“Even though the data of the eProd database is owned by the licensee, it is important to be part of an academic platform and discuss what if… the unique data of the 250,000 farmers that eProd reaches already, would be accessible to the public in an Open Data platform”, says Almut van Casteren, MD eProd Solutions.
The Center for Agricultural Networking & Information Sharing, or CANIS, part of the University of Nairobi, organized a workshop to create a shared understanding and set a focused action agenda for creating Impacts with Open Data for agriculture and nutrition in Kenya on October 3rd, 2017. Open data is data that anyone can access, use and share.
Dr. Kiringai, director of CANIS: “Sharing access to data is widely recognized as a priority goal by the development community and a driver for economic growth. High-level interest on a political level has drawn special attention to the potential value of open data in light of growing global challenges affecting the health and welfare of people everywhere. The Government of Kenya is pursuing an active open data policy and has its own open data portal that features hundreds of data sets on agriculture and nutrition.
“With all these data sources available on the supply side, there is scope to deploy them for creating impacts in agriculture and nutrition, specifically with respect to food security. However, steps of enrichment of data to knowledge need to be taken, just as understanding the needs of the beneficiaries that could work with the data”.
The supply and demand of Open Data for agriculture and nutrition are matched in the Kenyan context through scoping work of Wageningen UR, CABI, University of Nairobi, and CTA. At the workshop, different showcases were presented focusing on the potential impacts of the use of open data in agriculture and nutrition in Kenya. Contact us to continue the discussion.