This document discusses Food Balance Sheets (FBS), which are used to measure the food supply of a population. An FBS has three components: supply, utilization, and per capita food supply. It shows the quantities and types of food available for human consumption by looking at sources of supply and utilization. An FBS worksheet is presented as an example. Equations are provided to calculate total available supply, food available for human consumption, and per capita food supply in terms of calories, protein, and fat. Limitations of FBS include potential inaccuracies in underlying statistics and incomplete data. In conclusion, FBS are useful for appraising food security situations and informing policy.

1. 1
MTF/GLO/345/BMG "Strengthening the CountrySTAT System established in 17 Sub-Saharan African Countries"
GTFS/RAF/465/ITA "Strengthening capacity of selected member countries of East African Community in agricultural
statistics for food security " Consultative meeting
Regional CountrySTAT Advanced Administrator Training Workshop
FOOD BALANCE SHEETS (FBS)
by
Paul N’GOMA-KIMBATSA, Statistician – CountrySTAT Lead Technical Officer
Julia STONE, CountrySTAT Country Project Officer
Mahjoubi Rafik, Food Balance Sheets Specialist
Statistics Division
FAO, Rome
Lusaka, Zambia, 12- 16 November 2012

2. I. BACKGROUND
II. WHAT IS FBS?
III. FBS COMPONENTS
IV. FBS WORKSHEET
V. FBS EQUATIONS
VI. PER CAPITA FOOD SUPPLY
VII. REMARKS
VIII.LIMITATIONS
IX. CONCLUSION
SUMMARY

3. FAO encourages countries:
– To develop their own FBS
– Published regularly FBS
Most developed countries compute
their own FBSs
I. BACKGROUND

4. Measure the Food Supply of the Population
Shows quantities and types of Food Available
for Human Consumption
Sources of Supply and Utilization
Show trends in the Food Supply over time
Pattern of the diet
Nutritional requirements
Food dependency
II. WHAT IS FBS?

5.  FBS made up of 3 sets of data:
– Supply
 Production, Imports and Change in Stocks
– Utilization
 Exports, Feed, Seed, Food, Waste and Other
Uses
– Per capita food supply
 Population and nutrient content – Calories,
Protein and Fat
III. FBS COMPONENTS

6. IV. FBS WORKSHEET
Food Balance Sheet
Country: Year:
Thousand metric tons Population: 27,650 thousand
Commodity
Supply Domestic Utilisation Per Capita Food Supply
Production Change in
stock
Imports Exports Available
supply
Feed Seed Food
Manufacturer
Other
uses
Waste Food Kg
year
Grams
per day
Calorie
s per
day
Protein
per day
Fat per
day
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Wheat 3790 -140 359 3291 250 224 2652 165
Wheat flour 1989 44 73 1960 59 1901 68.8 188.4 686 20.5 2.1
Rice paddy 629 629 25 585 19
Rice milled 392 +35 77 350 11 339 12.3 33.6 121 2.3 0.2

7.  FBS Equations:
• Available Supply = Production + Imports - Exports + Change in stocks
• Food available for human consumption = Total Food Supply - Feed - Seed -
Food Manufacture - Other uses - Waste
• Food Supply Per Capita (Example: Wheat Flour):
 Annual Per Caput Supply = (Food/Population)*1000
(1901/27650)*1000 = 68.8 Kg/year)
 Daily Per Caput Supply = (Annual Per Caput Supply/365)*1000
(68.8/365 = 188.4 Grams/day)
 Daily Per Caput Supply in terms of Calories = (Quantity of Daily Per Caput
Supply*Food Composition Factor)/100
(188.4*364/100 = 686 Calories/day Number)
 Daily Per Caput Supply in terms of Protein = (Quantity of Daily Per Caput
Supply*Food Composition Factor)/100
(188.4*10.9/100 = 20.5 (Protein/day Grams)
 Daily Per Caput Supply in terms of Fat = (Quantity of Daily Per Caput Supply*Food
Composition Factor)/100
(188.4*1.1/100 = 2.1 (Fat/day Grams)
• Import Dependency Ratio (IDR) = [Imports/(Production+Imports-Exports)]*100
(How much of the available domestic food supply has been imported and how much comes from the country’s own production)
• Self-Sufficiency Ratio (SSR) = [Production/(Production+Imports-Exports)]*100
(The SSR expresses the magnitude of production in relation to domestic utilization. The higher the ratio the greater the self-sufficiency)
V. FBS EQUATIONS

8. Final element of FBS:
Information required
Population
Food composition table
Calories – kcals/day
Protein – grams/day
Fat – grams/day
Calculated from the quantities of total supplies
available for human consumption (kg per
year/grams per day)
VI. PER CAPITA FOOD SUPPLY

9. • Food balance sheets provide data on food supplies.
• The accuracy of food balance sheets, which are in essence derived
statistics, is of course dependent on the reliability of the underlying
statistics of supply and utilization of food and of population.
• Production statistics may not be available for all commodities needed.
• Import and export data may be reasonably accurate in the majority of
countries, but in some countries significant amounts of trade across
national boundaries go unrecorded.
• A number of adjustments on the basic data as well as
imputations/estimations of the missing data have to be carried out in the
preparation of the Food Balance Sheets.
• Once estimates of the other components have been made, the estimate
of food available for human consumption is usually derived as a residual
according to the following equation:
Food available for human consumption = Total Food Supply - Feed - Seed
- Food Manufacture - Other uses - Waste
VII. REMARKS

10. Coverage/representativeness of the basic data
Gaps in statistics of utilization of non-food use
Incompleteness and inaccuracy of the basic data
Under-reporting
Population data
Data from different sources
No indication of differences exist in the diet by
different population group
Does not reflect the access to the food
VIII.LIMITATIONS

11. FBS are useful for:
– Appraisal of food and agricultural situation in a
country
– Estimating overall shortages and surpluses based
on normative food needs expressed in terms of
energy as well as proteins, carbohydrates and fats.
– Developing projections of future food supply
needs
– Establishing relationships between national food
supplies & malnutrition
– Evaluating food and nutrition policies
– Basis for the policy analysis to ensure food
security
IX. CONCLUSION

12. THANK YOU