Lead Scientist, Dr. Lisa Rebelo, recently contributed a paper to "Space and Geospatial Technologies for the Africa We Want" - a book compiled from the outcomes of the 13th International Conference of the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment (AARSE) international conference.
Researchers have provided an important analysis on feed balances of livestock using Digital Earth Africa’s cropland extent map along with other gridded data products. The results provide critical insight into the sustainability and management of ruminant livestock in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.
Farmers play a central role in food security in Africa and entrepreneurs like Kizito Odhiambo are increasing their yields with his Kenyan startup, agriBORA. Leveraging Earth Observation (EO) data and Digital Earth Africa tools in its innovative products, the company digitizes transactions between smallholder farmers and agri-merchants and derisks the cultivation of agricultural products.
Rwanda, similar to many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has been experiencing irregularities in rainfall and temperature, resulting in prolonged droughts, flooding events, and landslides, adversely impacting farming systems and food production. As agriculture is the backbone of Rwanda’s economy - providing livelihoods for over 70% of the population and contributing to about 33% of the country's GDP - this poses significant threats to food security and the socio-economic wellbeing of the population.
How Digital Earth Africa is supporting sustainable coffee production in Kenya
The DE Africa platform provides free and open data covering the continent of Africa, the satellite data is efficiently prepared into analysis-ready data offering the potential to harness the growing volumes of Earth observation (EO) data to solve a myriad of critical problems in agriculture.
The sugar industry in Africa has had its fair share of seasonal challenges and problems, ranging from fragmentation of lands making it uneconomical for small holder farmers, nutrient exhaustion in soil from maintaining the same crop over years without any kind of regenerative activity, and dwindling crop yields among many others. The industry also faces the challenge of cane poaching, with the survival of many sugar companies threatened by the practice.
The agricultural sector is a major driver of Kenya’s economy and a source of livelihood for most of the population. The agriculture sector plays a key role in reducing poverty and increasing food security across the continent. The Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa) platform was developed to leverage the capabilities of satellite data by providing open and freely accessible services.
Food security is a fundamental human right and means people have access to enough safe and nutritious food that meet dietary requirements at all times. It has been estimated that current production of crops will need to double by 2050 to meet future needs. Two-thirds of African countries are net importers of food and with the COVID-19 pandemic not yet reaching its peak, it is feared food shortages will severely impact food security.
The Simiyu agriculture show dubbed in Swahili as ‘NaneNane2020’ was held from Monday 3 to Saturday 8 August and brought together local and international agriculture stakeholders to exchange expertise and discover trends and developments. The Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) took the opportunity to present how Earth observations (EO), using Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa), can help tackle environmental problems.