AGRISAT WORKSHOP: Earth observation for worldwide agricultural monitoring

13-15 October 2010 AGRISAT WORKSHOP, Brussels. The objective of this workshop was to review the state-of-the-art, the current issues and the way forward in agricultural monitoring systems for the different regions of the world. Key recommendations were formulated in order to improve food security and agricultural production monitoring on a global scale, taking into account policy evolutions, agro-ecosystems diversity and satellite system developments.

It was admitted that agriculture has not been the priority of remote sensing so far.

• The focus has been on land cover areas for environmental purposes.
• Also the climate change community is mainly concerned by land cover and not land use.
• Crop monitoring is mainly focusing on high production countries, not subsistence farming
• Participants urged for more funding for  subsistence farming’ crop monitoring
• Remote sensing specialist cannot be expected to responsible for the use of their information up to the level of farmers. They need information intermediaries for this but experience a lack of follow up
• A separate forum/venue is needed to discuss the recipients’ perspective (dixit Christopher Justice, University of Maryland, USA)
•  The users’ perspective was not so well represented because a number of persons participate at the Fifth International Conference on Agricultural Statistics (ICAS-V) ( 12-15 October 2010, Kampala, FAO).
• Only one NGO attended: Action Contre la Faim ACF Espagne-Mali: Erwann FILOL & Frederic HAM
• The African participants came from Senegal, Sudan, Ethiopia, Niger, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique (BEYE Gora Centre de Suvi Ecologique Senegal;  AZAHRI FARH MAHGOUP Mohamed Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forests Sudan; EL SHEIKH Hassan GMFS Sudan; TULU Mathewos Hunde Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ethiopia; ALFARI Issifou AGHRYMET Niger; AGATSIVA Jaspat Regional Center for Mapping of Resources Development (RCMRD) Kenya; GALU Gideon USGS/FEWS NET Kenya; KORME Tesfaye RCMRD Kenya; SITUMA Charles Department of resource survey and remote sensing Kenya; MBUKWA Christopher Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Malawi; PATRICIO Domingos Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia, Mozambique; DAMELIO Jacopo FAO Zimbabwe

Satellite images with a high and moderate spatial resolution are expected to have a strong development in the coming years. It will become easier to integrate remote sensing data in the policy making and foresight capacity of African Ministries of Agriculture. Remote sensing data are to lead to improved statistical analysis and the creation of information products which allow for easier interpretation. Having reliable figures before harvest is a major challenge. In well organized African countries crop area estimates are generally available a few months after harvest. The management of agricultural policy and food security requires timely and possibly objective agricultural statistics.

Following the presentation of David Radcliffe on “EU Policy framework and (future) challenges: Agriculture and food security for development” there was a discussion on how to stimulate the uptake of Earth Observation (EO) data by other users (non governmental and non research actors). Pathways are to be designed for transitioning from research to operations, targeting information providers and users. Local organizations (ngo, farmer organizations, etc) have not the capacity to generate sophisticated data. It is thus difficult to expect from local stakeholders to generate ground truthing data (verification, calibration and validation of remote sensing data). Universities should partner with non-research stakeholders to clarify the local need for natural resources data.

In the plenary David Radcliffe said that he saw a role for PAEPARD to articulate the demand of non-research stakeholders for EO data. Proposals (ENV.2011.4.1.4-1) should include a strong communication strategy “to get the message down to the farmer organizations”.

Background:

The workshop frames under the GMES initiative and is a contribution to the GEO Agricultural Monitoring Task (Ag 0703) which has the goal of improving international coordination on earth observation for enhanced agricultural monitoring. Related blog post: Developing increased EO capacity for better agriculture and forestry management in Africa

Downloads

• Brochure AGRISAT (PDF)

Presentations

• AGRISAT 11 DG AGRI Bruno Buffaria (PDF)
• AGRISAT 12 DG DEV David Radcliffe (PDF)
• AGRISAT 13 WFP Rogerio Bonifacio (PDF)
• AGRISAT 14 GMES Giancarlo Granero (PDF)
  
• AGRISAT 21 Chris Justice overview EO agriculture (PDF)
• AGRISAT 22 Henri Josserand user needs (PDF)
• AGRISAT 23 Curt Reynolds global trends (PDF)
  
