Download logoThe Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched two tools in Africa to help governments better track and allocate public spending across agrifood systems. The launch took place at a side event of the Africa Food Systems Forum, in Kigali, Rwanda.
The first tool, the FAO Agrifood Systems Public Expenditure Analysis (ASPEA), provides a common framework for countries to define, classify and measure public spending across agrifood systems. The common approach can support more consistent data, strengthen accountability and help countries monitor public spending commitments.
The second, called the FAO Policy Optimization Tool (PolOpT), helps governments assess how existing public resources could be allocated more effectively across policies and subsectors to meet national development priorities. Analysis using PolOpT has shown that, in some cases, reallocating existing expenditure can generate greater results than simply increasing overall spending. This is particularly relevant as governments seek to finance agrifood systems priorities while managing competing demands on public budgets.
“Today, we are not simply launching two technical tools. We are launching practical instruments that can support governments in planning, budgeting, implementation, and accountability,” said Meshack Malo, FAO Deputy Regional Representative for Africa.
Malo called on Member States, the African Union, Regional Economic Communities, development partners, financial institutions and research organizations to work with FAO to scale the use of the tools across Africa.
A common approach to tracking agrifood spending
In Africa, the tools can particularly support countries as they domesticate and implement the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Kampala Strategy and Action Plan 2025–2035.
The methodology tool was developed by economists from FAO’s Agrifood Economics and Policy Division and the FAO Investment Centre and is designed to provide policymakers and researchers with a more comprehensive picture of how public resources are allocated across agrifood systems.
PolOpT complements expenditure tracking by helping governments examine how existing budgets could be allocated differently to achieve national priorities. It was developed by economists in FAO’s Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) programme. It uses country-specific economic modelling to generate alternative spending scenarios. These can help policymakers assess trade-offs between agricultural, economic, social and environmental objectives within existing fiscal constraints.
Rwanda, the host of the Africa Food Systems Forum 2026, has already moved to apply the approach. The Rwanda Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Telesphore Ndabamenye, this week validated the results of FAO’s PolOpT analysis and approved the tool for use in Rwanda. Following the Minister’s endorsement, the results are expected to be shared more widely across government, including with the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and other line ministries.
PolOpT is also informing public investment planning elsewhere in Africa. FAO has applied the tool in countries including Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda, while Nigeria has used PolOpT analysis to inform its National Agrifood Systems Investment Plan for 2026–2027.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): Regional Office for Africa.
