Agriculture

In December 2015, representatives from the Zambian Ministries of Agriculture and Fisheries and Livestock, the EU, IFPRI , the Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) , Zambia’s CSO-SUN Alliance , and Zambia’s National Food and Nutrition Commission met at the “Enhancing the link between evidence and agriculture, food, and nutrition” policy dialogue. The event focused on painting a clearer picture of the global food and nutrition security environment and assessing Zambia’s risks and opportunities regarding its domestic food and nutrition security.

The surge in digital technologies available over the past few decades has transformed virtually every sector of the global economy, and agriculture is no exception. Information and communications technologies (ICTs) such as mobile phones and SMS messaging are changing the way farmers track weather patterns, access market information, interact with traders and government agencies, and get paid for their crops.

Continuing its series on climate-smart agriculture (CSA), the World Bank has recently released a country profile for Kenya . Of the country’s 42.7 million people, 74 percent live in rural areas; agriculture employs more than 80 percent of Kenya’s rural workforce and provides about 18 percent of the country’s total formal employment. Over the past 30 years, the agricultural sector has contributed 28 percent of the country’s GDP and 65 percent of the country’s total export earnings.

Agriculture plays a major role in the economy and labor market of Rwanda, as it does in many countries in Africa south of the Sahara. The agricultural sector made up one-third of the country’s GDP in 2009-2013 and employed more than 80 percent of the Rwandan population (World Bank, 2015). With a changing climate providing new production challenges and an increasing population driving greater demand for food, however, agriculture needs to adapt if it is going to continue to be a sustainable economic mainstay.

This post contains excerpts from the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) blog .

The first Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA) , Africa Edition, was held on December 1-2 in Durban, South Africa.  The meeting brought together policymakers, private sector actors, farmers’ organizations, and international organizations to discuss innovations, investments, and policies for advancing Africa’s development through improvements in data collection to provide relevant and timely information for agricultural producers.