About the data
Definitions
Data sources
This table is concerned mainly with cereal production because cereals are widely produced and consumed as a primary source of nutrition. In countries where cereals are not extensively cultivated, roots and tubers are the principal alternatives. The indicators have been selected to show both the production of basic foodstuffs and the availability of grain through imports and, when countries cannot finance their import requirements, food aid.
The data on area under cereal production and on cereal yield and production relate to crops harvested for dry grain only. These data may be affected by a variety of reporting and timing differences. (See also the discussion in the notes to table 4.3.) The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) allocates production data to the calendar year in which the bulk of the harvest took place. But most of a crop harvested near the end of the year will be used in the following year. In general, cereal crops harvested for hay or harvested green for food, feed, or silage and those used for grazing are excluded. But millet and sorghum, which are grown as feed for livestock and poultry in Europe and North America, are used as food in Asia, Africa, and countries of the former Soviet Union.
Food aid in cereals is based on data for crop years (July through June) reported by donors and international organizations, including the International Wheat Council and the World Food Programme. Food aid information from donors may not correspond to actual receipts by beneficiaries during a given period because of delays in transport and recording or because aid sometimes is not reported to the FAO or other relevant international organizations. Aid receipts may also be omitted from customs reports of imports.
Cereal imports are generally based on calendar year customs data reported by the importing countries to the FAO. When official data are missing, the FAO uses estimates based on data from other sources. The FAO uses the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC), rev. 2, to categorize imports. Cereal imports include wheat flour. For further discussion of the classification of commodity imports see the notes to table 4.9.
• Area under cereal production relates to harvested area, although some countries report sown or cultivated area only.
• Cereals include wheat, rice, maize, barley, oats, rye, millet, sorghum, buckwheat, and mixed grains. Production data on cereals relate to crops harvested for dry grain only. Cereal crops harvested for hay or harvested green for food, feed, or silage and those used for grazing are excluded.
• Roots and tubers refer to potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, yams, taro, yautia, and arrowroot. Root crops grown principally for feed, such as turnips, mangels, and swedes, are not included.
• Food aid in cereals covers wheat and flour, bulgur, rice, coarse grains, and the cereal component of blended foods. The time reference for food aid is the crop year (July through June).
• Cereal imports are measured in grain equivalents and defined as comprising all cereals in Standard International Trade Classification (SITC), rev. 2, groups 041–046.
The data here come from the FAO. The most recent published source for commodity production data is the FAO’s Production Yearbook 1994. Data on cereal imports come from the FAO’s Trade Yearbook 1994. Data on food aid are published in the FAO’s Food Aid in Figures 1994. The FAO makes data available to the World Bank in electronic files that may contain more recent information than the published sources.