African Crop Calendar: A geo-referenced dataset of crop growing seasons across diverse agro-ecological regions

Waha, K., Rötzer, S., De Vos, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4607-7877, Grewer, U., Tomes, A., & Mechiche-Alami, A. (2026). African Crop Calendar: A geo-referenced dataset of crop growing seasons across diverse agro-ecological regions. Scientific Data 13 (1) e1229. 10.1038/s41597-026-07906-9.

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Abstract

Large-scale agricultural household surveys provide essential data on farming households’ socioeconomics, land management, and agricultural indicators, and allow detailed micro-scale comparisons while ensuring national representativeness. This study introduces cleaned, harmonised, and validated survey data describing the growing season of several hundred crops from six African countries between 2009–2019. It complements existing datasets by including geographical identifiers, facilitating the linkage with climate, soil, or Earth observation data. Collected through the LSMS-ISA program, the surveys cover crop planting and harvesting dates, anonymized field locations, and crop species grown. The data were harmonised by assigning consistent variable names, correcting inconsistencies, standardising crop names, and creating unique plot identifiers. This comprehensive dataset offers novel insights into African cropping systems and growing seasons and provides a basis for assessing drivers of shifts in growing seasons.

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