• AGRISAT 31 FEWSNET Jim Verdin (PDF)
• AGRISAT 32 VITO Lieven Bydekerke (PDF)
• AGRISAT 33 ESA Simon Pinnock (PDF)
  
• AGRISAT 41 UCL Pierre Defourny (PDF)
• AGRISAT 42 RLCM Tesfaye Korme (PDF)
• AGRISAT 43 IKI Igor Savin (PDF)
• AGRISAT 44 NASS Larry Beard (PDF)
  
• AGRISAT 51 JRC Javier Gallego (PDF)
• AGRISAT 52 CONAB Jansle Rocha (PDF)
• AGRISAT 53 DRSRS Charles Situma (PDF)
  
• AGRISAT 61 RS crop monitoring Allard deWit (PDF)
• AGRISAT 62 Senegal Gora Beye (PDF)
• AGRISAT 63 India Jai Parihar (PDF)
• AGRISAT 64 MARS Bettina Baruth (PDF)

AgriBusiness Forum 2010 - Food Security: a Business Opportunity

3 – 6 Oct 2010. Kampala. The AgriBusiness Forum 2010. For four days, over 400 industry leaders, cooperatives, SMEs, financiers, government officials, NGOs, researchers, international organisations, multinationals and donors from 42 countries around the world gathered in Kampala and discussed the urgent matter of food security and its potential to generate business opportunities.

Ralph von Kaufmann from FARA

In particular, the AgriBusiness Forum assembly agreed that Africa plays an important role in the increase of food production and thus, in the long run, can contribute significantly to solving the projected 70% increase for food demand by 2050.

The AgriBusiness Forum 2010 looked at food security as an opportunity to:

1. Boost the African agro-food sector through the design, planning, and implementation of diverse agricultural policies and projects.
2. Debate on the role of the private sector in improving food access and increasing sustainable agricultural productivity.
3. Improve production as well as pre and post-harvest intervention, commodities, and inputs.
4. Attract new & strengthen existing partnerships and investments in the agri-food sector in Africa.

They resolved that the private sector plays a crucial role in up-scaling agricultural productivity; putting in mind that capacity building will create a more efficient agribusiness.

For her Bee Natural Project, Maria Odido won the amount of US$ 15,000. The project aims at processing carrot relish, carrot and pineapple jam. Maria Odido was delighted with her award and summed up the motivation of many of the AgriBusiness Forum participants, ‘It’s not my job, it’s my life’.
 
Click here to find out more aboutMaria Odido's Project


Including small-scale producers in the value-chain, the experts said, is vital for agribusiness innovation.

"Indigenous knowledge should be improved on - farmers require training, technology, information technology and mobile applications to improve their smallholder agribusiness operations," the forum agreed.

Background:
AgriBusiness Forum, an annual business Forum that aims to contribute to the sustainable economic growth of Africa by further developing its agriculture and agro-food industry, was organised by teh Brusels-based non-profit organisation EMRC, in partnership with the Uganda Government.

Established in 1992 in Brussels, EMRC is a non-profit International Association composed of a network of entrepreneurs, financiers, consultants and officials based throughout the world. EMRC's mission is to lead the private sector in Africa to sustainable economic development and to drive regional change via partnerships.

This AgriBusiness 2010 was sponsored by FAO and Rabobank, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), USAID, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, Novus International, Heineken, FARA, Stanbic Bank, Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, KPMG, ProInvest and IFDC.

Announcement: Festival de films documentaires ALIMENTERRE / Documentary Festival Fight against Hunger

Manger est un plaisir mais surtout une nécessité vitale. Quelle alimentation souhaitons-nous et comment est-elle produite ? Comment ceux qui produisent peuvent-ils en vivre dignement ? Ici ou ailleurs, on oublie trop souvent que derrière chaque assiette, il y a un agriculteur.
Depuis sa création, le Festival de films ALIMENTERRE projette et met en débat les questions cruciales liées à l’alimentation et à l’agriculture, en France comme dans les pays pauvres. 
Au menu cette année, le décryptage d’un système agricole dévastateur aux Etats-Unis, un témoignage saisissant sur le travail esclave de paysans sans terre au Brésil, la dénonciation d’une concurrence déloyale entre les agricultures du monde mais aussi une immersion dépaysante au sein d’une communauté de femmes équatoriennes et l’expérience suisse d’une agriculture de proximité.
Réalisateurs, agronomes, chercheurs, agriculteurs, représentants d’organisations paysannes ou d’unions de consommateurs au Sud proposeront leurs témoignages et leurs analyses, en lien avec leurs expériences de terrain.

