FAOSTAT: Land, Inputs and Sustainability: Livestock Patterns

This dataset provides annual statistics on crop and livestock production across countries and territories. For crops, data are provided on area harvested, production quantities and yields. For livestock, data are provided on animal stocks, numbers of producing and slaughtered animals, and the production of meat, milk, eggs and other livestock products. The dataset also includes information on production quantities for selected processed products, such as vegetable oils, sugar, fibres, beer, wine and major dairy products.

The FAOSTAT domain Emissions from livestock provides information on emissions generated from four livestock processes, namely 1) enteric fermentation; 2) manure left on pastures; manure management; and manure applied to soils. Estimates are computed following the Tier 1 method of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National greenhouse gas Inventories (IPCC, 2006).

The Livestock Manure domain of FAOSTAT contains estimates of nitrogen (N) inputs to agricultural soils from livestock manure. Data on the N losses to air and water are also disseminated. These estimates are compiled using official FAOSTAT statistics of animal stocks and by applying the internationally approved Guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Data are available by country, with global coverage and updated annually.The following elements are disseminated: 1) Stocks; 2) Amount excreted in manure (N content); 3) Manure left on pasture (N content); 4) Manure left on pasture that volatilises (N content); 5) Manure left on pasture that leaches (N content); 6) Manure treated (N content); 7) Losses from manure treated (N content); 8) Manure applied to soils (N content); 9) Manure applied to soils that volatilises (N content); 10) Manure applied to soils that leaches (N content).

The FAOSTAT Land Use domain contains data on twenty-one land use categories and twenty-three categories of irrigation and agricultural practices. Data are available yearly and by country, regional and global levels. The domain includes Land Use Indicators providing information on the percentage share of agricultural and forest land, and their sub-components, including irrigated areas and areas under organic agriculture, within a country land use matrix. Data are available at country, regional and global level, for the following elements: (in percentage) i) Share in Land area; ii) Share in Agricultural land, iii) Share in Cropland; and iv) Share in Forest land; (in ha/pc) v) Area per capita.

The FAOSTAT domain on Emissions indicators disseminates indicators on sectoral shares of total national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as three indicators of emissions intensity: per capita emissions; emissions per value of agricultural production; and emissions per area of agricultural land.

Data from censuses of agriculture are collected at the holding level and provide information about the structure of agriculture of a country or a territory (e.g. size and number of holdings, land tenure, legal status, and sex of the holder). However, countries may apply their own definitions of agricultural holdings, which could affect the international comparability of census data. National censuses are conducted at least once every ten years. The "Structural data from agricultural censuses" domain in FAOSTAT provides structural data from the WCA rounds (WCA 1930, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020) for each participating country and territory, to the extent possible. The data are prepared based on the national census reports and other dissemination products available in the public domain or directly provided by member countries to FAO, also disseminated by FAO through its census-related publications, and recent methodological review of the available country census data of the WCA 2020 round.