This yearbook presents selected key indicators related to agriculture and food security that the international community, governments, the private sector and civil society can use to assess current trends and prioritize actions. It has two main sections, one thematic and one country-specific. It presents a variety of dimensions of agriculture and food security in four focus areas: the setting; hunger dimensions; food supply; and environment. The book is part of the FAO Statistical Yearbook suite of products; it includes data from FAOSTAT and other FAO databases and international organizations.

This publication offers a synthesis of the major factors at play in the global food and agricultural landscape. Statistics are presented in four thematic chapters, covering the economic importance of agricultural activities, inputs, outputs and factors of production, their implications for food security and nutrition and their impacts on the environment. The Yearbook is meant to constitute a primary tool for policy makers, researchers and analysts, as well as the general public interested in the past, present and future path of food and agriculture.

The book offers a rich toolkit of relevant, adoptable ecosystem-based practices that can help the world's 500 million smallholder farm families achieve higher productivity, profitability and resource-use efficiency while enhancing natural capital.

New evidence this year corroborates the rise in world hunger observed in this report last year, sending a warning that more action is needed if we aspire to end world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. Updated estimates show the number of people who suffer from hunger has been growing over the past three years, returning to prevailing levels from almost a decade ago. Although progress continues to be made in reducing child stunting, over 22 percent of children under five years of age are still affected. Other forms of malnutrition are also growing: adult obesity continues to increase in countries irrespective of their income levels, and many countries are coping with multiple forms of malnutrition at the same time – overweight and obesity, as well as anaemia in women, and child stunting and wasting.

Food markets in 2019/20 are bracing for some additional uncertainties beyond their own fundamentals. A fast-changing trade environment and the rapid spread of African Swine Fever constitute important challenges to overcome. However, prospects point to generally well supplied markets, which is seen to contribute to a lower food import bill in 2019.