Workshop: Quantitative agricultural policy monitoring in eight post-Soviet countries

In 2018, EST conducted a pilot study on quantitative agricultural policy monitoring in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, in collaboration with the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia (AIS). The countries involved in the 2018 pilot study were the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Belarus, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Moldova.

At a workshop held in Minsk in October 2019, focal points of the six pilot study countries indicated a strong interest of their respective governments for a continuation of quantitative policy monitoring in support of evidence-based decision-making processes at country level. Therefore, FAO decided to further support these efforts in the direction of institutionalizing agricultural policy monitoring in the region by scaling-up the pilot study.

The data and indicators in the new (2020) study were updated and the commodity and country coverage expanded. The policy indicators have been calculated for a set of six to ten key agricultural commodities per country for the period 2005-2018/19 (subject to data availability). The budgetary and other support to agriculture have been analyzed in line with the OECD producer support estimate (PSE)/consumer support estimate (CSE) classification scheme. Two countries, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan, were added to the current study.

Objectives and the expected outcome of the workshop

• Key objective: The workshop will present the preliminary results of the study and discuss them among the participants.
• Expected outcome: The policy indicators, calculated by AIS, will be presented by AIS and FAO, then commented and approved by the participants.