Agro-MAPS: Global Spatial Database of National and Sub-National Agricultural Land-Use Statistics

Agro-MAPS is a global spatial database providing national and sub-national agricultural statistics. National and sub-national agricultural land statistics are compiled by FAO and/or national statistical bureaus. The original version was developed as a joint initiative by FAO, IFPRI (the International Food Policy Institute), SAGE (The Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment) and CIAT (The International Center for Tropical Agriculture) to support a variety of applications being developed separately by the three institutions. It was an interactive web-based information system on land use which contained statistics on primary food crops, aggregated by sub-national administrative districts, on crop production, area harvested and crop yields. Agro-MAPS data were obtained mainly from published reports on national agricultural censuses, usually carried out every 5 to 10 years, or from annual estimates reported in published sources. Data collected was subject to preprocessing to ensure overall consistency and enhance accuracy of the final integrated database. Basic metadata, including citation of original sources, are included.

Agro-MAPS statistics are also used in the context of the Global Agro-Ecological Zones (GAEZ) modelling framework for calibration of rain-fed and irrigated cropland shares and as an input dataset for downscaling procedures.