Food budget

2. Objectives of the Food Budget Bulletin:

• Providing data on daily per capita calorie intake, protein and fat.
• Identifying quantities of local production, imports and exports of foodstuffs.
• Identifying the food pattern prevailing in the Kingdom and the quantities of food available for consumption.
• Providing information on the state of food, agriculture and the quantities used as fodder and seeds.
• Providing the self-sufficiency ratio of food stuff.

3. Definitions:
4. Production:

It includes crops and their derivatives, net weight of carcasses (whether of domestic origin or imported). Some of the production taken from the raw material “for manufacturing” appears as an item produced from the original item such as wheat products taken from the original wheat ( whether domestically produced or imported), as well as milk products made from locally produced milk. Production from basic commodities is attributed to total domestic production (whether within or outside the agricultural sector) and is measured at the level of the crops and livestock sector and their products.

1. Changes in Stock:

They represent all changes in the quantities of stocks of domestically produced imported materials or the imported quantities during the reference period starting from the production to the consumption phases. The changes in the foodstuff stock include the public and private sectors.

1. Imports:

They include all movements of imported agricultural and food commodities as well as the goods derived from them during the reference period of the study.

1. Total exports:

They include all exported and re-exported commodities as well as goods derived from them during the reference period of the study.

1. Fodder:

It includes the quantities of goods and commodities derived from them, including some of the secondary products by importance (such as wheat bran and other products during the reference period), whether produced locally or imported.

1. Seeds:

They include the quantity taken from the subject commodities for reproduction purposes such as crops’ seeds, potato spawns and hatching eggs (domestic or imported product) during the reference period. Data on the quantities of seeds, spawns and eggs required for hatching can be obtained through studies that provide the statistical figure from official sources during the reference period of the study.

1. Lost Quantities:

They include the amount of lost goods and related derivatives. The lost quantity before and during the harvesting process is excluded noting that loss occurs during the manufacturing, transport and storage operations.

1. Manufacturing:

It means using of raw material as a production requirement to produce another item that is different from the original item. Raw materials are used to produce more than one food commodity and appear in the food budget as a new product.

1. Food:

It means the quantities of commodities and any of the derived goods available for human consumption during the reference period.

1. Average per capita consumption:

It means an estimate of the per capita consumption of food available during the reference period in the form of energy (calories / day) and the content of proteins and fats (grams / day). The available per capita rate of the total available for human consumption can be obtained by dividing the quantities of food available on the total population who share the food intake during the reference period of the study.

In order to calculate the energy and proteins and fats contents in the quantity of food available to the individual, then the appropriate choice of food content of proteins and fats is very important. It is possible to obtain the proportions of food composition elements directly from the national food composition tables. These tables provide the nutritional composition of each (100 grams) of the edible part of that food.

1. Self-sufficiency ratio:

It denotes the quantity of local production of the commodity divided by the total production and imports of the same commodity minus the quantity of exports.

Many data sources were utilized for preparing the bulletin including the data produced by the Department of Statistics (DoS) from the agricultural surveys which provide data on quantities of production, fodder, seeds and livestock numbers. Moreover, the external trade statistics provide data on quantities of imports and exports and the economic surveys provide data on quantities of manufactured food items, while the population data (which are extremely important) are obtained through population estimates. Other data is collected through field visits to marketing institutions in addition to some food factories, Ministry of Agriculture, slaughterhouses and the University of Jordan.

Data Processing Stage

1. Office Processing

After collecting the data from their sources, they are classified by food groups into thirteen (13) crops groups and seven (7) animal groups that included (185) food commodities of plant origin and (76) food commodities of animal origin.

2. Electronic Processing

Data entry was implemented using a program prepared in advance. Then the data entered have been checked and cleaned of errors.

3. Tabulation and Dissemination of the Results

The results are tabulated using tables that were designed for this purpose according to classifications of the food groups. The tabulation process is followed by the process of checking the output tables in terms of results consistency and logic. The tables are checked also in terms of form and content to ensure their correctness and to be error -free.

The most important indicators of food budget study:

1. Quantities of local production of food.
2. Quantities of imports and exports of food.
3. Quantities of food used as fodder, seeds and food processing.
4. Quantities of food available for consumption during the year.
5. Per capita food in the form of calories, protein and fat.
6. Self-sufficiency ratios of food products.

Annual data are published each year in November.