The International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA) has produced this handbook of African livestock statistics as a practical tool to assist planners, analysts and policy makers in national organisations in sub-Saharan Africa and in international and donor organisations.
The data on which most of the tables are based have already been published elsewhere, principally by FAO or national publications. The justification for republishing them here is twofold. First, ILCA will distribute this handbook to many people in sub-Saharan Africa who do not have access to the other publications. The principal avenue for doing so will be through the membership of the African Livestock Policy Analysis Network (ALPAN), whose membership at the end of 1990 exceeded 1000. Secondly, the form in which the data are already published does not, in many cases, allow easy comparisons to be made over time or between countries. The absolute data for any country often do not offer any particular message to planners or policy makers. They do so only when the changes of that country over a period of time can be summarised in an easily intelligible form and, in particular, when its progress can be compared with that in similar countries. The tables in this handbook have been designed to facilitate such comparisons.
Most of the data contained in Tables 43 to 53 have not been published by other organisations, but derive from research carried out by ILCA over a number of years or from direct contact made with organisations in individual African countries to obtain data for the express purpose of this manual. It was not possible to obtain these data for all countries in sub-Saharan Africa, but it is hoped that the provision of information for a few countries may encourage national organisations in others to collect, analyse and publish their own data in the future.
Some of the data are not of very high quality in terms both of their original accuracy and of the frequency with which they are up-dated. The justification for using them is that, with a few not easily identifiable exceptions, they are not grossly misleading. They are therefore, better than no data at all; furthermore if the utility of having better quality data is demonstrated to the national organisations, they may be persuaded to allocate sufficient resources to improve that quality.
One of the activities that ILCA is mandated to perform is "to make available statistical support, information or advice to national, regional or international authorities in the various fields relating to animal production in which ILCA is involved." The production of this handbook is one of the ways in which ILCA seeks to discharge this part of its mandate. There are no definite plans at present to produce further issues of the handbook. Whether this will be done depends on the extent to which readers find this issue useful and subsequently need an up-dated version. Readers are invited to send their views to the Head of the Livestock Economics Division, ILCA, P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
