On the first day (Tuesday 8th June 2010) of  the 2nd Africa Agriculture Geospatial Week, the afternoon was devoted to looking at the AgCommonsproject and the launching of its new platform.

An introduction to AgCommons was given by Enrica Porcari, Chief Information Officer of the CGIAR, and Laban MacOpiyo, Director of AgCommons, which provided a background to the program and what services it offers.

One of the key highlights of AgCommons is the set of quick-win projects (those bolded were presented):

•Seeing Is Believing: unlocking precision agriculture in West African smallholder communities with very high resolution imagery.

•Nodes of growth: Improving legume seed networks in Kenya(Andy Farrow, CIAT Africa)

•Roads Data Development in Ethiopia

•Community Level Crop Disease Surveillance (Hein Bouwmeester, IITA)

•Africa Trial Sites Catalogue: Reaching out to farmers, agronomists and plant breeders with spatially efficient, participatory testing networks (Kai Sonders, CIMMYT)

Some interesting questions and discussion points that came up from the workshop participants with respect to the Quick-win projects were as follows:

• What is the value addition of AgCommons? of such methods?
• How do you ensure the quality of the data that is provided to farmers (and others)?
• Would be good to collaborate with other NGOs, private sector and even other sectors (e.g Public health sector) which may be using innovate methods for collecting, sharing and translating data.

A presentation was also made by Mandhi Sehmi on KenCall, a partner to AgCommons which has developed a farmer helpline.

In order to improve AgCommons and improve collaboration, an interactive discussion session with the workshop participants was facilitated by Laban MacOpiyo to explore the following questions:

1. What do you think of the concept of AgCommons?
2. What gaps are there? What can be done to improve the concept and operationalisation of it?
3. What could/should people and/or organisations benefit from AgCommons?
4. What could/should people and/or organisations contribute to AgCommons?

Some of the comments and suggestions made included:

• AgCommons should be developed as a form of extension
• Needs to cover wide range of data which can help to support increased production, better understanding of markets, crop information as well as livestock information.
• AgCommons should help to address key issues e.g climate change
• AgCommons is necessary as a global approach which brings in the participation of farmers
• This concept can be used to appeal to policy makers and processes
• Need to think about how information is packaged
• While the commons is a good concept-would also be good to think about which information and products people would/could pay for.

At the end of the session Laban MacOpiyo showcased and launched the new AgCommons platform.  The platform:

provides key elements for geospatial information discovery and accessibility: a comprehensive metadata catalog supporting robust search for geospatial data; an overlay library providing a data gallery for previewing contents of the AGCommons database; and the SMS query interface for access to the data via mobile phone.

Laban highlighted the three main components of the platform:

1. Data Search
2. Data Gallery
3. SMS Query Tool

Kenya’s agriculture minister opens Africa Agriculture Geospatial Week and calls for efforts to take geospatial information to the ‘last mile’

While addressing the 2nd Africa Agriculture Geospatial Week (AAGW) that opened this week at theInternational Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus in Nairobi; Kenya’s Minister for Agriculture, Hon Dr Sally Kosgei, challenged researchers and GIS practitioners to ‘discuss steps towards the development of delivery mechanisms for making geospatial information accessible to poor smallholders in the villages across Sub-Saharan Africa.’

In a speech read on her behalf by Hon Japhet Mbiuki, Kenya’s assistant minister for agriculture, during the official opening of the conference on Wednesday 9 June, 2010, Dr Kosgei, noted that  geospatial information can help in providing  ‘relevant and timely agricultural information that will assist smallholder farmers in the continent in their bid to improve agricultural production’.

While acknowledging that Africa still faces the threat of food insecurity, the minister highlighted the need to focus on helping farmers produce enough to feed their people and create economic opportunities. She particularly emphasized the need to ‘provide seed technologies, explain the appropriate use of fertilization, share techniques to manage land effectively and to create a strong post-harvest infrastructure to help farmers increase their income’.  However, she said that such initiatives ‘will only benefit farmers and producers in general if they are appropriately targeted and if farmers are given easy access to relevant information through appropriate technology transfer mechanisms.’

