Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS) The CHIRPS data products provide a measure of precipitation that incorporates both station and satellite information. The units for this data set are in mm AfSIS Code: CHIRPS* Products:Time series average, time series monthly averages, annual average, annual sum, monthly sum Temporal Range: Jan 1981 – near […]
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Land
AfSIS Remote Sensing Land Collection Albedo Black Sky Near Infrared, Shortwave and Visible The black sky albedo is a measure of the surface reflection of direct sunlight. Lower albedo represents higher absorption of direct radiation from the sun. Albedo values are higher in areas when sparse vegetation such as deserts. NASA dataset: MODIS MOD143A3 AfSIS […]
Are “large-scale, commercial agricultural” expansions possible in Nigeria?
Modeling agricultural land expansions There appears to be an on-going movement to expand “large scale, commercial agriculture (LSA)” in Africa that is partially based on a report that asks the question of whether agricultural expansions similar to those that were accomplished in the Brazilian Cerrado would be beneficial in Africa. See one coordinated response to […]
Mobile Data Tools Used in Soil Survey for the First Time
In December, AfSIS sent two staff members to Ethiopia to help Ethiopia’s Agriculture Transformation Agency launch a new country-wide soil research initiative. The soil collection teams used Android-based tablets for their work, marking the first time that soil research has been conducted in this way. Each team carried one tablet and used it in place […]
Experiences from ICT4Rural Development Conference- Part 2
November 1-3, Eric Couper, AfSIS ICT and agriculture coordinator, participated in an ICT4Rural Development conference hosted by SANGONeT in Johannesburg, South Africa. We’ve included a few notes here for those who couldn’t make it. In a previous post, we covered the SANGONeT matrix for categorizing ICT4RD tools, the conference’s common themes, and contributions by AfSIS […]
Tablets vs Phones: Hardware Matters
When people initially think of ODK (Open Data Kit) and Android-based data collection, their thoughts turn to mobile phones–but this is changing. The emergence of a rich Android tablet ecosystem over the past year has given surveyors even more choices beyond the 101 different Android mobile phones out there. Now, project planners must consider tablets, […]
Testing Mobile-Based Community Agricultural Extension
The ict4ag pilot project underway in Kisongo, Tanzania will be used to answer the following research questions: How can digital soil mapping and the analysis of biophysical data be used in conjunction with socioeconomic and household surveys to provide recommendations to enhance agricultural efficiency on smallholder farmers in northern Tanzania? What are the key constraints […]