Agriculture – Page 32

Agriculture, Climate Change, Democracy & Governance, Environment, Environment, Environmental Compliance, Health, Land Management, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Policy Development, Water

Use of neural net classifiers to map invasive plants using remote sensing data

Over the past year, I’ve been working with a Cook Islands NGO, Te Rito Enua, with funding from the Asian Development Bank, to develop a pilot project on participatory GIS as a tool to assist island communities to develop climate adaptation strategies. While there, Mona Matepi, president of TRE, called my attention to the problem of invasive vines on the island. Three species of woody vines* are colonizing the island forests, causing massive deforestation. They overtop and kill trees, replacing the forest with a solid jungle of vines. Since Rarotonga is dependent upon surface water for its entire supply, and since vines were killing the trees in its forested watershed, it seems like a non-trivial issue. Nobody knows how the vines will affect water supply. Will they reduce surface water supply through evapotranspiration? Will they hold the soils as well as the trees they are replacing? How will they respond to the more frequent cyclones and droughts that climate models predict? And, if they are a problem, how can they be controlled? Many questions to answer – our challenge right now is to find support for research into the issues and the options available. If no one does anything, there’s a chance, and its not a tiny one, that there could someday be a humanitarian crisis that would have severe implications for one of the dwindling number of robust Polynesian cultures remaining.

I asked University of Maryland doctoral candidate Benjamin White, a remote sensing specialist, for advice on how to illustrate the extent of the vine infestation. The island is rugged and steep, difficult to map on foot. But I was able to take some measurements using a handheld GPS unit. Ben offered to have a go at classifying the vines using my field observations as training data. Commercial remote sensing imagery provider GeoEye donated high-resolution (4m and 1m) satellite images. Ben developed a sophisticated neural net classifier, and processed the images as R/G/IR reflectance, reflectance-based NDVI, principal components, mean texture and a quick reflectance to “dense vegetation” classification. The final result was uploaded to Google Earth for visualization purposes; Google Earth data is not useful for this kind of application, but overlaying the classification results on a Google Earth image gives a context in terms of location and topography. Additional satellite imagery could provide complete ground coverage and (subject to availability) time series to measure change in land cover.

I’m hoping that the image will drive home how bad the problem is, and mobilize some support for Te Rito Enua and the Cook Islands government to get a handle on the vine problem.

Heartfelt thanks go to Ben White and the University of Maryland Geography Department, GeoEye, and the Asian Development Bank for support.

* the vines are Cardiospermum grandiflorum, Mikania micrantha, and Merremia peltata.

via GREEN HAND.

February 13, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Connectivity, Environment, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Solar Nexus: Reliable Solar Power, Anywhere

Eric Youngren, founder of Solar Nexus International, serves as a catalyst for reliable, rural power solutions in the developing world. The Solar Nexus power center is an innovative solution for electricity that brings the quality tested North American off-grid solar installations to areas of the world where similar systems are rarely found.

The SolarNexus is an all-encompassing system, where all the high quality electronics necessary to convert the energy generated by the solar PV panels (or any other source of renewable energy) into power that is stored in batteries for later use.

SolarNexus power centers are sold as part of a complete package, shown here. The package includes PV panels, deep cycle batteries, mounting hardware, code-compliant wiring, and instructions

SolarNexus power center is designed for permanent indoor installation and includes instructions, training and support to ensure successful installations and build capacity in local communities. To understand how the Solar Nexus system operates, view this great introductory explanation on the Solar Nexus International website

Installation was performed by Ensol, of Dar es Salaam, TZ Photo Credit: Eric Youngren

A project was launched in April 2010, Solar Nexus International shipped 30 complete SolarNexus systems — including PV panels and deep cycle batteries — to Tanzania for a project run by the U.K. based charity SolarAid. The systems would be used to provide light and power to schools that were beyond the radius of the electricity grid. The mission was to replace the old, smokey, and potentially dangerous kerosene lanterns with effective, compact fluorescent light. This improved visability would allow more local children to attend the schools.

Eric traveled to Tanzania to assist in the training of local installation crews and help facilitate aptitude. One main goal of the founder and his company is to improve the knowledge, skills and capacity of the solar installers in the developing world to ensure the system’s sustainability and overall impact.

