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 that we need proper data about production so that decision-makers have easy access to different kinds of data on agriculture. There is need to leverage technology to make data available to different kinds of users. There is a very strong appreciation for what technology can bring to agriculture.
Given CTA’s interest in ICTs for agriculture, has anything not worked?
When you test a new technology, it is always the case that there are more failures than successes. Technology innovations have a large rate of failure compared with successes. We have had a lot of failure for different reasons; either the technology was not appropriate, or there were no supporting mechanisms when we deployed it. There are things that continuously fail, but when you succeed there is significant potential. For example, we have been working with partners in Uganda profiling tea farmers in cooperatives. We have been able to capture details about their farms and cooperatives, demand using drones. Farmers have double their productivity and profits because of technological interventions. We can scale up these successes.
How do you see CTA’s new strategies strengthening your work with ICTs?
Our current strategy has three key intervention areas. One is promoting youth entrepreneurship and creating employment for young people. The second is the agenda of digitalisation to improve agricultural productivity and profitability, and the third is promoting climate smart agriculture innovations. There is a lot of interaction among these different priorities. For example, when you talk about using entrepreneurship in agriculture, technology is critical because young people are attracted to technology. To be engaged in agriculture, technology can play a key role. A lot of our work on entrepreneurship is around technology and digital innovation and how these can help start-ups by young people.
WINDHOEK, Namibia (PAMACC News) - Over 15 weather experts from African Regional Climate Centres (RCCs), Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and representatives of Regional Climate Outlook Forum (RCOFs) have agreed on a draft outline and content for RCOFs best practices document.
The experts met under the auspices of the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA’s) Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa (WISER) programme from 22-23 November in Windhoek, Namibia.
The meeting came as a result of RCOFs knowledge exchange workshops convened by ACPC earlier in the year, which have led to a rich collection of material consisting of procedures, lessons and practices that RCCs utilise in producing consensus seasonal forecasts, organizing RCOFs, engaging stakeholders and seeking their feedback.
While the knowledge shared is already benefiting the RCC focal persons who have participated, the write-shop was convened to produce a consolidated document to serve as a reference by all RCCs.
Procedures and practices applied by the RCOFs to both produce consensus seasonal forecasts and publicise them vary. While most of the RCOFs face similar challenges, especially related to engaging stakeholders, dissemination and uptake of the seasonal forecasts they produce, some RCOFs have been operational for many years and thus have lessons and experiences that can help other RCOFs avoid ‘reinventing the wheel’.
And some of the key thematic areas deliberated on included; training and capacity building, funding mechanism and sustainability, communication and dissemination, and engaging stakeholders among others.
“As a best practice, for sustainability, it is important that member state governments take full ownership of the RCOFs process in terms of funding because the current donor based support system is not sustainable,” said Phillip Omondi of the Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC) at the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa.
Omondi also believes, as other experts do, that with changing meteorological dynamics, “continuity and consistency in training is needed to keep weather experts well-informed on latest trends and tools in the sector.”
It is generally agreed that there is a suspicious relation between scientists and media professionals. The weather experts therefore agreed on the need for enhanced relations between scientists and media. As a best practice, it was agreed, communication and dissemination should be enhanced through provision of training to media and boundary stakeholders, for the benefit of end users.
“I am particularly impressed with the way they arrive at the consensus, but I believe the way stakeholders are engaged is also key,” said Mouhamadou Bamba Sylla,Senior Scientist in climate modeling and climate change at the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL).“Having media persons, the journalists as part of the process to serve as drafters of the press releases from the technical statement is just great, as we scientists are trained in scientific language which is most often not understood by stakeholders. It is something we must improve upon to ensure that the solutions we discover reach the intended end users.”
In line with the overall objective of the write-shop, experts agreed on an outline of the RCOFs best practices document, an early draft with content to be included in the publication, assigned roles and responsibilities, timeline and publication dissemination plan.
“It is always gratifying to note the dedication and expertise from the distinguished experts who gathered here and contribute to their various regional climate outlooks for socio-economic development of our people on the continent,” said Mark Majona of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). “As WMO, we will continue to support and ensure that this forum continues on the continent.”
WINDHOEK, Namibia (PAMACC News) - Over 15 weather experts from African Regional Climate Centres (RCCs), Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and representatives of Regional Climate Outlook Forum (RCOFs) have agreed on a draft outline and content for RCOFs best practices document.
The experts met under the auspices of the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA’s) Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa (WISER) programme from 22-23 November in Windhoek, Namibia.
The meeting came as a result of RCOFs knowledge exchange workshops convened by ACPC earlier in the year, which have led to a rich collection of material consisting of procedures, lessons and practices that RCCs utilise in producing consensus seasonal forecasts, organizing RCOFs, engaging stakeholders and seeking their feedback.
While the knowledge shared is already benefiting the RCC focal persons who have participated, the write-shop was convened to produce a consolidated document to serve as a reference by all RCCs.
Procedures and practices applied by the RCOFs to both produce consensus seasonal forecasts and publicise them vary. While most of the RCOFs face similar challenges, especially related to engaging stakeholders, dissemination and uptake of the seasonal forecasts they produce, some RCOFs have been operational for many years and thus have lessons and experiences that can help other RCOFs avoid ‘reinventing the wheel’.
And some of the key thematic areas deliberated on included; training and capacity building, funding mechanism and sustainability, communication and dissemination, and engaging stakeholders among others.
“As a best practice, for sustainability, it is important that member state governments take full ownership of the RCOFs process in terms of funding because the current donor based support system is not sustainable,” said Phillip Omondi of the Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC) at the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa.
Omondi also believes, as other experts do, that with changing meteorological dynamics, “continuity and consistency in training is needed to keep weather experts well-informed on latest trends and tools in the sector.”
It is generally agreed that there is a suspicious relation between scientists and media professionals. The weather experts therefore agreed on the need for enhanced relations between scientists and media. As a best practice, it was agreed, communication and dissemination should be enhanced through provision of training to media and boundary stakeholders, for the benefit of end users.
“I am particularly impressed with the way they arrive at the consensus, but I believe the way stakeholders are engaged is also key,” said Mouhamadou Bamba Sylla,Senior Scientist in climate modeling and climate change at the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL).“Having media persons, the journalists as part of the process to serve as drafters of the press releases from the technical statement is just great, as we scientists are trained in scientific language which is most often not understood by stakeholders. It is something we must improve upon to ensure that the solutions we discover reach the intended end users.”
In line with the overall objective of the write-shop, experts agreed on an outline of the RCOFs best practices document, an early draft with content to be included in the publication, assigned roles and responsibilities, timeline and publication dissemination plan.
“It is always gratifying to note the dedication and expertise from the distinguished experts who gathered here and contribute to their various regional climate outlooks for socio-economic development of our people on the continent,” said Mark Majona of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). “As WMO, we will continue to support and ensure that this forum continues on the continent.”
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, whose economies have been severely affected by global warming and climate change, successful implementation of any of these frameworks is fundamentally contingent on actions taken regionally and globally to address the negative impacts of climate change on the one hand, and/or to explore and use some of the development opportunities from climate change.
As most of the 2015 development frameworks demonstrably point out, very little could be achieved by way of implementation of these frameworks without a complete mastery of the collection and analysis processes of climate data, which is the basis for reliable information for action on climate change at all sectoral levels.
