Food and Agriculture Organization

The Agri-environmental Indicators—Land domain provides information on the annual evolution of the distribution of agricultural and forest areas, and their sub-components, including irrigated areas, at national, regional and global levels.

AQUASTAT is FAO's global information system on water and agriculture, developed by the Land and Water Division. The main mandate of the program is to collect, analyze and disseminate information on water resources, water uses, and agricultural water management with an emphasis on countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. This allows interested users to find comprehensive and regularly updated information at global, regional, and national levels.

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from burning of biomass consist of methane and nitrous oxide gases from biomass combustion of forest land cover classes ‘Humid and Tropical Forest’ and ‘Other Forests’, and of methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide gases from combustion of organic soils. The FAOSTAT emissions database is computed following Tier 1 IPCC 2006 Guidelines for National GHG Inventories (http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol4.html). GHG emissions are provided by country, with global coverage, relative to the period 1990-present (with annual updates), expressed as Gg CH4, Gg N2O, Gg CO2, Gg CO2eq and Gg CO2eq from both CH4 and N2O, by land cover class (humid tropical forest, other forest, organic soils) and by aggregate (burning - all categories). Implied emission factors for N2O, CH4 and CO2 as well activity data (burned area and biomass burned) are also provided.

The FAOSTAT domain Organic soils consist of nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with the drainage of organic soils ? using histosols as proxy ? for agriculture. Data are computed geospatially, using the Tier 1 method of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National greenhouse gas Inventories (IPCC, 2006). Estimates are available by country and with global coverage, in complete time series for the period 1990?2019. The database is updated annually. The FAOSTAT domain Organic soils disseminates information by country on: activity data (in hectares of organic soils drained for agriculture); and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (in kilotonnes of N2O and CO2). Drainage and associated emissions are assessed separately for IPCC land use categories cropland and grassland, corresponding to FAO land use categories ??cropland?? and ??permanent meadows and pastures.?? Data are available for all countries and territories, for standard FAOSTAT regional aggregations, and for Annex I and non-Annex I country groups. This FAOSTAT domain also disseminates the activity data and emissions data reported by countries to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), under ?Cultivation of organic soils? for the N2O component and categories ?Cropland drained organic soils? and ?Grassland drained organic soils? for the CO2. Activity data are sourced from the most recently available GHG National Inventories (NGHGI) or from National Communications. Emission data are sourced directly from the UNFCCC data portal or from Biennial Update Reports (BURs). UNFCCC data are disseminated in FAOSTAT with permission, formalized via a FAO-UNFCCC Memorandum of Understanding.

As of Jun 2021, estimates of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture and land use are disseminated under the FAOSTAT heading Climate Change/Emissions. This heading consolidates and replaces two previous distinct headings: Emissions-Agriculture and Emissions-Land Use, which no longer exist. Several other domains were consolidated to facilitate data access. https://fenixservices.fao.org/faostat/static/documents/GT/README_Changes_in_2021.pdf   The domain Emissions Totals consolidatesin one single dataset the information previously presented in two separate datasets: Agriculture total (previously: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/GT; containing data on non-CO2 emissions from agriculture); and Land Use total (previously: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/GL; containing CO2 and non-CO2 emissions from land use, land use change and forestry. This link no longer works).

The Fertilizers by Product dataset contains information on product amounts for the Production, Trade, Agriculture Use and Other Uses of chemical and mineral fertilizers products, over the time series 2002-present. The fertilizer statistics data are validated separately for a set of over thirty individual products. Both straight and compound fertilizers are included.

Contains global production statistics (capture and aquaculture). This database contains the volume of aquatic species caught by country or area, by species items, by FAO major fishing areas, and year, for all commercial, industrial, recreational and subsistence purposes. The harvest from maricultural, aquaculture and other kinds of fish farming is also included

The FAO Statistics Division has compiled an updated dataset series of capital stock in Agriculture from 1975-2007 using 2005 constant prices as the base year. The dataset on capital stock in agriculture are important for analyzing a number of policy issues related to sustainable growth of agriculture and achieving food security.

Data on agricultural land-use are valuable for conducting studies on a various perspectives concerning agricultural production, food security and for deriving cropping intensity among others uses. Indicators derived from the land-use categories can also elucidate the environmental sustainability of countries’ agricultural practices. FAOSTAT Land-use statistics contain a wide range of information on variables that are significant for: understanding the structure of a country’s agricultural sector; making economic plans and policies for food security; deriving environmental indicators, including those related to investment in agriculture and data on gross crop area and net crop area which are useful for policy formulation and monitoring. Land-use resources sub-domain covers: Country area (including area under inland water bodies), Land area (excluding area under inland water bodies), Agricultural area, Arable land and Permanent crops, Arable land, Permanent crops, Permanent meadows and pastures, Forest area, Other land and Area equipped for irrigation. Detailed information on sub-categories: Temporary crops, Temporary meadows and pastures, Fallow land (temporary: less than 5 years), Permanent meadows and pastures cultivated and naturally grown and Organic land. Data are available from 1961 to 2009 for more than 200 countries and areas. Forest area: Global Forest Resource Assessment 2010 (FRA 2010) is the main source of forest area data in FAOSTAT. Data were provided by countries for years 1990, 2000, 2005 and 2010. Data for intermediate years were estimated for FAO using linear interpolation and tabulation. Some of the most interesting data for economists is found in this domain. The national distribution of land, among arable land, pastures and other lands, as well as the importance of irrigation are just some of the interesting data sets.