Digitalisation to transform farmers’ productivity and profits WAGENINGEN, The Netherland (PAMACC News) - Digitalisation can transform agriculture and enable farmers to increase their production and income. Partnerships and multi-sectoral investment are key in scaling out successful technologies for smallholder farmers and to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, says Michael Hailu, Director of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), a joint international institution of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union (EU). Interview excerpts:What does digitalisation mean for the work of CTA? CTA has been using ICTs for many years to bring technologies for application in agricultural operations at different levels of the value chain. For more than 20 years, we have been testing and introducing different technologies in ICTs, starting from CD-ROMs up to the new technology, like mobile technologies and satellite data. We have been testing the technologies with farmers and seeing how they can be useful in improving productivity and profitability. We have been doing some of this on a small scale. But now there is a great deal of interest from the private sector to governments in harnessing ICTs for agricultural development, and a key issue is, how do we take these technologies to scale? We hope our experience capitalisation activities will help us find answers to this question. Our role is catalytic. We have been making these technologies accessible to farmers, but to scale up we need to work with the big players, like the private sector, governments and development partners.Can digitalisation help scale out technologies of use to farmers? Absolutely. I think there is much that digitalisation can offer in terms of connecting farmers to markets, for example, and helping in the process of improving productivity and creating resilience. Farmers can tell how much fertilizer they can use. They are able to reduce inputs while increasing yields and returns. There are so many possibilities where you can apply digitalisation. We need to make the strategic investment in digital innovations, so we can make them available to a large number of farmers.In your view, is there political will in the ACP region to support digitilisation as an opportunity for farmers and farming? When you talk about the ACP region, it is a large region of 79 countries. Policies differ from one country to another, but overall there is global recognition that digitalisation is a disruptive technology. The top five companies in the world are technology companies, and this tells us the importance of this technology to development and investment, so we cannot ignore it. We are saying that if you bring technology to agriculture, it can create huge opportunities for inclusivity, and for many farmers to benefit by making agriculture profitable. There is strong recognition from many countries about the importance of agriculture. Digitilisation is a game change in this sector. I attended the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Forum in Kigali recently, and this whole issue of digitilisation was high on the agenda, highlighting…

WINDGOEK, Namibia (PAMACC News) - The Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa (WISER) funded Climate Research for Development (CR4D) has moved into high gear with the establishment of a grant management mechanism framework.According to Frank Rutabingwa of the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the key objective of the framework is to support “African-led small, but potentially scalable research grant management facility in African institutions that will support CR4D research priorities.”“A comprehensive project document on WISER funded CR4D research definition, oversight and uptake has been developed,” Rutabingwa said, adding that 2, 847,000 pounds have been secured from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).Rutabingwa was speaking in Windhoek, Namibia, at the fourth Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting.The meeting was held ahead of a two day write-shop to produce an African Regional Climate Outlook Forum (RCOFs) Best Practices document emanating from ACPC’s knowledge exchange workshops organised earlier in the year. The aim is to have a document that serves as a reference by all RCCs.CR4D which was launched in 2015, aims at advancing new frontiers of African climate research to enhance co-production of climate information and services for development planning,Research for development is therefore seen as a critical and complimentary component to achieve the overall goal of the WISER progarmme, which is to stimulate the uptake of climate information by policy makers and vulnerable groups including the youth and women.Most importantly, Africa’s increasingly variable weather and climate, experts say, threatens development in sectors such as agriculture and food security, water, energy, infrastructure, and health are already sensitive to weather related shocks.Further, experts believe research is critical in the operationalization of the Paris Agreement whose rule book is expected to be finalised at COP 24, and that African countries would need to be better prepared in the implementation of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).James Murombedzi, ACPC officer-in-charge, says the centre is fully committed to support member countries in their efforts to fight climate change and achieve sustainable development.“The ECA is fully committed to supporting member States regarding the NDCs, taking into account the need for urgent and adequate climate action while staying on course to achieve the goals of Agenda 2063 and the sustainable development goals,” he said.COP 24 is seen as the make or break meeting since the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015. It is being held against the backdrop of a year of record-breaking climate impacts, and the landmark special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); “Global Warming of 1.50C” which unequivocally concluded that the world is not on track to limiting global temperature rise to below 1.50C. It is generally agreed that 2015 was a landmark year in the development of coherent global frameworks to guide development planning. The agreements concluded in 2015 include: the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR); the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; African Union’s Agenda 2063; the Addis Ababa Action Agenda; and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.For Africa,…