She highlighted the critical role geospatial information plays in enabling good decision-making throughout the agriculture sector by providing essential location-specific information. ‘Farmers need early information systems to mitigate the effects of extreme climatic events’ she said. ‘They need to know which crops are best suited to their land, how to minimize the threats posed by pest and diseases and where to go to sell their products’.

She added that real-time, location-specific (geospatial) information will enable farmers to ‘better  plan and decide more effectively which crops or livestock will perform best on their farms, anticipate and manage disease outbreaks and rainfall shortfalls, as well as decide when to harvest and in which markets to sell their produce’.

In view of the valuable contribution that geospatial information can make to farming systems and practice in Africa, she challenged participants to find ways of moving geospatial technology from a research-based platform to one that  takes such technologies to the ‘last mile’ and makes them accessible to farmers who need this information the most.

She commended the organizers of the conference, who include AGCommons and the Consortium for Spatial Information (CSI) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) for their work towards providing farmers with location specific information to strengthen agricultural production.

Over 60 organizations, 13 CGIAR partners and 30 students from universities in Kenya have gathered to explore how location specific intelligence can be used to support agricultural production in this year’s meeting – Navigating the change: Highlighting the role of spatial information and analysis in transforming livelihoods and landscapes in a time of change.

Laban MacOpiyo, the director of AGCommons says that as one of the conveners of the event, the organization will use the ideas and lessons shared from the conference to ‘provide a repository of geospatial information that is easily accessible to farmers in Africa.’ More information about the work of AGCommons in using geospatial information can be found on http://blip.tv/file/2778519

This year’s conference is funded by Harvest Choice, AGCommons, and the information communication technology and knowledge management (ICT-KM) program of CGIAR among other partners and builds on the conference held last year also at ILRI. It aims among others, to share experiences in using geographical information systems (GIS) for agricultural development, encourage sharing and learning from each other’s good practices and provide staff from different organizations with opportunities in using GIS to meet the increasing demands of a changing global agriculture sector.

Story by Paul Karaimu, Corporate Communications Writer, ILRI

The Training Day will take place on on Friday 11 June at the ILRI Campus in Nairobi, Kenya.

The program of the day includes parallel training sessions from ESRI, Google and OpenStreetMap.

Registration is closed

Google program:

A series of workshops  to learn how Google’s geo tools relate to each other and can be used for scientific investigations, resource management, monitoring deforestation, and also as powerful communication tools.

Featured products will include

Google Earth
Google Maps
Google Map Maker
Fusion Tables
Open Data Kit.

All products will be presented in a context of applied agriculture in order to facilitate discussions in the spirit of the theme of the event.

ESRI program:

The  workshop will cover the new features coming with ArcGIS Server 10, how to use your data to make maps and share them with others by publishing them on a server.ArcGIS offers several options for building web applications. Participants will learn how to quickly and easily use configurable web applications to leverage maps from ArcGIS.com as well as their own data. Participants will also learn about the different types of web applications that can be built with the different ArcGIS APIs. The workshop will also focus on the new web editing capabilities of ArcGIS Server 10. This functionality enables to create a variety of web applications for collaboration.The workshop will cover a complete step by step process: from authoring your maps effectively for web editing, enabling web editing capabilities in ArcGIS Server, and selecting the appropriate end client application to support different editing workflows.

Featured technology:

• ArcGIS Server
• ArcGIS Web Map for Flex
• ArcGIS Explorer Online
• ArcGIS.com
• ArcGIS APIs for JavaScript, Flex and Silverlight

OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap is a free and open map of the entire world, open to contribution and use by anyone. The workshop will start with a general introduction to OpenStreetMap, introduce surveying with GPS and satellite imagery digitization, and use of the OpenStreetMap.org website. We’ll cover editing and tagging with our editors, JOSM and Potlatch. We’ll look at how OSM data can be used on the web, and in other GIS tools from ESRI, Google, and others. The day will close with a survey of advanced topics like API rendering, filtering, and imports.

aWhere (starting at 2pm)

This session will provide an introductory look at Agricultural Information System – Weather Surfaces (AIS) and, aWhere desktop software – a lightweight GIS designed specifically for non-GIS specialist use. The AIS provides historical, forecasts and round-the-clock access to the most comprehensive, continuously updated and cleansed weather database available critical for agri-business.

