Telos.eu published an op-ed by senior research fellow Antoine Bouet and two co-authors on the importance of statistics in international development research. statistics is a fundamental tool for economic policy and decision-making by governments, international institutions, and even the private sector. International trade statistics play a particularly important role. They allow us to determine a country’s current account balance — that is, whether a country is living above or below its means — which is crucial information for macroeconomic policy. To understand why these statistics can err significantly, one must keep in mind the methods used to collect them. There are data gaps, however. It is with the dual objective of filling this statistical gap and developing a sustainable and self-financed means of collecting reliable agricultural and food trade data in West Africa that the project titled Family Farming, Regional Markets and Cross-Border Trade Corridors in the Sahel (FARM-TRAC) was launched in June 2020. These statistics will make it possible to anticipate food shortages, rather than responding to them with delay. But this will require reliable trade statistics in real-time. Republished in Telos.eu.fr (France).