The 2025 Policy Compendium showcases country case studies highlighting practical reforms that repurpose public farm support to deliver triple wins for livelihoods, the environment, and climate resilience.
Agriculture receives more than $650 billion per year in public support in around 90 countries - consisting of market price measures and public expenditures. Many agriculture support programs can deliver real public benefits – such as feeding a growing population at lower food prices, reducing transactions costs for farmers and incentivizing the adoption of climate smart practices. Yet, much of today’s support still encourages inefficient use of resources, distorts markets, and contributes to environmental damage, climate pressures, and poor nutrition outcomes. For every dollar spent on agricultural subsidies, the world sees only 35 cents of added output. Policy-makers must decide how to redirect this financing to speed up agriculture and food system transformation:
- Ensuring food and nutrition security for the world’s growing population,
- Protecting natural resources by growing more food with less land, water, and inputs,
- Supporting livelihoods by generating income and better jobs for farmers and agrifood system workers.
Reforms can maximize the impact of agricultural support and help reduce budget deficits. Our recent estimates show that shifting just 10 percent of the most distortive subsidies to green innovations could generate an additional $2.4 trillion by 2040. It could also reduce food prices by 18 percent, reduce sector greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent, and restore more than 2 percent of all farmland to natural habitats.
The World Bank Group is helping to scale up these benefits through financing for policy reforms, projects and knowledge under the AgriConnect initiative, including with support from the Food Systems 2030 trust fund.
World Bank Financing for Policy Reforms
The World Bank uses three kinds of lending and grant instruments to support reforms and strengthen the ability of public institutions to carry out reforms -- Development Policy Financing (DPFs), Programs for Results (P4Rs), and Investment Project Financing (IPFs). These financing help governments reform and strengthen public institutions and programs, and make sure their agricultural support yields the best results. Insights and lessons from DPFs, P4Rs, and IPFs are being captured and shared with World Bank Group teams and policy makers using various channels such as the upcoming Repurposing of Agricultural Support Academy, the Global Food and Nutrition Security Dashboard, as well as training sessions and learning events. These efforts help agricultural support practitioners integrate best practices into upcoming operations and policy discussion.
Development Policy Financing:
These loans provide rapid financing to help countries address actual or anticipated needs. It sets “Prior Actions” - policy and institutional reforms deemed critical to achieving the objectives of a program. Since FY18, the World Bank has provided $4.75 billion for agricultural reforms to 91 operations across 50 countries. Countries with recent DPFs include:
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Program for Results:
These loans tie disbursements directly to the achievement of program results, while drawing on countries’ own institutions and systems to implement them. Since FY18, 23 agricultural operations have been channeled through PforRs – including eight successfully concluded and 15 still active. These PforRs have committed $4.7 billion while leveraging a total of $45.4 billion worth of government spending in the agriculture sector across 14 countries. Countries with recent PforRs include:
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Repurposing Projects:
FoodSystems2030 has already provided $83 million in implementation grants to seven countries for repurposing projects. These projects test new approaches to repurposing agricultural support, including input subsidies, access to finance, and service delivery. Lessons learned from these projects will help scale up future reforms.
Under implementation:
- In Bangladesh, an $14.5 million grant is helping repurpose the country’s over $2 billion Fertilizer Subsidy Program. A pilot program will deliver input subsidies directly to farmers through an e-voucher system allowing them to choose inputs and track outcomes. The pilot will also provide complementary services - extension, digital technologies, and climate-smart technologies and practices - to farmers and support the Ministry of Agriculture in its efforts to conduct evidence-based agriculture policy-making.
- In Ghana, a $13.5 million grant is helping reshape the current agricultural support program, helping the country move away from government-supplied inputs to a system led by the private sector and supported by digital platforms. This new approach will give farmers more flexibility, attract private investment, and make public spending in the sector more efficient and effective.
- In Tanzania, a $8.3 million grant is underpins a new soil health program. Combining extension services, soil maps, organic and inorganic fertilizers, and farmer registries the initiative aims to make agricultural support more efficient, effective, and transparent.
- In Malawi, a $16 million grant is strengthening technical assistance to farmers, improving the efficiency of the national fertilizer support program through e-vouchers, digital farm registration, coupled with incentives to diversify crops and generate payments for ecosystems services.
- In Brazil, an $8 million grant is supporting the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to make agricultural support more inclusive and climate-smart by learning from and better aligning the states and federal policies.
Under preparation:
- In Indonesia, a $8 million grant will help inform the reform of the country’s $3.2 billion fertilizer subsidy program by developing a pilot aimed at enhancing fertilizer use efficiency through soil health cards and cash transfers as an alternative to the centralized delivery of fertilizers.
- In the Philippines, a $14.5 million grant will help execute a $1 billion Sustainable Agriculture Transformation Program for Results, in particular to reform input subsidies, promote crop diversification, and strengthen the capacity of public institutions and budgets.
