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Food and Farming
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In 2019, the United Nations spent more than $2.2 billion in the food and farming sector. Like the health sector, the food and farming sector has a strong connection to several UN organizations’ core mandates. For example, the World Food Programme (WFP), provides food assistance to meet emergency needs, and to support economic and social development. WFP is the primary buyer in this category. In 2019, WFP spent $1.7 billion or over 75% of the total spent in this category. Their key food and farming subcategories include wheat, rice, maize, and dry pulses, among others. If you are a supplier in these subcategories, we recommend visiting WFP’s website at http://www1.wfp.org/for additional information about opportunities and vendor registration procedures at WFP. The United States however, is not in the top five supplier countries. The top five vendor countries include Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Kenya, and Belgium.

The table below outlines the top 10 subcategories for 95% of the total spent in this category. As you will see, spending in each subcategory tends to be dominated by a single UN organization procuring between 90 and 100 percent of that category. For example, the World Food Programme (WFP) procured about 96 percent of all cereal and pulse products, while the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) procured most of the Seeds and Bulbs and Seedlings and Cuttings products.

 

 

 

2019 United Nations Procurement – Food and Farming – Top 10 Subcategories (Excluding

World Food Programme)

Categories

Total 2019 Procurement

(in $ millions)

Largest procuring organization

Largest organization  2019 procurement

(in $ millions)

Largest organization’s % share of total 2019 procurement

Cereal and pulse products

1,101.2

WFP

   1,060.9

96.3%

Prepared and preserved foods

  498.3

UNPD

      282.2

56.6%

Nutritional supplements

  193.7

WFP

      192.0

99.1%

Edible oils and fats

  178.5

WFP

      172.7

96.8%

Chocolate and sugars and sweeteners and confectionary products

   39.8

WFP

       36.2

91.0%

Seeds and bulbs and seedlings and cuttings

   37.4

FAO

       35.8

95.7%

Agricultural and forestry and landscape machinery and equipment

   31.4

UNDP

       11.7

37.3%

Water resources development and oversight

   26.2

FAO

        9.8

37.4%

Animal feed

   19.0

FAO

       18.0

94.7%

Fertilizers and plant nutrients and herbicides

   16.2

FAO

       15.5

95.7%

Top 10 Total

2,141.6

 

     1,834.8

 

Grand Total

2,244.6

 

 

 
             

Source: 2019 Annual Statistical Report on United Nations Data

https://www.ungm.org/Shared/KnowledgeCenter/Pages/asr_data

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