HarvestStat Africa - Harmonized Subnational Crop Statistics for Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa faces severe agricultural data scarcity amidst high
food insecurity and a large agricultural yield gap, making crop production
data crucial for understanding and enhancing food systems. To address this
gap, HarvestStat Africa presents the largest compilation of open-access
subnational crop statistics and time-series across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Based on agricultural statistics collated by USAID’s Famine Early Warning
Systems Network, the subnational crop statistics are standardized and
calibrated across changing administrative units to produce consistent and
continuous time-series. The dataset includes 574,204 records, primarily
spanning from 1980 to 2022, detailing quantity produced (metric tonnes;
mt), harvested areas (hectares; ha), and yields (metric tonnes per
hectare; mt/ha) for 33 countries and 94 crop types, including key cereals
in Sub-Saharan Africa such as wheat, maize, rice, sorghum, barley, millet,
and fonio. This new dataset enhances our understanding of how climate
variability and change influence agricultural production, supports
subnational food system analysis, and aids in operational yield
forecasting. As an open-source resource, it establishes a precedent for
sharing subnational crop statistics to inform decision-making and modeling
efforts.