IFPRI's Spatial Production Allocation Model (SPAM) uses a cross-entropy approach to estimate crop distribution within grid cells. The model disaggregates data from countries and provinces to reveal spatial patterns of crop performance, creating a global gridscape linking geography and agricultural systems. These estimates aim to help policymakers better target agricultural investments to increase food security with minimal environmental impact.
Use Cases
- Modeling spatial patterns of crop performance based on disaggregated grid cell data.
- Targeting agricultural development policies based on estimated crop distribution.
- Analyzing the confluence of geography and agricultural production systems from a global gridscape.
- Assessing food security and environmental impacts using spatially explicit production estimates.
Strengths
- Data is spatially disaggregated to grid cells, revealing patterns not visible at country or province level.
- Model uses a cross-entropy approach to create plausible estimates of crop distribution.
- Created by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a recognized authority.
Limitations
- Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count and file formats are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Provenance
- Source
- International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
- Collection Method
- Generated using IFPRI's Spatial Production Allocation Model (SPAM), which employs a cross-entropy approach to disaggregate coarser administrative data.
- Time Range
- 2000
- Geography
- Global