The Use of Geographical Information System (GIS) in Enhancing Agriculture productivity: Experiences from Ghana ADVANCE Program Leslie Pobee GIS Specialist ADVANCE Program

Background  The subsistence nature of agriculture in Rural Ghana  Gathering timely, accurate and relevant data on agricultural productivity remains a challenge  Information on the spatial distribution of farms and other agribusiness service providers in the three Northern Regions of Ghana remains inadequate.  Geographical Information System (GIS) application to agriculture production is helping bridge this information gap  Efficiently and profitably balancing the quantum of farm inputs and outputs

Background-Project Area

Background- Cont...  The Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement (ADVANCE) Program is a USAID funded program implemented by a consortium of local and international partners led by ACDI/VOCA  Our goal  To facilitate a transformation of Ghana’s agricultural sector in selected agricultural staples (maize, rice and soybean) to achieve a greater degree of food security among the rural population in Northern Ghana while increasing competitiveness in the domestic markets  Value Chain Approach

Methods  Between July and September, 2011 ADVANCE mapped 5,477  Between September and November, 2012, sampled and mapped 1,044, drawn from 15,224 maize, soybean and rice farmers on the program  Global Positioning System(GPS) coordinates were taken for agribusiness service providers  ArcView 10 was used to convert all GPS coordinates to GIS coverage.

Results-2011 mapping exercise

Results-2012 mapping exercise

Results-Crop Demonstration

Results-Financial Institutions

Results-Crop Insurance

The Future of ADVANCE GIS Data  What to do with the data when the project ends?  Developed an Online platform to make data available to the public  Brought other stakeholders (public/private organizations) to a series of roundtable meeting  Share the idea  Rope them in, to share data for the platform

The Future of ADVANCE GIS Data Cont.…  Sought for a strategic partner to develop, handle and manage the web platform (CERSGIS) c.net

Conclusion  The adoption of Geospatial technologies on the ADVANCE project has:  Enhanced the traceability of our Value Chain Actors  This traceability has made farmers more visible and attractive to potential buyers thereby enhancing their linkages to downstream markets.  Created linkages with markets, Input dealers (seed growers, agro-chemical dealers), mechanized service provides, Financial Institutions, good agronomic practices (GAPs), improved technologies.

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