Food Production Food Supply and Nutritional Status Trends in Sub-Saharan Africa

Food Production, Food Supply and Nutritional Status Trends in Sub-Saharan AfricaAgriculture is the backbone of the economies of most sub-Saharan African countries. In 1994, 69 percent of the economically active population in sub-Saharan Africa were engaged in agriculture, as compared with 84 percent in 1961 (FAO, 1995f).Table 4 shows average annual production (in tonnes) and rates of growth of major food crops in sub-Saharan Africa during four periods. The analysis is based on five-year averages up to 1985 and a four-year average for 1991 to 1994, to reflect the long-term changes over the time span 1961 to 1994. The rate of growth in production of cereals increased from an average of 1.3 percent during the period 1961 to 1965 to 3.6 percent during the period 1971 to 1975. It remained stable at a rate of 2.5 percent from the period 1981 to 1985 to the period 1991 to 1994. Among the grains the fastest growth in output was achieved in rice, but its effect on growth of total cereal output was limited because of the relatively small share of rice in cereal production. It is notable that the growth rate of pulse production has declined substantially since the 1960s and that the rate of growth of production of oil crops, after suffering a rapid decline during the 1980s, recovered significantly during the early 1990s.For sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, exports of cereals declined and imports expanded rapidly during the 1970s and 1980s (Table 5). Imports nearly doubled between the 1960s and 1970s and trebled from then to the 1990s, reflecting both structural food deficits resulting from rapid population growth and food shortfalls caused by drought and civil disruption in various parts of Africa, especially during the 1980s and early 1990s. In the mid-1980s, 20 percent of the staple food requirements of sub-Saharan Africa were provided by imports. This proportion is predicted to rise by the end of the 1990s (FAO, 1992e).Since the 1980s availability of basic food staples for consumption has expanded as follows: cereals and cereal products by 30 percent, roots and tubers by 40 percent, pulses by 35 percent and oil crops by 33 percent (Table 6). Population growth is the main factor responsible for increases in food supply and energy requirements. For the region as a whole, the estimated annual rate of population growth for the last three decades was about 3 percent as compared with a rate of growth in food production of around 2 percent and rate of growth in cereal production of 2.5 percent (Table 4). A significantly greater growth in food production will be needed in the future if dependence on commercial or concessionary imports is to be avoided.Table 4 - Average annual food production and its rate of growth for sub-Saharan Africa, 1961-1975 to 1991-1994Crop GroupMean 1961-1965Mean 1971-1975Mean 1981-1985Mean 1991-1994 Production(000 tonnes)Growth rate(%)Production(000 tonnes)Growth rate(%)Production(000 tonnes)Growth rate(%)Production(000 tonnes)Growth rate(%)Wheat9003.21 3001.21 500-3.42 200-0.4Rice, paddy3 6003.85.24.56 6002.910 8003.3Cereals, total32 7001.339 3003.645 6002.559 8002.5Roots and tubers49 7003.366 0003.277 8002.9113 5002.5Pulses, total3 2003.741002.04 400-1.85 9000.3Oil crops, primary3 9002.04 2001.83 900-0.45 0003.2Source: FAO, 1995f.Table 5 - Average annual exports and imports of basic food staples for sub-Saharan Africa, 1961-1965 to 1991 - 1993Crop GroupMean 1961-1965Mean 1971-1975Mean 1981-1985Mean 1991-1994 ImportsExportsNet tradeaImportsExportsNet tradeImportsExportsNet tradeImportsExportsNet tradeCereals, total2000700-130038361906-29309254646-860711667671-10996Pulses, total66190124512131611161226219128-91Oilseeds232 3832 360531308125561430369103368265Source: FAO, 1995f.a Net trade = exports minus imports.Table 6 - Food available for consumption for sub-Saharan Africa, 1961-1965 to 1991-1992 (000 tonnes)Crop groupMean1961-1965Mean1971-1975Mean1981-1985Mean1991-1992Cereals and cereal products, including beer27 92034 39347 04660 937Starchy roots and products38935501476069385335Pulses and products2 4203 0593 5044 721Oil crops and products1 5942 2693 2364 294Source: FAO, 1995f.Population data, unlike those of other developing regions, show that growth rates for sub-Saharan Africa are still increasing. It is projected that the overall population growth rate between 1990 and the end of the twentieth century will be 3 percent faster than the population growth of the region during the previous decade. Figure 3 shows population, food production and per caput dietary energy supply (DES) trends from 1961 to 1995, indicating that food production and DES have not kept pace with population growth. Although it is not evident in Figure 3 (because the graph is based on indexes), data suggest that in sub-Saharan Africa food production was adequate to meet local demand until about 1973 (FAO, 1992e). Since then, however, per caput output has been on the decline.How can data of the type just given, expressing production and food availability for consumption in terms of tonnage of food commodities, be used to assess the adequacy of national food supplies in nutritive terms? One answer is to use food balance sheets, which are compiled annually by FAO from country-level data on the production and trade of food commodities. Based on these data in addition to available information on seed rates, waste coefficients, stock changes and types of utilization (i.e. feed, food, other uses), a supply/utilization account in weight terms is prepared for each commodity. Besides giving information on individual commodities, FAO food balance sheets also provide total availability estimates by aggregating the food component of all commodities after conversion into nutritive values. These values, combined with population data, are used to calculate estimates of a countrys per caput DES, protein and fat. A food balance sheet for Kenya is shown in Table 7.DES (i.e. food available for direct human consumption per person per day) is expressed in kilocalories (kcal) per day. Its significance as an indicator of national nutritional status is that it relates food availability to a theoretical energy allowance. This is an average allowance for planning purposes, representing the daily energy supply required to maintain body weight and to support light activity. It is calculated as 1.54 times the basal metabolic rate (BMR).1 If a populations access to food is below this level of per caput energy availability, it follows that, even if it is assumed that the distribution of available food supplies is not very unequal, the majority of the population would be classified as chronically undernourished.1 The basal metabolic rate is defined as the minimal rate of energy expenditure compatible with life. It is measured under standard conditions of immobility in the fasting state at an environmental temperature of 26 to 30C, which ensures no activation of heat-generating processes. It is dependent on a physiological requirement which varies with the body weight, age and sex of the individual. BMR is a very theoretical quantity, and strictly speaking, calculation of energy allowances would require a breakdown of the population by age and sex. Such a breakdown would not be justified by the precision of the production data, which, in the case of non-cereal foodstuffs, are often subject to quite a large margin of error. Therefore, simplifying factors are used to estimate the average BMR of the population and hence per caput energy requirements. Energy requirements for light activity range from 1961 to 2072 kcal per day.FIGURE 3 - Trends in population, food production and dietary energy supply for sub-Saharan Africa, expressed as indexes (1989-1991 base year = 100)Source: FAO, 1997b.Notes: The indexes show values relative to the base year, which is assigned the value of 100. The food production index is derived from the value in United States dollars of food produced per caput. The DES index is calculated from figures for dietary energy supply in kilocalories per person per day. The population index refers to the aggregate population.Table 7 - Food balance sheet for Kenya - average 1990-1992ProductDomestic supply (000 tonnes)Domestic utilization (000 tonnes)Per caput supply ProductionImportsStock changesExportsTotalFeedSeed