March 2nd -3rd ,2023

The Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board, The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) together with DE-Africa hosted a two-day deep dive meeting with users of satellite data, products, and services within the agricultural sector to identify user needs and to strengthen their capacity to access and use EO data in their day-to-day activities. The overall objective of the meeting is to strengthen the capacity of ASARECA stakeholders in Rwanda to be able to use the DE-Africa analysis-ready satellite data and services including crop land extent, water observations from space (WOfS).

The meeting convened stakeholders who use EO data in their day-to-day activities from National Agricultural Research Institutes, National Space Agencies, Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Ministry of water, natural resources, and environment (wildlife, forestry), National Bureau of Statistics, Universities, Private sector, NGOs, CGIAR centers, UN organizations and Private Sector Companies in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Botswana, Ethiopia, and South Africa to discuss user needs, identify factors that hinder the use of earth observation data as well as GIS mapping and remote sensing, weather forecasting, land or soil suitability mapping, crop phenology modelling, water and vegetation cover monitoring, monitoring, or predicting pest or disease outbreaks besides other products and services.

The project is funded by the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) with funds from the Australian Government. The DE Africa project is expected to deliver five (5) key outputs, namely: (i) Strengthened capacities of ASARECA partner organizations in competencies required for successful use of earth observation tools and services offered by DE Africa (ii) Increased use of DE Africa data, tools, and services to support Africa’s agricultural sector; (iii) Increased awareness and uptake of DE Africa platform, tools, and training; and (iv) Increased partnerships.

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