By Dr Kenneth Mubea
The Information for Agriculture, Food and Water Security (IAFWS) project seeks to improve lives through the productivity of smallholder farmers and demonstrate what can be learnt from Earth observation. The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) funds the project. The IFAWS project is led by Digital Earth Africa and implemented in collaboration with the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) and the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA).
The IFAWS workshop for Botswana was held at Grand Aria Hotel, Gaborone, on 2 - 3 March 2023 to connect with stakeholders in agriculture and food security. The workshop started with an introduction of all participants led by Dr Baitsi Podisi from the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA). The participants were from Ministries, Departments, agencies (MDAs), academia, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the private sector.
Dr Baitsi Podisi gave an overview of CCARDESA and its engagement with ASARECA in this IFAW project. He shared CCARDESA's immediate plans of having its Governing Assembly in Durban, South Africa, in June 2023. He further mentioned that CCARDESA works with Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states, including Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Mr Moses Odeke from ASARECA gave an overview of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), highlighting the aim of ASARECA to contribute to agriculture transformation in Eastern and Southern Africa in its member states Burundi, Cameroon, CAR, DRC, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Kenya, ROC, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. ASARECA has partnered with Digital Earth Africa to strengthen Earth Observation (EO) in food security in Eastern and Southern Africa under a changing climate.
Dr Kenneth Mubea introduced participants to Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa) by including access to the DE Africa platform Maps, sandbox and data sets, continental services, water observation from space (WOfS), cropland service and cloud-free mosaics GeoMAD on Sentinel 2 and Landsat. Further, he showed the participants how to access other GIS services, including Esri Afri-Geoportal. In the class examples, participants covered food security-crop mapping, water resources, vegetation monitoring, biodiversity conservation, and land degradation, with examples of farms in Pandamatenga, Talana Farms and Lake Ngami. Overall, the participants appreciated access to the continental platform, DE Africa unlocking the promise of tomorrow from the patterns of the past.
In conclusion, ASARECA and CCARDESA committed to keeping the participants engaged via email on updates on DE Africa's free online training https://learn.digitalearthafrica.org/, DE Africa live sessions https://forms.gle/TPi9btMVCJEvksg39 and opportunities for collaboration to ensure no one is left behind.
The author is a Capacity Development and Strengthening Team Lead and Digital Earth Africa.
