MISSION

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Food Safety and Agricultural Health Action Plan (farmers in urban and peri-urban areas)

• improve food safety and quality;

• reduce risk of foodborne illness;

• increase compliance with international trade standards; 

• enhance economic growth and improved public health.

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Technology & Innovation for Women-led farmers

• Reduce the digital divide by accelerating meaningful access to digital technologies and universal digital literacy for SMEs to monitor water and climate change.

• Increase STEM education for SMEs for women-led enterprises.

• Increase ownership of mobile phones for women-led enterprises.

• Mobilize funds/investments in tech innovations focused on improving SME women-led enterprises.

• Increase women in using and working in technology and innovation in agriculture.

Economic Advancement

• Increase women’s financial inclusion by increasing both formal and informal financial inclusion, including women at risk of being excluded from formal financial services.

• Formally register/ incorporate women-led SMEs with the government  officials.

• Provide financial management education and training.

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Data

• Contributing to environmental data including disaggregated data from earth observation, in-situ data, citizen science, ground truthing, and indigenous and local knowledge are necessary for national policy and accounting more broadly.

• Using Earth observation techniques, from outer space and on Earth, in combination with new tools for data analysis, disciplines like environmental accounting, and environmental economics, has revolutionized our ability to recognize patterns of what causes environmental change and how it impacts life 

ON-GOING RESEARCH

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Women's Smart Climate Observation Service

In Sub-Saharan Africa gender-smart climate observation service is needed for two fundamental reasons. Firstly, Africa has the least developed land-based weather observation network in the world, only 1/8th the density that the World Meteorological Organization recommends. In many parts of Africa, the number of meteorological weather observation stations is inadequate and is declining. Climate information and services are usually limited to main roads and excluded from rural areas because most stations are located along main roads. There are serious gaps in observations because of missing data and questionable data quality. Historically, satellite data has largely been used for mapping and short-term climate predictions. There is a need for effective information systems and monitoring in Africa. To improve data reliability, we are calling for investments in weather stations across Africa. In order to improve climate change scenarios, it is urgent that the density of monitoring stations be increased. It is difficult to construct future scenarios of water resources in Africa due to the heterogeneity of ground records.

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Additionally, climate finance and investments in women-sensitive weather and climate services are important. For smallholder farmers in Kenya and Zambia, accessing weather information is essential, especially as the weather becomes harder to predict using traditional methods. Women smallholder farmers in Zambia, for instance, are experiencing increased frequency and severity of seasonal droughts, occasional dry spells, increased temperatures in valleys, flash floods, and changes in growing seasons as a result of climate change. Climate change impacts on agriculture in Zambia include less predictable growing seasons, increased pests, weeds, and pathogens, and increased soil erosion. Decreased productivity and crop failure. Women smallholders, in particular, face several constraints when accessing weather information. Financial limitations often prevent women from critical information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as cell phones or radios, making it difficult for climate weather information to reach them. Gender-based differences in education levels and household duties may make it difficult for women to access, interpret, and make use of climate information. Extension services and other interventions may also miss women due to their exclusion from decision-making processes or social norms concerning their mobility and interactions in male-dominated spaces. Therefore, we decided to implement a gender sensitive smart climate observation platform to address these issues.

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Key Benefits

Women's-smart climate well-being observation service solutions that use technology to optimize and control crop resources are increasingly being preferred by farmers around the globe due to the urgency of preventing environmental degradation, reducing waste, and increasing profitability particularly for female-led smallholder farming organisations. Using satellite remote sensing, intelligent information and communication technologies (IICT) (machine learning, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, cloud-based analytics, actuators, and sensors) are being used to achieve greater control over spatial and temporal variability. This set of related technologies that is gender sensitive is referred to as "Women-smart climate observation service."  

In real-time, continuous monitoring of weather, crop growth, physical/chemical variables, and other critical environmental factors enable farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa to increase yields, reduce labour costs, and improve their products. By integrating IoT systems that can provide information about multiple crop factors, practices such as irrigation management, resource management, production, and fertilization can be improved. In this way, while quality and quantity of production are boosted, the negative aspects of unsustainable and costly agricultural practices are also prevented with advanced interconnected actuators and sensors.

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Women's-smart climate: IoT systems/STEM training