Agriculture research center use maps to help African smallholder agriculture
罢丑别听International Food Policy Research Institute聽(IFPRI) recently published聽, which brings together a range of maps and analyses of the continent that show where different challenges and opportunities lie聽.
Shenggen Fan, Director General of IFPRI, notes in the foreword to the Atlas, 鈥淚t has long been recognized that Africa needs to significantly and sustainably intensify its smallholder agriculture. Comparing and contrasting where the challenges to, and opportunities for, growth in productivity are located鈥an give us powerful insights that can enrich our understanding of the variables that affect agricultural productivity.鈥� Fan states that the Atlas, by presenting a broad range of geospatial data, can inform and guide agricultural decision-making, to increase productivity.
The maps used in the Atlas cover a broad set of interdependent issues related to African smallholder agriculture via聽seven key themes: political, demographic, and institutional classifications; footprint of agriculture; growing conditions; role of water; drivers of change; access to trade; and, human welfare.
With more than thirty maps across the seven themes, the project took over five years and the Atlas involved the collaboration of a multitude of聽. Examples of different maps (and their contributors) include:聽different farming systems聽(Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research聽(ACIAR) and the聽UN Food and Agricultural Organization聽(FAO)); the聽extent of cropland and pastureland聽(McGill University);聽livestock production systems by climate zone聽(CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)聽and the聽International Livestock Research Institute聽(ILRI));聽agroecological zones聽(HarvestChoice and IFPRI); and,聽severity of hunger聽(Welt Hunger Hilfe, Concern Worldwide, and IFPRI).
With every map, the Atlas asks four questions: What are these maps telling us? Why is this important? What about the underlying data? Where can I learn more? Together, the maps, and the responses to the questions posed, weave an illustrative story about current smallholder production in Africa. IFPRI believes that a better understanding of these spatial patterns in Africa聽
The geospatial presentation of the data is important to IFPRI because it enables聽聽The Atlas, according to IFPRI, is intended to serve as a guide聽