Due to space limitations registrations will be accepted on a “first come first served”  basis,  and precedence will be given to those who have registered to attend other events of the AAGW 2010.

To register please fill the form here

Please note that a specific registration is required to attend the training and that the  AAGW  registration DOES NOT grant you access to the training sessions.

If you need further information please send an email to info@africaagricultureGISweek.org

You can use any format, including interactive sessions, poster boards, video demonstration or  live application demonstration.

The closing date for the submission has been extended to 30th April, 2010.
Please note that at this point in time, we are not able to cover travel costs and daily allowance.
For more information:  http://africaagriculturegisweek.org/how-do-i-participate/

Call for presentations is available for downloading here: 2ndCallforPresentations

It will be held in conjunction with the Africa Agriculture GIS Week 2010 on 12 and 13 June in Nairobi.

WhereCampAfrica is an opportunity to present on ideas, questions, projects, politics, technical issues that you have – and contribute to and get feedback from other people and to make new friends with similar interests. It’s free and fun.
This will be the third gathering of its kind to take place in Africa.

An unconference is a conference planned by the participants. After a morning plenary to help frame the discussion we all convene together, plan sessions, and have break-outs into sessions. Part of what is important to hearing new voices and getting new ideas is lowering barriers to participation – this event is free and it is driven by the participants.

What kinds of topics will be discussed?
This event is community driven and is what you make it. Topics might include:

• Mobile location
• Remote Sensing
• Geoinformatics
• Mapping and Agriculture
• Food Security and Location
• Community Mapping
• Local Search
• social cartography
• Crisis Mapping

Expect to participate in conversations on the technology of place as described in pixels, whiteboards, rays, on paper, and by social practice!

How exactly do I get to WhereCampAfrica?
More details about WhereCampAfrica – Nairobi

Who do I contact for more information?
jharpster (at) spatialdev(dot) org
http://twitter.com/wherecampafrica
http://twitter.com/jharpster

And if you haven’t had enough mapping yet please check out www.mapkibera.org

This is a brief follow-up to the earlier (in January – already!) email about our next CSI/AGCommons sponsored meeting, the 2010 Africa Agriculture GIS Week (AAGW). Most importantly, the date and location have been set!

• Location: Nairobi, Kenya (exact venue not still under negotiation, likely ILRI or ICRAF. Yes, we too are disappointed we didn’t make Bamako. Let’s get the funding to do that next time!)
• Dates: 8-13 June 2010 (MARK ON YOUR CALENDAR NOW!)
• Draft Schedule

-   Day 1 (8 June, Tue): Business meetings for CSI and AGCommons (independently and jointly) (perhaps half day special mini-symposia)

-   Day 2,3 (Wed, Thu): Presentation sessions (Centers, AGCommons, external contributions from the region)

-   Day 4 (Fri): Training (topics TBA, but including ArcServer)

-   Day 5 (Sat): Africa WhereCamp 2.0 (details TBA)

-   Day 6 (Sun): BarCamp (details TBA)

• Content Committee: Glenn, Sibiry, Laban, Enrica, Laban, Jubal & Stan(overall program and set themes for contributed sessions)

Details, including venue and budget support, are still being finalized – we’ll keep you posted. Any and all ideas for program, logistics, recreation.. gratefully received

Again, self-sponsorship for all or part of your participation should be your goal, but we will do all we can to top up where essential for Centre CSI reps.

Many thanks to Francesca, Ria and Laban who have started shouldering the logistical burden, soon to be helped by a contact at our chosen venue.

Cheers,

Stan (& Enrica)

PS The World Cup starts on June 11^th and I will be pre-selling 2010 World Cup Champions (England) tee-shirts. Order now to avoid disappointment.

Source: CGIAR-CSI Blog