AHAD: African major crops harvested area dataset for the years of 2000, 2010, and 2020

Africa faces significant challenges in food security, which are compounded by rapid population growth. The situation is expected to worsen without effective interventions. One of the key obstacles to mitigating food insecurity is the lack of reliable high-resolution data, particularly regarding harvested area datasets, which directly reflect the agricultural situation on the continent. To tackle this challenge, we have developed the African Harvested Area Dataset (AHAD), which covers 22 major crops across the continent at a resolution of 5 arcmin (approximately 10 km) for the years 2000, 2010, and 2020. The dataset is built upon 8 well-used global gridded harvested area datasets, through verifying, merging, calibrating, and confining with available information, including point-specific crop distribution, accurate cropland map data, subnational statistics, and cropping intensity data. In addition to the primary datasets, we also provide data quality assessments for each step of the process. The AHAD could provide geospatial and temporal patterns of harvested area, offering potential for advancing agricultural practices and enhancing food security across Africa.