Measuring agricultural sustainability: Revisiting Sustainable Development Goal Indicator 2.4.1 and its proxy

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture is a central target of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the development of SDG Indicator 2.4.1 to assess the progress towards sustainable agriculture at national and global levels. A 2023 article published in Global Food Security highlighted both the strengths and limitations of this indicator. Since then, despite the tremendous efforts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the low availability of data has been a challenge for measuring agricultural sustainability with SDG Indicator 2.4.1.

One of the most notable efforts to address the persistent issue of low data availability is the development of a proxy indicator coordinated by FAO, the custodian agency of SDG Indicator 2.4.1. This perspective article examines the contributions and limitations of the proxy, which uses seven sub-indicators to assess both current status and trends in agricultural sustainability. The proxy significantly improves data availability and enables trend analysis and sub-indicator-level comparisons. However, concerns remain about the ambiguity in its scoring methodology and the penalization of missing data, which may disproportionately affect countries with relatively weaker statistical capacity. This article offers suggestions for improving the proxy's design and implementation, especially alternative methods of treating missing data and wider participation in its further updates with more consideration of national statistical capacity. It also highlights opportunities for future research on cross-SDG interactions and the integration of local knowledge. While the proxy offers a practical interim solution, continued efforts to strengthen national statistical systems remain essential for fully realizing the intent of SDG Indicator 2.4.1.