CO-DESIGN IN TIMES OF COVID-19
One of the few positive points of the Corona-crisis is that it provides an opportunity for reflection. For me, this included looking at the design considerations applied ages ago and the ones we use now. What are the differences and what is still valid? A lesson from the Corona-outbreak is not to take anything for […]
WEATHER FORECASTING FOR AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA, THE BUSINESS CASE?
Weather information is a priority for farmers, whether they use irrigation or not. It should be localized, timely, and accurate enough, to make the information relevant at the field level. In Africa, this is often not the case, although there are information providers, such as aWhere (https://www.awhere.com/) and Weather Impact (https://www.weatherimpact.com/) that are active on […]
From large to small or from small to large?
Lessons from the use of mobile apps and geodata apps for smallholder farmers Satellite and geodata applications for smallholder agriculture are quite new, more general apps for smallholders that make use of mobile technology are around a bit longer. A number of these mobile initiatives have been evaluated (have a look at www.gsma.com) and it […]
DIGITALISATION, INFORMED DECISION-MAKING, EMPOWERMENT, INCLUSIVENESS & THE RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH
An important advantage of digitalization and remote sensing, in particular, is that it facilitates informed decision-making, can serve as an instrument for empowerment (increased transparency), and supports inclusiveness. But how is this put into practice and take existing power relations into account? Especially in the context of tackling poverty, many factors play a role and […]
DIGITAL BUILDING BLOCKS TO GO BEYOND PILOTS FOR FOOD SECURITY
Most geodata applications for food security are still in the pilot stage. Geodata specialists tend to look to general digitalization initiatives for inspiration. The idea is to learn from them as they started earlier and are supposedly more advanced. Is this true? Apparently not, if you look at the latest World Bank report on digital […]
GEODATA FOR AGTECH AND FINTECH
There is quite some interest in geodata applications for inclusive finance for smallholder farmers. The idea is that financial institutions can make their operations more effective and more efficient. Geodata companies are looking for a combination of new markets and solving societal problems. Applications are credit scoring, assessment of repayment rate and time, geo-location of […]
UNIVERSAL AND INCLUSIVE ACCESS TO GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION FOR INCREASED PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY IN AGRICULTURE AND WATER
There is a lot of attention for digitalization for rural development (see for example the IT4D publication), however the sustainable increase of production and productivity in agriculture and water with the help of digitalization has not reached scale yet. The current wisdom is that this is most likely because most farmers in developing countries are […]
ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING, ON THE DASHBOARD OR IN THE TRUNK?
Fortunately, the attention for environmental accounting and ecosystem accounting is growing. We need more systems for inclusive measurement, monitoring and evaluation. There are many initiatives: On environmental and ecosystem accounting, such as the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) (here), The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) (here) and Earth Observation for Ecosystems Accounting (EO4EA) […]