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - After losing a renewable energy patent to a powerful organization five years ago, George Otieno, a Kenyan technical innovator, is still searching for elusive justice. Even after hiring a lawyer several times to represent him in court, his case has never made it past the gates of justice. Otieno suspects his lawyer was bribed by the organization to drop the case, but he cannot do anything about it since he does not have the financial muscle to keep pursuingit, he says.“I have tried several times to use a lawyer to take this organization to court. But the lawyer always turns me down. I do not know what to do next,” says Otieno, who is also a member of the Kenya Renewable Energy Association (KREA). Like hundreds of innovators in Kenya, Otieno is a victim of poor policies that fail to inspire solutions meant to help the country adopt to the pressures of climate change. But if an October meeting of policy makers in Nairobi that was reviewing progress in the implementation of climate change policies in Africa is anything to go by, Otieno might just be getting there. “It is time to translate policy on climate change into action to be able to halt emissions and have an organized transition to a carbon neutral future in the shortest time possible,” James Murombedzi, the Officer in Charge of the Economic Commission for the African Climate Policy Center (ACPC), told delegates. Murombedzi’s reasoning echoes everyday efforts that are being tried by Kenyans like Otieno. To help such civilians, governments must work with all sectors of society despite their interests, because climate governance is complex, says Murombedzi. According to him, Africa is endowed with sufficient knowledge and technology to battle climate change. The only missing piece is strong policies that support these skills to be able to secure the continent’s preparedness against climate change, he says. This is why it is becoming difficult for many climate change innovators in countries like Kenya to complete their creations due to policies that protect the beneficiary, rather than the maker of a product, argues Otieno. “When the government fails to protect Kenyans like me against predatory business players, the spirit of innovation will die because I cannot invest all my time and energy on innovating something I get nothing from,” said Otieno. Yet, government arms like the Climate Change Directorate argue Kenyans like Otieno are protected by the Kenya Green Economy Strategy and Implementation Plan 2018-2020, which is informed by among others, the need for technology development, innovation and transfer. Besides, the 2018-2022 National Climate Change Action Plan seeks to set aside Ksh. 11 billion to support technology and innovation and how these skills can be transferred to average Kenyans, argues Charles Mutai at the Directorate. “The Plan also seeks to ensure that Kenya enhances the use of renewable energy. We are working with other national agencies to promote innovations in this area,” says Mutai.It is a prospect that raises hopes…

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Kenya has the potential to generate about 15,000 gigawatts of geothermal power by 2030, placing it ahead of other Eastern Africa countries in the renewable energy race. To achieve this energy mile however, the country will have to reduce the lengthy process involved in establishing a geothermal plant, a new report says.According to the Nordic Green to Scale for Countries technical report released recently in Nairobi, it takes between five to seven years for any country in Eastern Africa to establish a geothermal plant.This is because none of the governments in the region have the equipment, technology and expertise to develop this source of power, and have to rely on imports, says the report by researchers at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI).“The venture is also capital-intensive, leaving only established private companies to pursue this development opportunity,” the report says.But the government has not actively involved the private sector in this sector, a situation that could explain the bureaucracy involved in geothermal development in the country, argues Mbeo Ogeya, a research fellow at SEI.Yet Kenya is being considered as a host for the Africa Geothermal Centre of Excellence by the UN Environment, says Ogeya.“The government needs to actively encourage private sector engagement by for instance zero rating the equipment and appliances for geothermal generation if the country is to achieve its full potential,” says Ogeya.Corruption is another setback that is delaying geothermal development in the country, according to local media reports.In 2016, top officials at the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) were hounded out of office and are facing corruption related cases.Auditor-General reports also say GDC failed to pay Ksh. 1.4 billion in corporate taxes in 2015, and was slapped with penalty of Ksh. 405.6 million.Yet GDC remains one of the best funded state companies, where Treasury allocates it Ksh. 7 billion from the national budget every year.“The research is right, the policy is correct, but the approach in implementing both policy and research is where we miss the point,” says Ogeya.Among the policy recommendations by the report is for the government to provide concessional loans and letters of guarantee to private developers in Kenya. This will reduce the risk of investment, hence encourage private sector actors to be involved, argues the report.It also challenges the government to introduce regulations supporting the assembling of geothermal equipment in the country “This will encourage growth of local industries and involvement of local actors along the geothermal value chain,” says the report.Kenya is leading in geothermal power generation in the region but the country has only exploited 0.62 gigawatts of the natural resource, the report says.