Visit the Solar Nexus International website and their blog for more information on current projects

February 10, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Environment, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Introduction to your content curator

I’ve been asked to be an editor of the environment and natural resources sector page of the GBI blog, so I’m writing a few words by way of introduction. My name is John Waugh. I live in the rural Virginia Piedmont, and have three decades of experience in natural resource management, running the gamut of conservation. I started out as a firefighter for the US Forest Service and US National Park Service (a little shout out to the old Flathead IR and the Arrowhead Hotshots). By turns I became a technician on fire ecology studies, a Park Ranger, and then, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, the manager of two World Wildlife Fund projects in West Africa. This was followed by a long sojourn at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), where I helped to develop a marine program, managed UN relations, and represented the conservation community at a range of intergovernmental processes addressing biodiversity conservation. Work has taken me to over sixty countries on every continent except Antarctica. For the past several years, I’ve been working as a private consultant conducting program evaluations, developing and implementing projects, and providing advice on conservation strategies and planning.

Through all of this, I’ve been watching with interest the liberating role that technology can play in natural resource management. Recently I returned to Liberia after a 24 year absence to assist a USAID funded project on land rights and community forestry. In a meeting with government community leaders, I experienced a moment of cognitive dissonance when cellphone calls interrupted the flow of the discussion. 24 years ago, it would have been impossible for community leaders to consult with their base while sitting in a meeting in Monrovia. When technology can facilitate information exchange in real time, participation becomes a real possibility.

I recently completed a participatory GIS project with colleagues in the Cook Islands (I know, I know – you go bust your butt for 30 years and you too may get your chance!). The goal was to facilitate community-based climate adaptation planning using maps. We superimposed data collected by the community using handheld GPS units with satellite imagery, existing government map layers, and climate models, and produced custom maps as the starting point for adaptation planning. Sally Duncan and Denise Lach of Oregon State University describe what can happen: “the deliberative interactions … altered the power held in the privileged knowledge of scientists….GIS technology routinely used to generate such interactions, [can] potentially contribute to the development of new knowledge communities, in which public participation, scientific research, local/traditional ecological knowledge, and technology combine to change the nature and the locus of power in natural-resource management. …”

Of course technology can just as easily be used to achieve the opposite results. The potential is huge and the change is rapid. I look forward to exchanging views with the GBI Portal readers on opportunities, and on good practices, for the use of technology for NRM.

I also blog (intermittently) at www.green-hand.net, where you’re welcome to visit and chew the fat.

February 10, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Education, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

CGD Finds Success in Niger Mobile Literacy Project

The Center for Global Development, released a paper indicating that mobile phones can impact literacy skills, and a sustainable model may have been found. The paper is the result of an evaluation of a mobile education program, called Project ABC in Niger.

Projet d’Alphabetisation a Base Cellulaire, or Project ABC, works with non-formal education centers established by the Catholic Relief Services Niger Food Security and Nutrition Program (2007-2011), is funded by USAID/Food for Peace, and is implemented with CARE and Helen Keller International.

The project uses multimedia phones that have been programmed with a digital curriculum in the local languages of Hausa and Zarma, and incorporates a practical literacy component tied to obtaining market information via text message.

In the first year of ABC, participants learn basic cell phone technology, including SMS. In the second year, interactive multimedia phones and a digital curriculum that includes phonetic activities and varied texts are used to further develop literacy skills. Participants also use skills in literacy, numeracy, and basic cell phone technology in a companion program that teaches them how to request and retrieve market information via SMS.

According to the report:

Overall, students demonstrated substantial improvements in literacy and numeracy test scores, suggesting that the adult education curriculum is effective in increasing learning. Students in mobile phone villages showed substantial additional gains in literacy and numeracy exam scores.

There is also evidence of persistent impacts: eight months after the end of the first year of classes, students in ABC villages retained what they had learned better than the non-ABC students. These effects do not appear to be driven by differences in the class time devoted to students, teacher experience or teacher and student attendance. Rather they can be partly explained by the effectiveness of mobile phones as an educational tool: Students in ABC villages used mobile phones more frequently to make calls, write SMS and search for price information as compared to their nonmobile phone counterparts. The program suggests that simple and relatively cheaper information and communication technology can serve as an effective and sustainable educational tool for rural populations.

