According to FAO, ending hunger and malnutrition is one of the greatest challenges ahead for Africa. The continent has more than half of the world's unused arable land, yet it remains vulnerable to food insecurity. Progress has certainly been made in the area of food security over the last years, yet, it has been uneven across countries and regions of Africa. Food production in Africa has unique characteristics that differ from other forms of production, random phenomena with high degree of spatial and temporal variability can adversely affect crop and livestock production. To help combat the threatening pressures of climate change there is an urgent need for accurate and consistent information for well-informed risks assessment and decision making and governance at multiple levels.
AfriCultuReS (
https://africultures.eu/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)) was a 60-month H2020 Research and Innovation project. AfriCultuReS aimed to design, implement and demonstrate an agricultural monitoring and early warning system to support decision making for the enhancement of food security in Africa. The project pushed forward the services provided by other systems, throughout the innovative fusion of multi-source data; Earth Observation (EO) and in-situ data, climate services, weather forecast and crop models. Geospatial products and maps are combined in the AfriCultuReS Platform (
https://africultures-platform.eu/en/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)) for enriched decision making and risk assessment. Attention was given to the dissemination and exploitation of climate data over Africa, on this regard the project developed the AfriCultuReS Climate Portal (
https://africultures-climate.eu/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)) for users specializing on climate science. The Platform provides, multi-scale geospatial information and analytic tools that enrich and improves decision making at different levels, from the policy maker down to the smallholder farmer scale. AfriCultuReS integrates Earth Observation (EO) data, in situ information, crop models, weather forecasts, seasonal climate predictions, long term climate projections and socio-economic and agronomic parameters that support science-backed decision making at different scales, from policy makers at continental or national level down to farm level.
The long-term goal of this project was to make African agriculture and food systems more resilient while fostering the uptake of EO and geospatial and climate science by users. To address added value directly, AfriCultuReS followed a co-design approach for the definition of services and use cases creating ownership and genuine interest among users about a solution that addresses real life challenges. At the end AfriCultuReS aims at bringing solutions to the market to ensure its sustainability, in this regard teaming up with potential clients was key. If solutions are created not only for, but also with clients, market readiness can be achieved quicker and more easily.
AfriCultuReS vision is to be a Food Security Digital Innovation Hub for Africa. AfriCultuReS is envisioned as a one stop shop that gives access to a variety of data, information and services that showcase the application of geospatial technology for the improvement of food security.