Global policy dialogue
The World Bank produces the Chair Summaries to capture key agricultural policy dialogues. These summaries aim to share experiences of countries on repurposing agricultural support and catalyze policy leadership for the transition to sustainable agriculture and food systems.
- Chair’s Summary: Agriculture Policy Dialogue, Lilongwe, Malawi, May 2025
- Chair’s Summary: Ministerial Roundtable on Policy Reform for Sustainable Agriculture, Berlin, January 2025
- Chair’s Summary - Agriculture Policy Dialogue, Kigali, September 2024
- Chair’s Summary - Agriculture Policy Dialogue, Singapore, June 2024
- Chair’s Summary - Agriculture Policy Dialogue, virtual session, May 2024
- Ministerial Roundtable & Reception, Agriculture Policy Dialogue, Berlin, January 2024
- Chair’s Summary - Policy Dialogue, Dar es Salaam, September 2023
- Chair’s Summary - Agriculture Policy Dialogue, Rome, July 2023
- Chair’s Summary - Agriculture Policy Dialogue, London, October 2021
- Chair's Summary - Summary of Several Policy Dialogues and Technical Meetings, May 2021
Global reports and policy briefs
- Hooked on Subsidies: The Case for Reform
- Repurposing Agricultural Support - 2025 Policy Compendium
- Strengthening Strategic Grain Reserves to Enhance Food Security, April 2025
- World Bank Support for Repurposing Agrifood policie, September 2024
- Trade Policy and Food and Nutrition Security in an Era of Climate Change, June 2024
- Repurposing Agricultural Support Policies for Sustainable Food Systems Toolkit, December 2023
- Detox Development: Repurposing environmentally harmful subsidies, June 2023
- Repurposing of Agricultural Support - 2023 Policy Compendium
- Repurposing Agricultural Policies and Support: Options to Transform Agriculture and Food Systems to Better Serve the Health of People, Economies, and the Planet, January 2022
- Harvesting Prosperity: Technology and Productivity Growth in Agriculture, 2020
Country deep dives on agriculture public expenditure reviews
Since the launch of the repurposing technical assistance in 2020, the World Bank has conducted country deep dives and Agriculture Public Expenditure Reviews (AgPERs) in over 45 countries. Repurposing options are already available in 23 countries with completed AgPERs, while country deep dives are ongoing in more than 22 others, largely in Africa, where data and knowledge gaps are greatest and work is closely coordinated with FAO‑MAFAP and the FAO Investment Center. In some countries—including Indonesia, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam—initial deep dives have prompted government demand for more in‑depth follow‑up studies. Completed AgPERs are available for download below.
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Impact Programs and Training
Repurposing of Agricultural Support for Soil Health Impact Program
The Impact Program aims at facilitating knowledge and experience sharing that has shown impact among WBG clients in order to advance the reforms of fertilizer subsidies and soil health enhancement in selected countries, starting in Africa Region. The Impact Program is implementing a set of activities designed to facilitate knowledge sharing on already tested good practices in technology, management, and policy to support the clients in their journey of repurposing of agricultural support at scale needed to improve food security.
Scaling Next Generation Rice Impact Program
In partnership with the International Rice Research Institute and other stakeholders, the “Scaling NextGen Rice” Impact Program supports how to scale up adoption of new production methods across countries. “Scaling NextGen Rice” connects rice-producing countries across East Asia, the Pacific, and South Asia to take innovations and sustainable practices to scale.
Online Training on Introduction to the World Bank Repurposing Program
In this self-paced eLearning, staff, officials, and other stakeholders will gain understanding of what repurposing public support to agriculture can bring about better results than current support regimes. The eLearning course comprises 3 modules:
- Basics of Repurposing Agricultural Policies and Support Programs include an examination of the context based on available analytical work, insights into policymakers' perspectives on the repurposing agenda, and an exploration of key repurposing options with high level potential impacts.
- Tools and Approaches for Identifying Repurposing Policy Options introduces the tools and approaches—such as, the repurposing toolkit, agriculture public expenditure reviews, and policy coherence analysis needed to identify repurposing policy options.
- Pathways to Repurposing presents options countries can pursue to repurpose their support, and includes country case studies, policy notes, and descriptions of innovative pilot approaches.
Data
Toolkits for Agricultural Repurposing Reviews
- Repurposing Agricultural Support Policies for Sustainable Food Systems - Toolkit
- Practitioners toolkit for agriculture public expenditure analysis
Latest blogs
- The hidden billions that could transform Africa’s agriculture
- Knowledge to Impact: Research driving Policy from Seas to Trees, and Fish to Field
- Nature-based solutions: bridging the gap between sustainability and economic viability
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- In plain view: solutions to turbocharge the agrifood system transition
- Putting a price on soils: can farmers benefit?