the Programme and Finance Committees, reviewed by the Council, and approved by the 45th FAO Conference (June–July 2027). 

Data and statistics is a core function of FAO, but it is increasingly dependent on voluntary contributions rather than being protected in the regular budget. For FAO’s statistical functions to be protected in the regular budget for 2028–29, the signal needs to come through Regional Conference conclusions. 

Five recommendations for permanent representatives 
  1. Brief capital counterparts. This brief can be shared with ministries of agriculture, national statistics offices, and foreign ministry desks. Regional Conferences have two segments: a Senior Officers Meeting (SOM) where technical inputs including statistics commission reports are reviewed, followed by a Ministerial Meeting (MM) where conclusions are adopted. Both levels need to be briefed - technical officials to engage substantively during the SOM readout, and ministers to ensure statistical priorities carry through to the political conclusions that drive budget decisions.
  2. Develop specific asks on regular budget protection. The core statistical functions of FAO (including its role as custodian of 22 SDG indicators across Goals 2, 5, 6, 12, 14, and 15) should not depend on voluntary contributions. These can be framed as regular budget priorities for the 2028–29 PWB. The Programme Committee’s planned informal discussion on data offers an opportunity to coordinate messaging ahead of the Regional Conferences. The established standing line item on data and statistics (cf. PC 141/12) at the formal PC 142 session (18–22 May) then provides the mechanism to consolidate RC conclusions into budget recommendations.
  3. Coordinate with like-minded missions. When multiple delegations engage substantively during the commission readout, the likelihood of specific language in conference conclusions increases significantly, sending concrete signals to the Programme and Finance Committees.
  4. Maintain engagement through to the Programme Committee. The PC’s standing agenda item on data and statistics (most recently PC 141/12) is the institutional mechanism for ensuring Regional Conference conclusions on statistical priorities are preserved, and translated into regular budget allocations, when PC 142 (18–22 May) and the Joint Meeting with the Finance Committee consolidate RC outputs for the Council.
  5. Strengthen complementary financing for data systems. Regular budget protection is the priority, but two complementary mechanisms can reinforce it. First, earmarking a small percentage of each Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) project for data collection, validation, and analysis would embed statistical capacity within FAO’s operational work, making every intervention evidence-based. Second, low- and lower-middle-income countries can fill national data gaps by joining the 50x2030 Initiative, a tri-agency partnership of FAO, IFAD, and the World Bank that builds sustained national agricultural survey systems. The financing model requires country commitment: 70 percent is funded through IDA/IBRD allocations for statistics, with 30 percent from donors enabling the technical assistance that FAO leads. The funds for technical assistance need to be replenished – at the moment the Gates Foundation is the only contributor and funding will need to be renewed in 2027.
Bottom Line

Data and statistics is a core function of FAO, but one increasingly squeezed by a flat regular budget and pushed toward dependence on voluntary contributions. The 2026 Regional Conferences are a time-limited window for reversing this trend: statistics commission readouts provide a legitimate intervention point, but their potential is only realised if delegations are briefed and prepared to engage substantively. Permanent Representatives in Rome are well positioned to facilitate this, by sharing this brief with capital counterparts and coordinating with like-minded missions ahead of each conference.

Read more in the complete Policy Brief

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