What Can Data Really Do for Africa's Food Systems?

We recently released our 2024 Wet Season Crop Production Report for both Nigeria and Kenya, which is important for a lot of reasons, one of which is the opportunity it gives us to revisit the subject of why data is important for agriculture in Africa.

Before we go into that though, check out the Nigeria report and the Kenya report if you have not already.

In 2019, we began publishing industry and value chain reports in addition to our regular price reports, which date back further to around 2016/2017. Our first Nigeria crop production report published in 2021 surveyed 6041 farmers, a number that has now swelled to 47,364 farmers in this year's report, and we of course added a Kenya report with the same goal in mind as our Nigerian report.

Here's a 2020 breakdown from our Group CEO Ayodeji Balogun on what exactly that goal is:

"One of the things we are doing currently is a crop forecast. We are going to interview 10,000 farmers across the country, some of which are our farmers and some from other projects, through a linked data methodology, and then we are going to try to estimate what the success of their cultivation is this year as compared with last year. And from that, we can then deduce what the outlook for the coming harvest is likely to be.

These are practices that are done in every country. So, the US knows what the production of wheat and corn will be two to three months before harvest. Ghana and C?te d'Ivoire have a forecast on what the likely production performance of cocoa would be one to two months before the season starts.

So, that is what we also need to be able to do as a country. To say, 'look, before we even start harvesting, we can estimate what the crop performance is year to date.'

We need to be able to tell what the likely baseline production plus or minus a certain range, and then based on that, start to plan and advocate."

Data is the Cell of Modern Agriculture

From farmers seeking guidance on planting cycles to investors assessing risk, the absence of streamlined data disrupts decision-making processes, limits productivity, and hampers efforts to address food security challenges. In Africa, data collection and representation remains complex, especially as the available information often exists in scattered and hard-to-interpret formats.

As true as the above is, so is the fact that establishing consistent standards for data collection and accessibility is critical to addressing food security challenges.

Here are a couple of ways that data helps this cause:

Strengthening Supply Chains

Identifying bottlenecks in the supply chain allows for targeted improvements. For example, understanding peak harvest times and locations, can help players optimize the distribution of storage facilities, ensuring that crops are stored close to the source and transported efficiently to markets.

Data on crop production volumes also furthers investment opportunities in storage and logistics, leading to reduced post-harvest losses and stabilizing food prices.

Enabling Access to Finance

One of the biggest hurdles African farmers face is access to financing, which is essential for purchasing inputs, improving farming practices, and expanding production. By knowing which regions and crops yield reliable outputs, lenders are more likely to extend credit to farmers, who otherwise face significant barriers to financing.

Creating Transparent Markets

Availability of data enables price discovery, which is crucial for a fairer marketplace. An understanding of crop production patterns in an area empowers farmers and other market participants to make informed decisions about when to buy, sell, or store produce.

Since the first edition of the Nigeria Wet Season Crop Production Report in 2021, AFEX has been addressing one aspect of the data gap by gathering and presenting data across Nigeria, particularly on input usage and output levels, providing essential insights into the multifaceted nature of Nigeria's food systems. The insights in this annual crop production reports have become invaluable for guiding policy, enhancing productivity, and supporting food security initiatives throughout Nigeria.

Africa NEEDS a robust food system database that incorporates demand, supply, and storage data, but a second part of the equation is equally as important, which is the ability to act on what the data says from a policymaking angle. We are definitely still far from this ideal, but we will continue to raise the bar on this alongside other likeminded partners who understand the transformative powers of numbers and action.

This is an open diary and we would love to hear your thoughts. Join the conversation by dropping a comment or amplify this newsletter by sharing or liking. See you on the next diary entry.