According to Isbrandt, the program is operational in 56 literacy centers in the rural regions of Dosso and Zinder, in primarily agricultural villages. As is the case in most rural settings in West Africa, local language reading materials are otherwise scarce. Participants in the program include 1,400 learners, half of whom are women

References

Aker, Jenny C., Christopher Knoll and Travis J. Lybert, “ABC, 123: The Impact of a Mobile Phone Literacy Program on Educational Outcomes,” Center for Global Development Working Paper, September 2010

Isbrandt, Scott (2009) Cell Phone in West Africa: Improving Literacy and Agricultural Market Systems. Retrieved September 1, 2010.

February 9, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

African Farmers Get Boost From IFC, Soros, and Esoko

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Soros Economic Development Fund have announced they will invested $1.25 million of equity into Esoko, a Ghanaian technology firm. The investment in Esoko will give small holder African farmers and businesses timely crop information that can be shared via text messaging, enabling farmers to increase their incomes.

Mobile phones allows farmers to access crucial crop and market informaiton

Esoko’s software takes advantage of rapidly growing mobile-phone usage in Africa. The technology allows farmers affordable and timely access to market information that can help them negotiate better prices and improve the timing of getting their crops to market.

“Our platform was developed by African software engineers here in Accra, Ghana, and has been a totally local, market-driven initiative,” said Esoko CEO Mark Davies. “IFC and SEDF have a strong track record of helping local companies get the funding and advice needed to expand into new regions and markets. With their support we hope to export this African technology all around the world.”

Esoko’s software allows different parties in the agricultural value chain to exchange real-time market information. Farmers receive current demands, prices of crops, and the location of seeds and fertilizers directly on their mobile phones. Businesses can track how their products are used and market themselves to new customers. Associations and governments can share critical information with thousands using a simple bulk-text messaging feature. Esoko’s technology is being used in nine African countries and expanding quickly.

“SEDF’s investment helps break the information barrier for African farmers so they can generate more income,” said Stewart J. Paperin, president of the Soros Economic Development Fund, a nonprofit investment fund that works to alleviate poverty and community deterioration. “A more transparent marketplace enables farmers to negotiate fair prices, improve their timing on getting goods to market, and move between markets to sell products.”

: Farmers receive relevant information directly to their phone

Esoko is also publishing the first commodities indices in Africa, a powerful tool in helping ensure that farmers are fairly compensated for their crops, as formal commodity exchanges are very rare on the continent. The company is initially publishing two indices that provide prices for 12 agriculture commodities in seven markets in Ghana.

“African technology firms are innovating and expanding beyond their domestic markets and we see a great opportunity to help ensure they have the proper financing for long-term growth,” said Kent Lupberger, Global Head of IFC Techonology, Media, and Telecom.

“Esoko is giving people practical tools to improve their lives and lift themselves out of poverty.”

February 9, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Health, Maternal & Child Health, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

USAID Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program Uses Mobile Technology to Improve Health Care

The Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP) is the USAID Bureau for Global Health’s flagship maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) program. Awarded in September 2008, MCHIP focuses on reducing maternal, neonatal and child mortality in 30 priority countries, contributing to Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5.

Designed by USAID as a “Leader with Associate Cooperative Agreement” (LWA), MCHIP can be funded by USAID Missions and Regional Bureaus through traditional field support and other mechanisms. In addition, MCHIP can accept Associate Awards that Missions, Regional Bureaus or Global Offices develop with the Leader organization and oversee directly.

MCHIP takes “what works” to scale by working with USAID Missions, national and local governments, nongovernmental organizations, communities and partner agencies. Based on country context and identified gaps in providing services at the household,community and referral levels, MCHIP designs program strategies to ensure that services reach women and their families.

What MCHIP Is Doing Using Mobile Technology

Nearly half of all births in developing countries occur in facilities, yet the quality of care provided is often unknown. Reported clinical practice may differ greatly from observed practice. MCHIP has developed a Maternal and Newborn Quality of Care (MNH QoC)Toolkit consisting of five mobile, electronic data-entry tools for assessing the quality of services provided in hospitals and health facilities. These are primarily checklist tools for observing health worker performance related to services provided for labor and delivery and essential newborn care. The tools are designed to capture health worker responses to spontaneous complications, such as pre-eclampsia/eclampsia (PE/E) or postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), two of the leading causes of maternal death.

