The World Economic Forum noted that satellite use could boost agriculture in Africa. According to data from the organization, Earth observations are key to harnessing the innovations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to support agricultural productivity growth across Africa.
Africa is a large continent with a rich and diverse environment, resulting in many challenges such as access to clean water, rapid urban development, active deforestation, and food insecurity. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa reports that economic growth will slow from 3.2% to 1.8%, pushing 27 million people into extreme poverty.
Africa’s ability to respond and recover is directly linked to how the impact of the human population on natural resources is understood. Earth observation data is the cornerstone of this information, and a key transition of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is the change in how this data is accessed and used to support rapid response to these critical challenges.
Earth observation provides vast amounts of satellite data to monitor and manage the Earth’s natural resources and the human and climate impact on them. Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa), funded in part by the Australian government, is building the world’s largest operational platform to access and analyze decades of Africa-specific satellite imagery.
The project will translate data from the world’s free Earth observation satellites into ready-to-use knowledge about the continent’s environmental conditions. The knowledge it offers can be used to address a wide range of issues, including water scarcity, land use, and food security.
Earth observation can be used to improve crop monitoring at the field and farm level, and can be the basis of accurate models established to identify and remove factors causing lower yields (e.g., sowing too late for current weather conditions), and make informed decisions about when to irrigate.
