Experts Meet in Nairobi to Explore How Smallholder Farmers across Africa Can Benefit from High-Tech Geospatial Mapping Technologies

Geospatial experts from the world’s largest alliance of agricultural research centers will gather in Nairobi from 8-12 June to develop new strategies for using high-tech mapping and analysis to improve productivity and market access for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa through better prediction, monitoring and mitigation of droughts, plant diseases and other crop crippling events.

The meeting is focused on the potential benefits of geographical information systems or GIS, which integrate a wide range of data about particular places—such as satellite images, weather forecasts, temperature trends, and soil conditions—to provide new insights that can lead to more productive farms.

Africa Agriculture GIS Week (AAGW 2010) will open with a welcome address from the Hon. Dr. Sally J. Kosgei, Minister of Agriculture, Kenya. Other highlights of the week include the launch of the AGCommons (Agricultural Geospatial Commons) service bureau and its service delivery platform. AGCommons identifies and develops data, tools and services that deliver relevant, timely and affordable geospatial information to smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and those working on their behalf.

Agenda and background information available at:http://africaagriculturegisweek.org/