SMART ICT for weather and water information advice to improve resilience in Africa

Giriraj Amarnath1, Bharat Sharma1, Niranga Alahacoon1, Timothy Williams1, Rajesh Pandey1, Gijs Simons2, Vladimir Smakhtin3

1International Water Management Institute (IWMI); 2eLeaf; 3UNU-INWEH

6th Africa Water Week, Dar es Salaam, TanzaniaJuly 18, 2016

CLIMATE CHANGE AND IMPACTS: KEY MESSAGES FOR AFRICA

Africa’s climate is already changing and the impacts are already being felt

1

Further climatechange is inevitable in the coming decades

2

Climate change poses challenges to growth and development in Africa

3

Adaptation will bring immediate benefits and reduce the impacts CC

Adaptation isfundamentally aboutrisk management

Adaptation experiencein Africa is growing

Some low-carbon dev.options may be less costly In the long run and could offer new economic opportunities

Africa stands to benefit from integrated climateadaptation, mitigation and development approaches

International cooperation is vital to avert dangerous climate change and African governments can promote ambitious global action

4 5 6

7 8 9

Source: IPCC AR5

CHALLENGE

• Bring smart and affordable ICT to everyday farm management for smallholders – to help boost sustainable agricultural production in Africa.

Mobile Phones in Africa

Smart Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for Weather, Water Information, EWS and Advice to Smallholders in Africa

PARTNERS

• Satellite images are increasingly being used to assist commercial farmers and agribusinesses

• Innovative approaches and ICT based technologies• Advice to end users for:

• informed decision making• enhanced negotiation capacity with water and farm related service

providers

WHAT ARE THE OPPORTUNITIES TO USE ICT TO INCREASE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY?

• IWMI has developed, test and pilot cell-phone and web-based information systems to provide near real time climate, vegetation, and water information relevant to the agricultural value chains

• To assist farmers, irrigation boards, agriculture extensions and water user associations by providing the information needed to make better management decisions

THE CONCEPT

• Develop online data base for all registered arm fields in Projects sites, around 60 fields in each site

• Use high-resolution RS data to monitor the condition of crops in a farmer’s field

• Convert this info into simple regular agro-advisory delivered to farmers through SMS

• This should help optimise farm profits by providing water and other inputs at the right place, time and quantity

Data processing (NL)

Basis EO data processing

Sophisticated data

processing

Meteorological data

processing

Internet

Dissemination

Website with map server

&Irrigation

forecast tool

Calibration and validation

Crop water consumption

Irrigation

forecasts

In situ data collection

Block delineation by

farmers

Meteo data

Earth observation data

DMCLandsat

NPP-VIIRS MSG

SMSGateway SMS to

farmers cell phone

SMART ICT: OPERATIONAL FLOWCHART

FLOOD RECESSION SUITABILITY ASSESSMENT (NIGERIA)

1

Input Data from Spatial and Statistics

about main Multi Criteria analysis

2

Water Data processing and Manipulating

Final Flood Recession

Suitability Map 6Reclassify of land use

criteria and other variables

3

4

Simple Multi Criteria Analysis

– Weighted overlay using

GIS spatial analysis

5

Spatial overlay map

Spatial Data Integration, Rainfall, SM

Jun_2012 Jul_2012 Aug_2012

Sep_2012Oct_2012

SUITABILITY MAPPING – FLOOD RECESSION AGRICULTURE

MEDIUM

DATA PRODUCTION

Raw DMC satellite data for 21-11-2012 (L), and derived daily evapotranspiration (M) and biomass production (R).

• ET, Biomass Production and related parameters are calculated spatially discrete for all three project areas, based on high-resolution images

• Instantaneous data (valid for the moment of satellite image capturing) are converted to weekly products for the pre-defined seasons

• This procedure is repeated every week: keeping track of the varying crop water conditions throughout the season

OUTPUTS – FLOODING MONITORING

• Only for Sudan; Two flood seasons to date – 2012 and 2013

• Disaster management angle – will Kassala town be affected?

• Water use efficiency angle – do farmers use diverted water for spate irrigation?

Gash Delta, Sudan

Download apphttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mb9inc.iwmi&hl=en

WetIn App

OUTPUTS - WEB PORTAL, AND SMS SERVICE

• FieldLook portal www.fieldlook.com - in English, Arabic and Oromiffaa

• Fieldlook spatial data are “translated” into simple SMSs - both qualitative and quantitative, and both on-demand and weekly “push”

• SMS services match desired information, farmer skills, and language, and consistently revised according to user feedback

Biomass production for 21-27 March, 2013 at the field of the maize farmer Ibrahem Abdel-Halim Hasanen, Egypt

The crop has no water stress when the soil moisture is above the critical

level and below the field capacity

OUTPUTS - IRRIGATION ADVICE

When the soil moisture drops

below the critical line, irrigation is

advised

OUTPUTS - CAPACITY BUILDING AND OUTREACH, SUDAN

Training on ICT Tools and applications Field Visit with Minister of Agriculture

Media briefing

Newspaper highlights

Mobile phones distribution by the Minister

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jul/24/mobile-phones-africa-microfinance-farming

Thank You !

More information visit : www.iwmi.cgiar.org Email: a.giriraj@cgiar.org