Food, Inc. > en savoir plusLa légende de la terre dorée > en savoir plusMadre(s) tierra > en savoir plusAu coeur de la proximité > en savoir plusJe mange donc je suis > en savoir plus


Consultez l'agenda des manifestations


Au TOGO, après le succès de l’an dernier, l’OADEL décentralise son Festival à Kpalimé avec 3 séances à l’Hôtel de Ville, mais aussi 5 projections dans des villages autour de Kpalimé et 4 projections spéciales (Université de Lomé, Centre Culturel Français, etc.).

Au BENIN, CREDI-ONG se lance pour la première fois dans l’aventure avec plusieurs séances à Cotonou.

En BELGIQUE, SOS Faim reconduit le Festival de films ALIMENTERRE du 14 au 16 octobre au Botanic à Bruxelles.

En POLOGNE, PZS, partenaire du CFSI, organise un Festival multi-activités itinérant : 1er et 2 octobre à Wroclaw, 15 et 16 octobre à Cracovie, 23 et 24 octobre à Gliwice.

Le festival de films AlimenTerre

Programme

Bruxelles : Botanique (salle cinéma), à 1210 Bruxelles

Le 14 octobre

• 18h00 : "Bananes à régime forcé" de Didier Fassio, 52'
  
• 19h00 : "La légende de la terre dorée" de Stéphane Brasey, 55'
  
  
  
  20h00 : Débat "Accaparement des terres et esclavagisme" en présence de François Houtart, prêtre et sociologue belge, fondateur du centre tricontinental (CETRI) et de la revue Alternatives Sud et de Mohamadoun Coulibaly, partenaire malien de SOS Faim
• 21h00 : "Les prêcheurs de l'apocalypse" de Jérôme Lambert et Philippe Picard, 52'

• 22h00 : Débat "Nourrir le monde versus préserver l'environnement" en présence de Jérôme Lambert, réalisateur, Gérard Choplin, spécialiste en politiques agricoles pour la Coordination européenne Via Campesina et de Mohamadoun Coulibaly, partenaire malien de SOS Faim
• 22h30 : Drink solidaire

Le 15 octobre

• 18h00 : "Au coeur de la proximité" de Nicole Petitpierre, 39'

• 19h00 : "Food Inc." de Robert Kenner, 92'

• 21h30 : "La robe du temps" de Malam Saguirou, 52'
• 20h30 : Débat "A qui profite l'agriculture ?" en présence de Daniel Cauchy, consultant, formateur en éducation au développement et à l'environnement, spécialisé en approche écosystémique
• 22h30 : Débat "Le poids de la tradition dans l'agriculture" en présence de Ken Ndiaye, anthropologue et de Mohamadoun Coulibaly, partenaire malien de SOS Faim
• 23h00 : Drink solidaire
Le 16 octobre
• 15h00-16h00-17h30 : "Paysans, 60 ans de révolution" 3 films de Karine Bonjour et Gilles Perez, 3x53'
• 17h00 : Goûter
• 18h30 : Débat "Le rôle des politiques agricoles" en présence de représentants des groupes jeunes des différents partis politiques francophones
• 19h30 : "Du riz et des hommes" de Nicolas Stinglhamber, Antonella Lacatena, Sophie Cailliau, Charlotte Gille et Yann Verbeke, 15'
• 19h45 : "Main basse sur le riz" de Jean Crépu, 82'
21h30 : Débat "La sécurité alimentaire : ses enjeux et ses défis" en présence de Jean Crépu, réalisateur et d'Olivier De Schutter, rapporteur aux Nations unies pour le droit à l'alimentation et de Mohamadoun Coulibaly, partenaire malien de SOS Faim

Developing increased EO capacity for better agriculture and forestry management in Africa

28/09/2010, Brussels. Interview with Alan Edwards (EC/DG Research, Earth Observation Sector) @ the South Africa's biodiversity research partnership.



Alan Edwards answers what the genesis is of the FP7 call ENV.2011.4.1.4-1 "Developing increased EO capacity for better agriculture and forestry management in Africa". About non-research actors, he answers that the main non-research actors are [African] policy makers.

