To achieve a transformation of agriculture and food systems
RESEARCH is crucial…
and INNOVATIONS is REQUIRED
Rice Crop Manager
In the 1990s, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), in collaboration with partners across Asia, developed the Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM) approach. SSNM gives rice farmers guidelines for applying the right amount of essential nutrients for their crops at right time.
Using the principles of SSNM, IRRI developed the Rice Crop Manager (RCM), a web based application that provides farmers with crop management recommendation tailored to their field and rice-growing conditions through the internet, and text messages.
Farmers get access to climate-informed RCM service through printed guidelines and SMS before the start of the season to help them procure the required inputs (fertilizers, herbicides) and use them as per the schedules associated with the phenological stages of the crop. The requirements are quantified and split as per the land parcel size and target yield for varieties chosen by the farmer in his responses to the queries the service provider had asked, before generating the recommendation.
In South Asian countries, majority of the framers are small and marginal. This application advises them to use the right amount of nutrient at the right time, specific for their plots. They are encouraged to use balanced dose of nutrient in terms of fertilizers and not NPK which makes it user-friendly.
The Interactive Landscape Lab for co-creating climate-smart foodscapes
How can we support evidenced-based climate smart agriculture without asking land managers to look at computer screens filled with graphs and data? For this purpose, we have developed the Interactive Landscape Lab, which can project a holograph of any landscape in the world, anywhere, with which you can interact: you can change land use of any field, design ecological infrastructure, or simply improve farm management, and receive instant feedback what your plans mean for farm income, labour requirements, carbon sequestration, the greenhouse gas balances, energy requirement, nutritional diversity, you name it! Portable and with no requirement for WiFi, the Interactive Landscape Lab can help land managers experiment with their land in the remotest corners of the globe
The Interactive Landscape Lab is the first application – to our knowledge – of holographic display (Mixed Reality) at landscape level. Virtual Reality (VR) is now commonplace; while useful, VR is by its very nature a anti-social technology (everyone is in their own virtual world). Mixed reality (MR) (= holograms) are very different: it allows users to communicate and discuss the holographic world that they observe and interact with collectively.
No soil left behind: A race to feed the world beyond 2050
In arid and semi-arid regions, smallholder (SH) communities continue to suffer due to soil-based poverty. Crop production on coarse-textured soils, characteristic of several SH farms, is limited by low water and nutrient retention capacities. Nonetheless, the Subsurface Water Retention Technology (SWRT), which has been shown to double crop production with half the irrigation water, has the capacity to radically transform marginal soils into productive soils. This ground-breaking technology has been field tested (details are found on www.swrtsolutions.com). Moreover, SWRT can also increase carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas emissions bringing marginal soils in the race to sustainably feed the world.
This innovation is based on subsurface installation of impermeable water‐retaining membranes of linear and low density polyethylene, which reduces the amounts of water and nutrients lost through deep percolation especially on coarse-textured soils. Since the time needed to breakdown SWRT membranes is long (estimated at >40 years), they represent a long-term solution to productivity challenges on coarse-textured soils in arid and semi-arid environments
Check out our ‘Cool Innovations Corner’ during the conference featuring 6 Innovations
The Climate and Agriculture Network for Africa (CANA) – Africa’s virtual bridge between science and policy
The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network (CSAYN) have come together to form the Climate and Agriculture Network for Africa (CANA). This interactive web-based platform links scientists with policy makers to address climate change, agriculture and food security issues in Africa. The platform ensures timely sharing and access to information and brings together an increasing group of players within the climate change and agriculture sectors to be involved in conversations on the establishment of best practices for African Agriculture. Video visual of the platform: http://bit.ly/2w0xN2H
This is a virtual interactive forum which reduces the need for face -face interactions, leading to reduced travel related emissions. Through the online discussions hosted on the platform, stakeholders from all over the world are able to engage in real time to discuss pertinent issues related to food security and nutrition in a changing climate. The platform has been useful in identifying the challenges and opportunities for engaging African youth in agriculture.
YeZaRe: Ethiopia’s digital savvy farmers
YeZaRe puts agro-climate advisories and market information in the hands of smallholder Ethiopian farmers. Using ICTs, YeZaRe disseminates timely and relevant weather forecasts and market data to farmers for 17 different commodities in 26 locations across the country. Farmers pay ETB 2/month to connect to this live data source through their mobile phones. YeZaRe is being piloted in Amhara Region and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) and currently has a membership of 9905 users. YeZaRe is implemented by Echnoserve in partnership with CCAFS, ILRI and CIAT.
YeZaRe is digital, real-time and innovative. It complements farmers traditional ecological knowledge with fast changing climate and market data. By using ICTs, the data is delivered straight to farmers homes and fields. During the CSA Global Science Conference, we will present a simulation game using the YeZaRe tool, in which participants represent farmers from different geographies with different commodities, whose productivity and resilience fluctuates as they receive real-time climate and market data from YeZaRe.
The Interactive Landscape Lab for co-creating climate-smart foodscapes
How can we support evidenced-based climate smart agriculture without asking land managers to look at computer screens filled with graphs and data? For this purpose, we have developed the Interactive Landscape Lab, which can project a holograph of any landscape in the world, anywhere, with which you can interact: you can change land use of any field, design ecological infrastructure, or simply improve farm management, and receive instant feedback what your plans mean for farm income, labour requirements, carbon sequestration, the greenhouse gas balances, energy requirement, nutritional diversity, you name it! Portable and with no requirement for WiFi, the Interactive Landscape Lab can help land managers experiment with their land in the remotest corners of the globe
The Interactive Landscape Lab is the first application – to our knowledge – of holographic display (Mixed Reality) at landscape level. Virtual Reality (VR) is now commonplace; while useful, VR is by its very nature a anti-social technology (everyone is in their own virtual world). Mixed reality (MR) (= holograms) are very different: it allows users to communicate and discuss the holographic world that they observe and interact with collectively.