Above: White pepper, during the SpiceUp kick-off meeting. Photo by Aulia Rahman. Denpasar, Indonesia. 8 May 2018.
Earlier this year, the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) announced six new projects in the third call for the Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) Facility. Using satellite and mobile data, G4AW provides information to smallholder farmers to increase sustainable food production and achieve more effective use of inputs.
Akvo is already part of two G4AW projects, GreenCoffee in Vietnam and SmartSeeds in Indonesia, and has now joined SpiceUp in Indonesia and Angkor Salad in Cambodia. Both projects kicked off in May 2018.
Akvo’s role is to help capture and understand high quality data, assist the provision of fertiliser advice using Akvo Caddisfly, support with the integration of systems for one shared data platform, and help the partners in the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of the project. By translating data into relevant and timely advice for farmers, they’re able to increase and improve their food production in a sustainable way.
SpiceUp, Indonesia
The SpiceUp project, led by the Dutch spice company Verstegen, will focus on the implementation of a financially sustainable information service.
Over 100,000 pepper farmers in Lampung, Bangka Belitung and East and West Kalimantan will receive advice on drought and irrigation, fertiliser, Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) and Sustainable Tracing Systems. Sustainable Tracing Systems allow buyers to trace where the pepper comes from, leading to farmers becoming more valued by potential buyers. It also helps farmers improve the quality of their produce.
Read more about Akvo’s work in SpiceUp.
[bctt tweet=”Farmers in Indonesia and Cambodia receive timely advice directly to their mobile phones, allowing them to increase and improve their food production in a sustainable way. #Akvo #G4AW” username=”CharlotteSoed”]
Angkor Salad, Cambodia
Above: Vegetables on display at a market in Phnom Penh. Photo by Charlotte Soedjak. Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 24 May 2018.
Angkor Salad is led by ICCO and focuses on the implementation of a geodata-based information service that supports at least 100,000 vegetable farmers in 16 provinces of Cambodia.
Farmers will receive real-time updates and advice to their mobile phones on irrigation, fertiliser, crop planning, marketing information and Khmer Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) compliance, enabling them to increase their production, income and food security while reducing their inputs of water, fertiliser and pesticides.
Read updates about Akvo’s work in Angkor Salad. We’ll be writing in more depth about these projects, and the impact they have on farmers in the region, as they develop.
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Charlotte Soedjak is Programme Manager for Southeast Asia and Pacific region, based in Indonesia. You can follow her on Twitter @CharlotteSoed.