Researchers from the California Institute of Technology, the University of Maryland, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have created a dataset tracking crop yields across Africa to support food security and satellite-based agricultural monitoring. The GROW-Africa dataset includes more than 500,000 geotagged observations from 1973 to 2022 for 25 major crops, such as maize, cassava, and groundnuts. These records come from a range of sources, including government statistics, household surveys, and field-level crop measurements. By capturing both broad trends and local variation in agricultural productivity, the dataset helps researchers understand how yields are affected by climate, farming practices, and infrastructure and fills a major data gap in regions where crop improvements are most needed.
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