CTA: Forging links in open data for agriculture and nutrition

CTA facilitated two Data4Agriculture meetings simultaneously in Kigali and Brussels on 14 June. Although the roles of the panels were different, there were many similarities in the conclusions. 

Both events recognised the different actors involved in managing data for agriculture and the different approaches which are yielding results.

In Kigali:Session on Data, information and knowledge systems, at the 7th African Agriculture Science Week

"Data is just a series of binary numbers. What you do with data is what counts"
Andre Laperriere, executive director of the Global Open Data for and Nutrition (GODAN) initiative

Four panelists shared their views on open data in agriculture and how it could support the implementation of the Science Agenda for African Agriculture (S3Av). To start with, Andre Laperriere, GODAN's executive director, pointed out the need to have a concrete action plan on open data as well as to invest in capacity development and training on open data that really reflect the needs of end users. Additionally, he stressed the importance of having key open datasets that can really respond to user needs of users as well as standard formats or interfaces that allow data to communicate one with each other.

Additionally, Dr. Joel Sam, the director at the CSIR-Institute for Scientific and Technological Information (INSTI), gave a general overview on open data and open science through the lens of the Ghana Open Data Initiative (GODI). The GODI initiative aims at developing an open data community by bringing together government, civil society organisations, developers and citizens to interact with one another on matter data. The end goal of the GODI initiative is the development of an open data portal to enhance transparency, accountability and efficiency in government and economic growth.

The farmer registry process. AfDB, 2016.

Samuel Benin, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), focused on public expenditure as a key data tool for achieving sustainable development objectives. He delved deeper on how these data tools can be used to develop and implement better policies. From a farmer point of view, Emmanuel Mbewe, the head of the Africa chapter of the 6th Grain Corporation, shared with the participants the case study of the Farm Digitization and Farmers Registry (FDFR), a project aiming to strengthen agricultural statistics for better-informed evidence-based interventions in farming activities.

And given that data needs to be communicated in an understandable manner, Winnie Kamau, the founder and president of the Association of Freelance Journalists in Kenya, underlined the role of data visualisation in helping communicate data. Tools such as maps, graphs, charts, infographics that could help audiences absorb and interpret data quickly and easily. Additionally, she stressed that data visualisation can also help reveal important trends and different variables such as environmental factors, geographic location, and socio-economic trends that can help in holding governments accountable for delivering better services. Take for instance this infographic by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri Bio-Tech Applications (ISAAA) on the state of biotech crops adoption in the world. At a glance, one is able to decipher tons of information unlike when the data is tabulated in forms and spreadsheets.

Visualise the full infographic on the website of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri Bio-Tech Applications (ISAAA).

In Brussels:'Delivering from Data' session at the event Going the Last Mile: Accelerating Progress in Food Security and Nutrition

Ana Brandusescu, GODAN's research and partnerships advisor, presented the work of GODAN on the agricultural Open Data Charter toolkit for helping governments put open data policy into practice and showed GODAN's progress in building a movement of over 300 organisations across the world committed to making data for agriculture and nutrition open.

Find out more about the principles of CTA's MUIIS project.

Adriaan Bakker, project advisor of the Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) initiative of the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) showed how G4AW is turning satellite data into local farming advice. Through this scheme, NSO supports 30 projects utilising satellite data for applications in the agriculture and water sectors. He shared some of the work being done in Uganda, where Ben Addom, CTA's ICT4Ag programme coordinator is leading the Market-led, User-owned, ICT4Ag-Enabled Information Service (MUIIS) project to deliver farming advice by mobile derived from satellite data.

Norbert Tuyishime, programme officer at the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF) explained how their E-granary application is improving data collection and management for farmers' organisations resulting inempowerment and access to new markets. The farmers' membership database includes profiling of farms and details on crops and yields, and allows the group to sell collectively to markets they could otherwise not reach.

Finally, Chris Addison, CTA's senior programme coordinator for Data4Ag brought together some of the roles played and successful approaches adopted to make the best use of the opportunities of the current data revolution for agriculture. The lessons learnt from CTAs experience in running projects have included: innovating with the new tools available; understanding the context and local environment; ensuring cost effectiveness; learning how to build complex partnerships and not being afraid to experiment to find the appropriate solutions.

Source: http://www.cta.int/en/article/2016-07-08/forging-links-in-open-data-for-agriculture-and-nutrition.html