The AMESD SADC Thema Agricultural service Farai M

The AMESD SADC Thema Agricultural service Farai. M Marumbwa: AMESD-SADC Thema CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

OUTLINE • Background of the Agriculture Service (General Overview of AMESD) • General overview of AMESD SADC Thema • Structure of the Agricultural service • Products • Dissemination • Tools and utilities CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

OVERVIEW OF AMESD PROJECT • The African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD) initiative makes use of Earth observation technologies and data to set -up operational environmental and climate monitoring applications in Africa • Project funded through the European Development Fund • The project is implemented under the coordination of the African Union Commission • Timeframe for implementation: 2007 -2013 CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

AMESD: GENERAL PURPOSE • To improve decision making-processes in the fields of environmental management in Africa: By increasing the information management capacity of African institutions By facilitating access to Africa-wide environmental information derived from EO technologies To allow “ Informed decision” • Five Regional Thematic Actions (THEMA) have been established by the Regional Implementing Centers (RICs) to develop appropriate information services, in order to address the already prioritized decision needs of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) (CEMAC, ECOWAS, IGAD, IOC and SADC ) CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

AMESD: Themas • THEMA : «Crop and rangeland • THEMA : « Mitigation of land management» degradation & natural habitat • RIC : Agrhymet Niamey conservation » • RIC : ICPAC, Nairobi • THEMA : « Integrated Water Resource Management » • RIC : Cicos, Kinshasa, RDC • THEMA : «Agricultural & Environmental resource management» • RIC : BMS Gaborone, Botswana CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi • THEMA Marine & Coastal management • RIC: Mauritius Oceanography Institute, Mauritius

AMESD SADC THEMA SERVICES: OVERVIEW The User needs requirement: -stakeholder Workshop that was held on 2 nd – 4 th February 2009. SADC Member States were invited to the workshop, represented by delegates from the Mo. A, Mo. E, Met. Timeline 2010 -2013 CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

AMESD SADC THEMA : Participating Member States Regional Economic Community (REC) SADC Secretariat Participating countries Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South. Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe Mozambique and Tanzania Regional Implementation Center (RIC) BDMS (Botswana Department of Meteorological Services) Partners BCA, JRC, SADC, FEWSNET, SAWS, ARC. CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

AGRICULTURE SERVICE : USERS Key-Users National Level : Ministries of Agriculture Regional Level : SADC FANR Secondary Users Regional and National Food Security Services Farmer Associations National Statistic Offices Agrometeorological Departments Agricultural Research Councils Disaster management Offices CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

AGRICULTURE MONITORING : EXISTING CAPACITY Crop Monitoring Activities of SADC Agric Areas Crops Livestock Models Agromet Up-dates Agric Activities CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

AGRICULTURE SERVICE : AMESD SADC WORK PLAN Principle: Improve and expand the current REWS systems from SADC. Automation and dissemination via EUMETcast Allow agricultural remote sensing analysts: To perform Crop Condition Monitoring But also a view to forecasting yield and production scenarios The Agricultural service Assist decision makers in answering the following questions: What crops are where? What is the crop condition? What is the crop stage? What is the likely yield? CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

AGRICULTURE SERVICE : AMESD SADC WORK PLAN • Focus- data acquisition processing, analysis , bulletin and development of free and open-source technologies (toolbox) • The Service comprises of a series of processing chains which are implemented using the Environment Station (E-STATION). • The e-Station is an automated data production and data management system. • Three components (Acquisition, Processing Station & Analysis) - Retrieve various data sources (EUMETCast, ftp, . . . ) - Automate and standardize data preparation tasks - Automate data management - Analysis , facilitating in report writing and generation of time series graphs CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

OVERVIEW OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS • The agriculture service provides products which are intended to cover most of the information requirements of decision-makers and of the Institutions interested in crop monitoring and food security. • The products of the Agriculture Service are also addressed to monitoring the environment and provide an early warning tool for possible hazards. • There are 3 groups of products for the agric service 1) Baseline Products: 2) Products based on meteorological data from ground sources 3) Products based of Remote Sensing Data Sources CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

