Issue 86 January 2018 Update ICT a current awareness bulletin for ACP agriculture http://ictupdate.cta.int aWhere converts weather With the second year of the Farmers use precision 8 and agronomic data into a 12 MUIIS project coming to a 14 agriculture to apply forecast and historical record of close, what kind of business model inputs only where and when a farmers’ farm. will take it into the future? they are needed. Precision agriculture for smallholder farmers ICT Update issue 86 Contents 2 The MUIIS Project: made to last The MUIIS Project: Mark Speer 3 Space for food security made to last Interview with Ruud Grim 6 Transforming satellite data for smallholders Mark Speer Interview with Remco Dost 8 Helping farmers make real decisions Interview with Hanna Camp f the world continues on its course, The project is designed so that each of then estimates suggest that by 2050 CTA’s six partners in the chain have 9 How the data revolution can benefit farmers population growth will have a specific task to carry out over the Stéphane Boyera I dwarfed food production. This will project’s three-year lifespan. aWhere, put an untenable strain on resources eLEAF and EARS-E2M handle the 10 The last mile such as land and water as we search analysis and transformation of satellite Interview with Ronald Rwakigumba for ways to feed nine billion people. data into practical advice for farmers. 12 The partnership and business model behind MUIIS This strain is likely to be further CTA works with the AGRA, EAFF and Interview with Benjamin Kwasi Addom exacerbated by climate change. Mercy Corps Uganda on the ground to Unpredictable farming seasons and gauge farmers’ information needs, train 14 A new way to practice agriculture weather patterns are making life even extension workers, digitally profile Christel Kenou more difficult for food producers. Two farmers and train them to use the 16 Farmer organisations and precision agriculture ways of obviating these developments information and advice they receive. data services is to use resources such as water and For the bulk of this issue of ICT Chris Addison and Chipo Msengezi agricultural inputs more efficiently Update, we interviewed people and increase the crop yields of key working for several of these partner actors in global food production: organisations, from NSO to Mercy smallholder farmers. Corps. What exactly does each partner These concerns are what led the do? What makes the partnership Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to strong? Is the business model holding award a subsidy of 4.6 million euros up? The MUIIS project is now through the Netherlands Space Office completing the second of its three to a consortium of partners led by CTA years, so that raises several other ICT Update to implement the Market-led, User- interesting questions, not least of owned ICT4Ag Enabled Information which: how have farmers responded Service (MUIIS). The project has to the idea of subscribing to the MUIIS ambitious goals: increase crop yield, service bundle? One thing all of the ICT Update is a bimonthly printed bulletin with an farmers’ income, the use of people we spoke to agree on is that this accompanying web magazine (http://ictupdate.cta.int) agri-inputs and water, and trade and project is designed to last. Too often, and e-mail newsletter. investment; and decrease the risk of once a project’s funds dry up, so does using agri-inputs. the project. The next issue will be available in April 2018. • Editorial manager: Chris Addison Production coordinator: Merche Rodriguez About the author Related links Research editor: Christel Kenou Mark Speer is editor of ICT MUIIS http://muiis.cta.int Editor: Mark Speer Update based in The Hague, G4AW goo.gl/NArGpj Layout: Steers McGillan Eves Design Ltd the Netherlands. Twitter @MUIIS_U French translation: ISO Translation & Publishing Cover photo: NASA Earth Observatory Publisher: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), Wageningen, The Netherlands With thanks to FAO for distributing ICT Update through e-Agriculture (www.e-agriculture.org) Copyright: ©2018 CTA, Wageningen, the Netherlands http://ictupdate.cta.int This license applies only to the ICT Update issue 86, January 2018. 2 January 2018 | ICT Update | Issue 86 Interview Space for food security ICT Update spoke to Ruud Grim, senior advisor for applications and coordinator of Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) at the Netherlands Space Office, to find out more about the G4AW programme, which made the MUIIS consortium possible. Q How did a space agency get NSO got involved in the discussion all of this knowledge? How, for involved in food security? with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs example, does a farmer benefit from NSO was founded in 2009. But the about food security and supporting it? Do they receive advice that will Netherlands has been represented at smallholder food producers in help them make better decisions? We the European Space Agency for about developing countries. The G4AW concluded that this wasn’t happening 30 years. At a certain point we thought programme emerged from this at the operational level. There were a it’s great that we’ve launched a number discussion. It’s a special programme number of pilot projects, research of satellites into space, but how are we because it connects two worlds that projects and small demonstration going to start using them optimally? had never directly interacted with projects, but they tended to end So that led to one of NSO’s missions, each other before. On the one hand without much follow-up. That’s when namely to promote the use of satellite you have satellites – the high-tech, the ministry decided to take the link data in society. Another mission is to science side of it – and then you have between satellite data and food maximize the use of the entire the development cooperation side – security to the next stage. infrastructure that has been developed. smallholder farmers in developing So we examined that question And at the same time look after the countries, who are extremely for a year or so. We spoke to many government’s economic interests, vulnerable, because if a crop fails players in the field, had a literature especially in terms of innovation. In they’re immediately in trouble. You study carried out by students, and at other words, we also want the Dutch could say the two have nothing to a certain point it became clear that if business sector and knowledge do with each other, and yet we’ve we want to achieve our goal of Right: Ugandan institutes to benefit from satellite data. discovered that they actually have improving food security, a number of farmers at work in You could describes NSO’s role as a a great deal to offer each other. things are crucial: first, quite simply, their field. (Laura driver of innovation, economic growth we need to connect to the smallholder Elizabeth Pohl). and the use of knowledge. Q So how did G4AW come about? farmer. If you can’t do that, then you The discussions at the Ministry of have no added value. You need to Foreign Affairs explored the question understand their needs, otherwise of what aerospace’s added value could you won’t be able to provide them be. Obviously it has added value for with information that can be used to The lesson we’ve learned is that large organisations, for authorities, take action. So knowledge transfer for knowledge institutes, as satellites and capacity building are part of cultural and organisational collect basic data. And from this data this process, which is typically the you can create knowledge and act on it, domain of NGOs and extension problems are more challenging often at the government level. But then officers from ministries of than technological ones someone raised the question, what agriculture. Or companies. So that’s exactly are the authorities doing with the first step that you have to take. http://ictupdate.cta.int 3 Interview The second important condition was permission to extend grants for Q How does the raw satellite Above: A field of that while you can develop a service projects such as MUIIS. That’s data get processed? maize in Uganda. that’s suitable for farmers, it has to be basically what’s behind G4AW. ESA’s Sentinel mission is an (James Anderson, economically viable as well, otherwise important source. It’s a European World Resources it’s pointless. There has to be a party Q How do you actually calculate satellite constellation basically Institute). or an organisation behind it that at what point a smallholder will consisting of three types of satellite, develops a financial model for the benefit from the service? two of which deliver a new message provision of these services, and of Assume that the operational costs of about once a week, while another one course the service has to be service delivery are a million euros a transmits on a daily basis. These affordable. Affordable could mean year. And assume a smallholder farmer satellites supply different kinds of it’s free, but it could come from other earns 1,000 euros a year. Let’s say he’s data. The companies and knowledge sources. It could be a system where prepared to invest 1% of that amount in institutes have algorithms that can customers – farmers or farmer the service, with the potential added derive information from this data. cooperatives – pay, but then in such value that he will stand to earn at least Data that comes down from the a way that they can benefit. 10% more income.