Related:

AGRISAT WORKSHOP, Brussels - 13-15 October 2010
The objective of this workshop is to review the state-of-the-art, the current issues and the way forward in agricultural monitoring systems for the different regions of the world. Key recommendations will be formulated in order to improve food security and agricultural production monitoring on a global scale, taking into account policy evolutions, agro-ecosystems diversity and satellite system developments.

The workshop frames under the GMES initiative and is a contribution to the GEO Agricultural Monitoring Task (Ag 0703) which has the goal of improving international coordination on earth observation for enhanced agricultural monitoring.

Back ground FP7 ENV Call

Area 6.4.1.4 Developing capacity building activities in the domain of Earth Observation in the new EU countries and in the developing countries. ENV.2011.4.1.4-1 Developing increased EO capacity for better agriculture and forestry management in Africa.

The main objective of this action is to contribute to food security in Africa by enhancing the

current global capabilities in the areas of agriculture monitoring, famine early warning, foodsupply and crop prediction and agriculture risk assessment, through increased use of Earth observation data.

Emphasis is placed on the creation and sustained provision of the required Earth observation data, enhancements of the observations (data products and predictive models) and the development of the necessary capacity and infrastructure to make the data and products available to improve agricultural and forestry management, including irrigation issues, using the full interoperable capability of the GEOSS.

The activity shall integrate and build upon GEO tasks, in particular AG-07-03: Global Agricultural Monitoring and GMES initiatives, including the ESA GMES Global Monitoring for Food Security Project, establishing the appropriate connections.

Funding scheme:

Collaborative Project (small or medium-scale focused research project) for specific cooperation actions (SICA) dedicated to international cooperation partner countries Expected Impact: Assembly, integration and provision of existing and newly generated geoinformation relevant for Agriculture, Forestry and Ecosystem management by building the necessary capacity, especially within developing countries. The substantial uptake of Earth Observation techniques, information and products by an increasingly large community of managers and decision makers.

Innovative funding for innovative partnerships

22nd September 2010. Brussels. Promotion of Sustainable Development in Agricultural Research Systems in the South (DURAS). Interview with Oliver Oliveros, former coordinator of the DURAS programme, at the European NGO meeting: "Reorient research towards more demand-driven approach for African family farmers?". 

After four years of implementation, the DURAS Project wrapped up its activities in June 2008.


The DURAS Project was conceived in order to support the opening up process being promoted by GFAR and to contribute to strengthening the involvement of southern stakeholders in the agricultural research process and ensuring that their voices are heard at the international level. It also aimed to enhance the scientific potential of these stakeholders through the implementation and management of research programmes which they believe to be strategically important for their regions.


The project’s three components included:

• Support to the strengthening of regional fora in agricultural research, particularly in enabling relevant stakeholders such as NGOs, farmer groups and small and medium agri-enterprises to actively participate in the R&D process
• Reinforce functional information communication management (ICM) system and development of Regional Agricultural Information Systems (RAIS)
• Launch a Competitive Grants Systems to encourage and promote innovation; to scale up innovative practices developed in the south; and to enhance scientific capacity southern partners


Related:
Three hundred bright minds from business and industry, science, governments, NGOs and farmers’ organisations, recently met in Brussels from 11-12 May 2010 at an international conference called “The Art of Farming”. They explored the potential of sustainable business models that include small-scale farmers. 

Money for farming
Complete issue as a PDF file, 48 pages, 4.1 MB Farming matter June 2010

Farming Matters is published by ileia, the Centre for learning on sustainable agriculture. ileia is a member of the AgriCultures Network; eight organisations that provide information on smallscale, sustainable agriculture worldwide. www.ileia.org 

European NGO meeting: reorient research towards more demand-driven approach for African family farmers?

22nd September. Brussels. CNCD – 11.11.11. 9, quai du Commerce. The Collectif Stratégies Alimentaires (CSA) organised a seminar (internal consultation on: How can European NGO reorient research towards more demand-driven approach for African family farmers?

Objective of the consultation for European NGO’s

This internal consultation for NGOs is in line with the WP1 of the PAEPARD project, aiming at improving the participation of civil society and private sector in ARD partnerships with Africa. The subjacent objective of the European NGO’s participation was, thanks to their experience, providing keys to reorient research towards more demand-driven approach for African family farmers. The aim of the consultation was highlighting constraints and opportunities for more inclusive and balanced partnerships establishment, and elaborating common view of what NGOs should promote into PAEPARD.

