Enabling the Business of Agriculture

Enabling the Business of Agriculture is a World Bank Group initiative that identifies and monitors regulations and policies that affect the livelihood of farmers. The project presents globally comparable data on regulations that are conducive to local, regional, and international business in agriculture. The initiative began in 2013 in response to a call from the G8 asking for the World Bank “to develop options for generating a Doing Business in Agriculture Index”. The project is supported by a number of donor organizations and partners, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Department for International Development (DFID) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Current data and analysis are available for 101 countries, including: Afghanistan, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, the Arab Republic of Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Liberia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The countries included in Enabling the Business of Agriculture were selected to ensure adequate representation of all regions and all levels of agricultural development so as to capture a diversity of regulatory practices. Enabling the Business of Agriculture takes into account the share of the workforce employed in agriculture as well as agriculture’s value added in each country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Countries with relatively small agricultural sectors (defined as less than US$1 billion) are excluded, unless more than 100,000 people are employed in agriculture.

Enabling the Business of Agriculture supports evidence-based policy making to improve the regulatory environment affecting farmers. By setting appropriate regulation, governments can increase the competitiveness of farmers. The Enabling the Business of Agriculture data provide a simple snapshot of key aspects to be considered by policy makers as part of a broader strategy for helping farmers. Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are already using the agribusiness indicators to gain insights from neighboring countries and draw lessons from various regulatory practices across the globe. The data have also been used for research purposes. Since 2014, more than 20 academic articles in peer-reviewed journals have cited indicators developed under previous editions.

The laws, regulations and bureaucratic processes covered by Enabling the Business of Agriculture impact farmers, but they are just one part of the broader landscape where farmers operate. There are other factors that make farming challenging. Many elements affect a country’s enabling environment for agribusinesses. For example, social aspects, such as literacy and overall education levels and life expectancy, are also important indicators. A country’s economic performance, measured by factors such as inflation, unemployment, income growth, government revenues and expenditures, is also very influential when determining a country’s overall enabling environment. These factors are not captured by the Enabling the Business of Agriculture indicators but are well covered by other data initiatives that can be used together with Enabling the Business of Agriculture data to present a fuller picture of the enabling environment.

The land indicator, first piloted in 2017, is still under development. The team has collected data on safeguards for land rights, with further explanation and data available here.