OVERVIEW OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS • Products based on meteorological data from ground sources and remote sensing products are provided in three forms: • Monitoring Maps: describe and update the current climatic and vegetation conditions and are available regularly once every 10 days. • Alarm Maps: identify, describe and label climatic and/or vegetation anomalies. These products are complementary to the Monitoring Maps. • Graphs: based on crop masks & admin boundaries. CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

A) BASELINE PRODUCTS (3) • • Are maps and spatial documents which are at the origin of all the processing chains and act as background to most of all other products. Do not change in time or have a limited variability on a time scale of years. Agriculture Mask (JRC MARS -Food. Sec Action) • It outlines those areas that are dedicated to cultivation • Main use is extracting vegetation index temporal profiles Crop Statistics Map • Links the official crop statistic, presenting the average production and planted area figures for each administrative region or unit. Crop Specific Maps • Shows those areas where the major crops of interest are mostly cultivated. CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

B) PRODUCTS BASED ON METEOROLOGICAL DATA FROM GROUND SOURCES (20) • Meteorological data from ground stations is complementary to remote sensing information. • Main inputs: Rainfall and temperature. • Three orders of rainfall & temperature products are available: 1) Monitoring maps that update, on a decade scale, the evolution of the meteorological conditions 2) Alarm maps which highlight anomalies both in terms of current and cumulate rainfall values as well as temperature 3) Graphs which shows trends of rainfall and temperature • SOURCE: • GLOBAL SURFACE SUMMARY OF DAY (GSOD) data. • WGET- ftp: //ftp. ncdc. noaa. gov/pub/data/gsod CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

Products based on meteorological data from ground sources 1) Monitoring maps • Current Rainfall Map • Cumulative Rainfall Map • Current Temperature Map CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

Products based on meteorological data from ground sources 2) Anomaly Maps • Current Rainfall compared with the Long Term Average , Max and Min in terms of amount (mm) • Current Rainfall compared with the Long Term Average, Max and Min as percentage (%) • Current Temperature compared to with the Average, Maximum and minimum long term averages • Cumulative Rainfall compared with LTA average, Max and Min (%). • Cumulative Rainfall compared with LTA average, Max and Min (mm) CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

Products based on meteorological data from ground sources 3) Graphs: Rainfall and temperature performance • Rainfall events during the current season. • Rainfall during the current season compared to the average, maximum and minimum long term trends • Temperature trend during the current season compared to the average, maximum and minimum long term trends CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

Products based on meteorological data from ground sources Rainfall performance Graphs • Cumulative rainfall graphs for zones of interest CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

C ) PRODUCTS BASED OF REMOTE SENSING DATA SOURCES (18) • Based on FEWSNET RFE, NDVI and DMP • The products have exactly the same characteristics and follow the same processing line as the Meteorological products from ground stations • Here too there are three orders of products: Monitoring maps, Alarm maps and graphs 1) Monitoring Maps (Rainfall) • Meteorological Station networks offer best data, but are too sparse and report with delays. Satellite observations are an essential supplement to station observations • Current Rainfall Estimates Map • Cumulative rainfall map CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

C) Products based of Remote Sensing Data Sources: Rainfall 2) ANOMALY MAPS • Current Rainfall compared with the Long Term Average (mm) • Current Rainfall compared with the Long Term Average (%) • Cumulative Rainfall compared with LTA average (%). CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

C) Products based of Remote Sensing Data Sources: Vegetation. 1) Monitoring Maps (Vegetation) • Current dry matter productivity. • Vegetation Index map • Cumulative dry matter productivity map 1) Anomaly Maps (Vegetation) q Provides a qualitative indication of how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ the current season is when compared with other seasons or with the average situation. • Vegetation Index Compared with average [difference] • Vegetation Index Compared with average [%] • Cumulative dry matter productivity compared with average [%] raster map CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

Rainfall and vegetation graphs Crop growing profile monitoringreflect the crop condition through the crop growing season CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

