Agricultural laws and regulations matter. A supportive enabling environment can foster growth by cultivating inclusive and efficient markets for resilient, food-secure populations. A restrictive enabling environment, on the other hand, can stifle investment and trade. Constraints such as unpredictable or onerous laws and regulations can hamper the ease of doing business, thereby deterring investors, limiting economic growth, and leaving populations food-insecure.

To effectively support U.S. Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS) goals, understanding and assessing how enabling environment concerns shape food security outcomes is a key piece of the policy puzzle. Assessing performance to identify areas for reform is the first step. Given the often-diffuse nature of enabling environment issues and their country-specific contexts, capturing and comparing data across countries which measure regulatory obstacles in the agriculture sector can be a difficult task.

Enter the Enabling the Business of Agriculture

The World Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) is a key tool in answering this challenge. Gathering data from 62 countries, EBA uses common indicators to assess the legal and regulatory operating environment for agribusinesses. From these data, EBA generates individual country rankings per the strengths and weaknesses of each agricultural enabling environment. EBA’s comparative data and benchmarking capabilities can help national policymakers, USAID Operating Units, and implementing partners identify challenges in the enabling environment for agribusinesses, and areas for reform.

EBA How-To: An Online Learning Series for Advancing the GFSS

To familiarize USAID Operating Units and implementing partners with how to engage the EBA Index in support of GFSS implementation, the Feed the Future Enabling Environment for Food Security (EEFS) project has developed a series of online learning modules.

Three sets of self-paced modules deliver learning and analytical strategies for using EBA in a narrated video format. The series includes:

• An overview module answering the dual questions of what EBA is and why it matters. The module’s sessions familiarize audiences with EBA methodology and how Missions can interpret and use EBA scores and findings to support GFSS-driven programming.
• A trade module examining EBA indicators relevant to trade, including EBA’s markets indicator and factors that influence trade competitiveness, as well as how to leverage EBA trade data to support Mission objectives.
• A finance module exploring why finance matters to food security, what good regulatory practices covered by the EBA finance indicator look like, and how to apply EBA finance benchmarking in support of GFSS.

Individual sessions break concepts down into digestible lessons to teach policymakers and practitioners how they may access and interpret EBA data and analysis. End-of-chapter quizzes highlight key concepts and reinforce learning.

Audiences may also access a sidebar containing a suite of EEFS-produced resources on EBA topics, including technical briefs on gender, seed, and plant protection data; trade basics; and more.

The EBA Online Learning Module Series can advise policymakers, USAID, and implementing partners on maximizing the utility of EBA for practical reforms in USAID operating countries and Feed the Future countries. With a new 2019 EBA report and data expected for release in the coming months, the learning series offers practitioners with a timely opportunity to gain knowledge about EBA and its application toward advancing the GFSS.

To access the full learning series, see here.