Food production index (2004-2006 = 100) - Country Ranking - Africa

Definition: Food production index covers food crops that are considered edible and that contain nutrients. Coffee and tea are excluded because, although edible, they have no nutritive value.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

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Development Relevance: The commodities covered in the computation of indices of agricultural production are all crops and livestock products originating in each country. Practically all products are covered, with the main exception of fodder crops. The category of food production includes commodities that are considered edible and that contain nutrients. Accordingly, coffee and tea are excluded along with inedible commodities because, although edible, they have practically no nutritive value. It should be noted that when calculating indices of agricultural, food and nonfood production, all intermediate primary inputs of agricultural origin are deducted. However, for indices of any other commodity group, only inputs originating from within the same group are deducted; thus, only seed is removed from the group "crops" and from all crop subgroups, such as cereals, oil crops, etc.; and both feed and seed originating from within the livestock sector (e.g. milk feed, hatching eggs) are removed from the group "livestock products". For the main two livestock subgroups, namely, meat and milk, only feed originating from the respective subgroup is removed. Crop production data refer to the actual harvested production from the field or orchard and gardens, excluding harvesting and threshing losses and that part of crop not harvested for any reason. Production therefore includes the quantities of the commodity sold in the market (marketed production) and the quantities consumed or used by the producers (auto-consumption).

Limitations and Exceptions: Agricultural data are collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) from official national sources through the questionnaire and are supplemented with information from official secondary data sources. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations. The FAO tries to impose standard definitions and reporting methods, but complete consistency across countries and over time is not possible. Data on agricultural employment, in particular, should be used with caution. In many countries much agricultural employment is informal and unrecorded, including substantial work performed by women and children. To address some of these concerns, this indicator is heavily footnoted in the database in sources, definition, and coverage.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The agricultural production index is prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The FAO indices of agricultural production show the relative level of the aggregate volume of agricultural production for each year in comparison with the base period 2004-2006. They are based on the sum of price-weighted quantities of different agricultural commodities produced after deductions of quantities used as seed and feed weighted in a similar manner. The resulting aggregate represents, therefore, disposable production for any use except as seed and feed. All the indices at the country, regional and world levels are calculated by the Laspeyres formula*. Production quantities of each commodity are weighted by 2004-2006 average international commodity prices and summed for each year. To obtain the index, the aggregate for a given year is divided by the average aggregate for the base period 2004-2006. Since the FAO indices are based on the concept of agriculture as a single enterprise, amounts of seed and feed are subtracted from the production data to avoid double counting, once in the production data and once with the crops or livestock produced from them. Deductions for seed (in the case of eggs, for hatching) and for livestock and poultry feed apply to both domestically produced and imported commodities. They cover only primary agricultural products destined to animal feed (e.g. maize, potatoes, milk, etc.). Processed and semi-processed feed items such as bran, oilcakes, meals and molasses have been completely excluded from the calculations at all stages. It should be noted that when calculating indices of agricultural, food and nonfood production, all intermediate primary inputs of agricultural origin are deducted. However, for indices of any other commodity group, only inputs originating from within the same group are deducted; thus, only seed is removed from the group "crops" and from all crop subgroups, such as cereals, oil crops, etc.; and both feed and seed originating from within the livestock sector (e.g. milk feed, hatching eggs) are removed from the group "livestock products". For the main two livestock subgroups, namely, meat and milk, only feed originating from the respective subgroup is removed. Indices which take into account deductions for feed and seed are referred to as ''net''. Indices calculated without any deductions for feed and seed are referred to as ''gross". The "international commodity prices" are used in order to avoid the use of exchange rates for obtaining continental and world aggregates, and also to improve and facilitate international comparative analysis of productivity at the national level. These" international prices," expressed in so-called "international dollars," are derived using a Geary-Khamis formula** for the agricultural sector. This method assigns a single "price" to each commodity. For example, one metric ton of wheat has the same price regardless of the country where it was produced. The currency unit in which the prices are expressed has no influence on the indices published. The commodities covered in the computation of indices of agricultural production are all crops and livestock products originating in each country. Practically all products are covered, with the main exception of fodder crops. * A Laspeyres Index is known as a "base-weighted" or "fixed-weighted" index because the price increases are weighted by the quantities in the base period. The Consumer Price Index is an example of a Laspeyres Index. http://www.usna.edu/Users/econ/rbrady/312%20Materials/LaspeyresCalc.pdf ** Geary-Khamis formula is an aggregation method in which category "international prices" (reflecting relative category values) and country purchasing power parities (PPPs), (depicting relative country price levels) are estimated simultaneously from a system of linear equations. http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=5528

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Base Period: 2004-06

Periodicity: Annual