Agriculture in sub Saharan Africa

In summer 2011, a severe hunger crisis struck East Africa. Several million Africans in Somalia, Ethiopia and northern Kenya were dependent on foreign food aid. Persistent drought, sharply increasing prices for staple food and regional conflicts had caused a collapse of regional food supply.

What can be found here? Facts...

about agriculture: obvious and unpopular numbers about agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe*. For this purpose different databases and reports from the World Bank, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and other institutions were analysed and ten facts were summarised.

* Remark: Please keep in mind that statistical data is never free of errors. Statistical data is only as reliable as its methodology.

Data Sources for the Facts

World Bank Database (online):

FAOSTAT databases (online):

FAO GIEWS Food Price Data and Analysis Tool (online):

Gapminder, for a fact-based world view:

Doss, Cheryl 2011: The Role of Women in Agriculture, ESA Working Paper No. 11-02. URL:

Evenson, Robert E., and Douglas Gollin 2003: “Assessing the Impact of the Green Revolution, 1960 to 2000.” Science 300(5620):758–62.