Boosting Climate Smart Agriculture in East Africa with FAIR Land, Soil and Crop Information Services (LSCIS) Project
Introduction
The Boosting Climate Smart Agriculture in East Africa with FAIR Land, Soil and Crop Information Services (LSCIS) Project is designed to strengthen the regional Agricultural Knowledge Innovation System (AKIS) by facilitating exchanges between science, farmers, business and policy makers for increased effectiveness and impact of Climate Smart Agriculture measures and rural transformation in East Africa.
Specific objective
To make adequate and validated land, soil and crop information available and actionable in target countries, in order to support effective decision-making in the field of CSA by farmers, policy makers, investors, donors, development agencies and private sector.
Intervention countries
The target countries for the project are Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. However, the project provides a blue print for application in other countries of Eastern and Central Africa.
Outputs
The project is expected to deliver Agricultural Information Hubs for Ethiopia, Rwanda and Kenya, containing scientifically sound, actionable land, soil and crop information, accompanied by Decision Support Tools. Each hub will cover the entire country with a resolution of 250*250 meters.
Approach
The foundation of the hub is quality assured land and soil information and data on crop responses to fertilisers, weather and climatology. All data will be made available according to FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable). The hubs are expected to guide stakeholders in the selection and implementation of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies at scale. Capacity programs will be developed for staff at EIAR, KALRO and RAB.
Stakeholders
- Farmers, Farmers groups, cooperatives, extension workers.
- Local and international scientists and policy makers.
- Fertiliser companies and blenders
- Service providers such as extension services and credit providers.
- Land use planners and water agencies.
- Projects and programmes funded by the EU, the Netherlands and/or other donors in Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia that aim at boosting Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA)
Summary of key Activities
The activities in this project are grouped into four Work Packages (WPs)
Work package 1: Assessment of the stakeholders needs for agro-information to support CSA decision-making including determination of functionality and design of the platforms.
Work package 2: Development of Agricultural Information Hubs (AIH) in three countries with actionable FAIR land, soil and crop information in a co-creation process between national and international research institutions and the users; and capacity building of the national research institutions for development and maintenance of the hubs.
Work package 3: Assisting users to collect feedback and demonstration for scaling out. The team is engaging with policy makers, input and service providers, investors and development programs and assist them in the actual use of the AIHs and to collect feedback.