Participants

All European NGOs interested by food security and agricultural research are invited to the consultation, but number of participants will be limited to 30.

20th Brussels Development Briefing was on 'Financing agriculture'

13/09/2010. Brussels.The 20th Brussels Development Briefing was on ‘Financing agriculture’ and took place on the 15th of  September 2010 at the Borschette Center . As an input to the UN Summit on MDGs to be held in New York on 22-26 September 2010, issues related  to financing development in the context of agriculture and rural development were discussed. 


This included issues such asAid and ODA , taxation (Domestic tax revenues), private investment (new donors), revenue generation. Speakers included: Centre for Environmental Policy at  Imperial College in London, the  Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa in the US, CONCORD, OECD, African Development Bank, Caribbean Development Bank, YARA, African regional framers organizations.


Here are a number of interviews with key note speakers:

Mr. Rajesh Behal is Principal Investment Officer at International Finance Corporation, The World Bank. In his feedback, Mr. Behal outlines what the World Bank does to facilitate access to credits for small scale farmers.


Ms. Julie Howard is Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, an NGO based in the USA. In her feedback, she presents the activities of her organization and gives insights about the increased attention of the US government towards African agriculture.


Sir Gordon Conway is a Professor for international development at the Imperial College in London. In his feedback, Sir Conway recalls the highlights of the discussions during the Briefing.


Additional information:

• Programme
• Selected resources
• Concept Note
• Biodata of speakers and discussants
• List of participants
• Evaluation Form
• Reader

Knowledge Based Bio-Economy towards 2020 Conference

14/09/2010. Brussels. Knowledge Based Bio-Economy towards 2020 Conference. The aim of this conference was twofold: to take stock of the progress made since 2005 (the first KBBE conference) and the forward look towards 2020, contributing to the new vision and action plan for a Sustainable Bright Green Bio-Economy.

After the opening session of the conference, parallel sessions were organised around three topics: feedstocks for the bio-economy, innovative biobased products and innovative food production. Policy makers, academics, industry and civil society representatives jointly assessed the present achievements and the future needs of the bio-economy.

In the final part of the conference conclusions were drawn and policy recommendations were formulated. Site visit: On Monday 13 September, participants had the opportunity to join a site visit to the Life Sciences and bio-energy clusters in Ghent, highlighting two different aspects of the bio-economy.

Related: Information Day and Brokerage Event on Call FP7-KBBE-5-2011
13/09/2010. Brussels. The European Commission organised a European Info day for the upcoming call for proposals under the 'Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and Biotechnology' theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

The afternoon programme consisted of a Brokerage Event for the 2011 call, organised by the BIO CIRCLE project. During this Brokerage Event, researchers from Europe and Third Countries will have the opportunity to discuss opportunities to collaborate on proposals for topics in the 2011 KBBE Work Programme.

African conference on agriculture, food security and climate change

6 to 8 September 2010. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. More than 100 researchers and policymakers met this month to try to articulate a common African position ahead of the United Nations climate change conference due to take place in Mexico in December.

In 2009 at the thirteenth African Union summit, heads of state tasked the African Union Commission (AUC) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) to develop an agriculture-based climate change mitigation and adaptation framework, which is apparently still under progress.

The September meeting was meant "to make sure that Africa will benefit from the climate change discussions'' and to ensure that agriculture was not ignored in negotiations, according to a statement released by Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, the African Union's Uganda-born commissioner for rural economy and agriculture since 2008.

"Food security, agriculture and climate change… are all inextricably linked with significant consequences for us if they are not carefully managed," she said.

Tumusiime urged researchers to consider how Africa could benefit from carbon gas trade arrangements like the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

She noted that only two percent of CDM's market-related projects come from Africa. The fifty-sixth meeting of the CDM executive board takes place from 13 to 17 September 2010 in New York, USA.

At the climate change meeting in Cancún, Mexico, at the end of 2010, African negotiators will focus at sustainable land management, which they argue has the potential to mitigate climate change and strengthen the economic resilience to the impacts of global warming.

The seventh African Development Forum will meet from 10 to 15 October 2010, on the theme of Acting on Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa, at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The forum is a collaboration between by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in partnership with the AUC and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Links
African Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change Holds in Addis Ababa
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
African Union
NEPAD