C) Products based of Remote Sensing Data Sources 2) Crop Performance Indicators Maps • Current Water Requirements Satisfaction Index (WRSI) Map • WRSI Anomaly maps • Onset of Rains Maps • Onset of Rains Anomaly Maps • Soil Moisture Index Estimates CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

Support service: Long Range Forecast (LRF) • The LRF service comes in as a support service to the agriculture service. • The products are operationally produced every month by SAWS. • Integration the LRF in the agric service will enable users embed a “Seasonal Crop Outlook” in the bulletins and reports. • This will give an idea about the risk for crop failure at the end of the growing season; • The LRF support service deliver the following 3 month forecasts: 1) “Rainfall” 2)“Minimum Temperature” and 3)“Maximum Temperature”. CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

CAPACITY BUILDING Botswana College of Agriculture- Capacity building partner Focus is on training of trainer –products and tools • Collaboration with JRC-MARS eg SPIRITS Training in June 2011 CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

Operational seasonal probabilistic forecasts(Rainfall) CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

Agriculture Service : Activities: Get Products >> Data Exploration Analysis >> Drill down in anomalies Report Service: Products Software (on e. Station) Training, help-desk, Final Result: Monthly report with traffic light system Decadal updates CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

AGRICULTURE PRODUCTS AND ASSOCIATED FILES • All products are disseminated as zipped files • • The zipped file contains 3 file: 1) Product in in Geo. Tiff format 2) A quick look in Jpeg format 3) htm file containing the metadata such as: short description, projection info and pixel size. CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

DELIVERY OF PRODUCTS: EUMETCast • The SADC-THEMA agriculture products are delivered through: a) EUMETCast b) FTP & via the SADC-THEMA website 1) EUMETCast • The products are primarily distributed in Near Real Time via EUMETCast • The agriculture service declared operational EUMETSAT on 19 July 2011 • Over 30 products out of 39 now operationally disseminated via Eumetcast. • Adequately addresses the issue of data reception in areas with poor internet connectivity. 2) FTP site and website • Users who completely missed the reception of some data, can retrieve the data via FTP via and website. • The FTP solution is a backup for EUMETCast- the secondary means of distribution. CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

DELIVERY OF PRODUCTS: FTP & via the SADCTHEMA website 2) FTP site and website • Ftp: ftp: //sadcuser@amesd. co. bw • user name: sadcuser Password: Sadcuser • Website: amesd. co. bw/products • Products are made available on the ftp site on a three month rolling archive • Users who wish to retrieve a historical archive of data can send a request to BDMS. Data can be delivered on DVD. CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

TOOLS FOR THE AGRIC SERVICE: AMESD-SADC ILWIS-TOOL BOX • Emphasis is on open-source or freeware tools. • Plug in under ILWIS (GIS & RS software) for ingesting the zipped products into ILWIS format for further processing in close collaboration with ITC CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

EXAMPLE : AMESD-SADC ILWIS-TOOL BOX: Importing g. RFEc CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi Resultant map

TOOLS FOR THE AGRIC SERVICE • The service will make a number of specific software tools available to enable our users to work with the products: 1) VGTExtract • The functionalities of this software includes a) Format conversion: • Output: ILWIS, IDRISI, HDF, Win. Disp IDA, ASCIIgrid, Raw Binary etc b) Rescaling and Sub-setting 2) SPIRITS: = Software for Processing and Interpreting Remotely Sensed Image Time Series • Time series graphs for RS products, subseting, anomaly • Training & workshops on the use of the tools CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

USER SUPPORT: • The AMESD SADC-THEMA helpdesk, is the primary contact point for all support to users. • This helpdesk will take care of all first level user support and they will route the more technical questions to the appropriate persons within the SADCTHEMA consortium. • The exchange between the users and the SADC-THEMA helpdesk is preferably made by email: • Contact: SADC-THEMA Help Desk • E-mail: info@amesd. bw • www. amesd. co. bw • Telephone: +267 361 2243 CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi

The END Thank You. CRAM workshop, 26 -30 November Nairobi