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

Data files

Sep 04, 2024 version files 76.54 MB

fdw_raw_data_v1.0.zip
46.20 MB
hvstat_africa_boundary_v1.0.gpkg
8.15 MB
hvstat_africa_data_v1.0.csv

22.19 MB
README.md
4.67 KB

Mar 26, 2025 version files 75.93 MB

fdw_raw_data_v1.0.zip
44.48 MB
hvstat_africa_boundary_v1.0.gpkg
8.20 MB
hvstat_africa_data_v1.0.csv

23.24 MB
README.md
7.04 KB

Apr 09, 2025 version files 75.93 MB

fdw_raw_data_v1.0.zip
44.48 MB
hvstat_africa_boundary_v1.0.gpkg
8.20 MB
hvstat_africa_data_v1.0.csv

23.24 MB
README.md
8.04 KB

Abstract

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.

Authors:\
D. Lee, W. Anderson, X. Chen, F. Davenport, S. Shukla, R. Sahajpal, M. Budde, J. Rowland, J. Verdin, L. You, M. Ahouangbenon, K. Davis, E. Kebede, S. Ehrmann, C. Justice, and C. Meyer

Publication:\
Scientific Data (in revision); preprint available at EarthArXiv.

Author Information

Donghoon Lee\
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada\
Email: Donghoon.Lee@umanitoba.ca

Weston Anderson\
Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA\
Email: Weston@umd.edu

Xuan Chen\
Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA\
Email: X.Chen@cgiar.org

Frank Davenport\
Climate Hazards Center, Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA\
Email: frank.davenport@geog.ucsb.edu

Shraddhanand Shukla\
Climate Hazards Center, Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA\
Email: shrad@geog.ucsb.edu

Ritvik Sahajpal\
Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA\
Email: ritvik@umd.edu

Michael Budde\
U.S. Geological Survey, Earth Resources Observation and Science Center, Sioux Falls, SD, USA\
Email: mbudde@usgs.gov

James Rowland\
U.S. Geological Survey, Earth Resources Observation and Science Center, Sioux Falls, SD, USA\
Email: rowland@usgs.gov

Jim Verdin\
U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, DC, USA\
Email: jverdin@usaid.gov

Liangzhi You\
International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA\
Email: L.YOU@CGIAR.ORG

Matthieu Ahouangbenon\
Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA\
Email: mathdel@udel.edu

Kyle Frankel Davis\
Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA\
Email: kfdavis@udel.edu

Endalkachew Kebede\
Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA\
Email: endiabe@udel.edu

Steffen Ehrmann\
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany\
Email: steffen.ehrmann@idiv.de

Christina Justice\
Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA\
Email: justicec@umd.edu

Carsten Meyer\
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany\
Email: carsten.meyer@idiv.de

File List

hvstat_africa_data_v1.0.csv\
A CSV file containing harmonized subnational crop statistics.

Data structure

The dataset contains the following columns:

Column Name	Description
`fnid`	FEWS NET’s unique geographic unit identifier
`country`	Name of the country
`country_code`	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code
`admin_1`	Name of the first-level administrative unit
`admin_2`	Name of the second-level administrative unit (if applicable)
`product`	Name of the crop product
`season_name`	Name of the growing season
`planting_year`	Year when planting begins
`planting_month`	Month when planting begins
`harvest_year`	Year when harvesting ends
`harvest_month`	Month when harvesting ends
`crop_production_system`	Type of crop production system (e.g., irrigated, rainfed, etc.)
`qc_flag`	Quality control flag (0 = no flag, 1 = outlier, 2 = low variance)
`area`	Cropped area (hectares; ha)
`production`	Crop quantity produced (metric tonnes; mt)
`yield`	Crop yield (metric tonnes per hectare; mt/ha)

hvstat_africa_boundary_v1.0.gpkg\
A GeoPackage file with FEWS NET’s administrative boundaries, aligned with crop statistics via FNID.
fdw_raw_data_v1.0zip\
A zipped file containing raw FDW data for 33 countries, including:
- adm_crop_data_raw_AO.csv (Angola)
- adm_crop_data_raw_BF.csv (Burkina Faso)
- adm_crop_data_raw_BI.csv (Burundi)
- adm_crop_data_raw_BJ.csv (Benin)
- adm_crop_data_raw_CD.csv (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- adm_crop_data_raw_CF.csv (Central African Republic)
- adm_crop_data_raw_CM.csv (Cameroon)
- adm_crop_data_raw_ET.csv (Ethiopia)
- adm_crop_data_raw_GH.csv (Ghana)
- adm_crop_data_raw_GN.csv (Guinea)
- adm_crop_data_raw_KE.csv (Kenya)
- adm_crop_data_raw_LR.csv (Liberia)
- adm_crop_data_raw_LS.csv (Lesotho)
- adm_crop_data_raw_MG.csv (Madagascar)
- adm_crop_data_raw_ML.csv (Mali)
- adm_crop_data_raw_MR.csv (Mauritania)
- adm_crop_data_raw_MW.csv (Malawi)
- adm_crop_data_raw_MZ.csv (Mozambique)
- adm_crop_data_raw_NE.csv (Niger)
- adm_crop_data_raw_NG.csv (Nigeria)
- adm_crop_data_raw_RW.csv (Rwanda)
- adm_crop_data_raw_SDSS.csv (South Sudan and Sudan)
- adm_crop_data_raw_SL.csv (Sierra Leone)
- adm_crop_data_raw_SN.csv (Senegal)
- adm_crop_data_raw_SO.csv (Somalia)
- adm_crop_data_raw_TD.csv (Chad)
- adm_crop_data_raw_TG.csv (Togo)
- adm_crop_data_raw_TZ.csv (Tanzania)
- adm_crop_data_raw_UG.csv (Uganda)
- adm_crop_data_raw_ZA.csv (South Africa)
- adm_crop_data_raw_ZM.csv (Zambia)
- adm_crop_data_raw_ZW.csv (Zimbabwe)

Change Log

Apr 09, 2025

Official release of HarvestStat Africa v1.0, corresponding to the Scientific Data publication.
Fixed the qc_flag issue from the previous version, ensuring proper functionality.
Data records remain identical to the Mar 26, 2025 version, with 574,204 records for 33 countries.

Mar 26, 2025

Updated crop statistics using the latest FEWS NET Data Warehouse.
Fixed inconsistencies in planting and harvesting dates for several regions.
Updated boundary shapefiles to reflect the latest administrative changes.
This version includes 574,204 records for 33 countries.
Released version v1.0 of the dataset.

Sep 04, 2024

Initial release of the dataset (v1.0), subject to updates during paper revisions.
Included 546,605 records for 33 countries.
Provided boundary shapefiles in GeoPackage format.

Citation

D. Lee, W. Anderson, X. Chen, F. Davenport, S. Shukla, R. Sahajpale, M. Budde, J. Rowland, J. Verdin, L. You, M. Ahouangbenoni, K. Davis, E. Kebede, S. Ehrmannk, C. Justice, and C. Meyer. (2025), HarvestStat Africa – Harmonized Subnational Crop Statistics for Sub-Saharan Africa. Scientific Data, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05001-z.