As of November 2010, MCHIP MNH QoC assessments have been conducted in five African countries, providing baseline data for quality improvement activities for maternal and newborn care at facility, regional and national levels.

Maternal and Newborn Health QoC Mobile Toolkit

Obstetricians and nurse-midwives are trained to use mobile phones for capturing observational health worker performance data at hospitals and health facilities;
Data is entered on Windows Smart Phone forms with Range, Logic, Skip and other data quality controls;
Data includes clinical observation checklists on labor and delivery services, antenatal care, facility inventories, health worker maternal and neonatal knowledge tests, register, maternity chart and partograph review;
Quantitative and qualitative data is captured via interviews, simulations and observation checklists including audio noted and pictures of partograph;
Data is backed up to internal SD card and then transmitted via GPRS to in-country servers; and
Results are uploaded to the Web in predefined table, graph and map templates.

A Tool for Improving Quality of Care

The overall goal for MCHIP is to contribute to the reduction of frequent, preventable maternal and newborn deaths through increased quality of known life-saving interventions in countries facing the highest disease burden. Mobile phones have improved the quality of data and expedited the timeliness of results reporting. Specific needs for effective interventions for screening, prevention and treatment of obstetric and newborn complications are being identified as results come in from the MNH QoC Assessments.

Data collected and analyzed provides an opportunity to guide development of program interventions to improve the quality of facility-based maternal and newborn care services. By providing a baseline and end line measures in countries where the survey is part of an evaluation of interventions being implemented, data also provides an opportunity to inform policy change and resource allocation. These indicators and data collection tools can be used in multiple countries to provide information on key screening, prevention and management of interventions of the most frequent direct maternal complications.

Click here to view the poster presented by USAID at the mHealth Summit 2010. Also check out this Youtube Video of MCHIP’s own David Cantor speak as part of the panel discussion at the Summit.

January 20, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Facebook for Farmers: Technology empowers China’s rural workers

Mr Qing, ploughing in the fields, relies on China Mobile's farming service

The BBC recently reported on Nongxintong, a network created by China Mobile to deliver news and information directly to rural farmers via their cell phones.

The farmers, who generally don’t have access to the internet, receive text or audio messages with market prices, job opportunities, warnings, advice, buyers and sellers. There is also a mobile phone hotline aimed at those with rural businesses.

Click here to read the original article.

January 19, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Education, Education, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

The Impact of a Mobile Phone Literacy Program on Educational Outcomes: Literacy Learning in Niger

This is a research paper compiled by the Center for Global Development, an independent, nonprofit policy research organization dedicated to reducing global poverty and inequality and to making globalization work for the poor. The paper evaluates and draws conclusions about a mobile education program, called Project ABC in Niger.

The pilot phase of Project ABC began with the Catholic Relief Service (CRS), in partnership with UC Davis, Tufts, and Oxford University and shows how SMS can turn mobile phones into a platform for adult literacy and market information for agricultural communities.

Projet d’Alphabetisation a Base Cellulaire, or Project ABC, works with non-formal education centers established by the CRS Niger Food Security and Nutrition Program (2007-2011), is funded by USAID/Food for Peace, and is implemented with Care and Helen Keller International. The project uses multimedia phones that have been programmed with a digital curriculum in the local languages of Hausa and Zarma, and incorporates a practical literacy component tied to obtaining market information via text message.

The final research paper indicates that mobile phones have had an impact on participants’ literacy skills, and the model could be sustainable in the long run:

Overall, students demonstrated substantial improvements in literacy and numeracy test scores, suggesting that the adult education curriculum is effective in increasing learning. Students in mobile phone villages showed substantial additional gains in literacy and numeracy exam scores.

There is also evidence of persistent impacts: eight months after the end of the first year of classes, students in ABC villages retained what they had learned better than the non-ABC students. These effects do not appear to be driven by differences in the class time devoted to students, teacher experience or teacher and student attendance. Rather they can be partly explained by the effectiveness of mobile phones as an educational tool: Students in ABC villages used mobile phones more frequently to make calls, write SMS and search for price information as compared to their nonmobile phone counterparts. The program suggests that simple and relatively cheaper information and communication technology can serve as an effective and sustainable educational tool for rural populations.

For the full research paper and the evaluations in the PDF format, please visit this link.

References

Isbrandt, Scott (2009) Cell Phone in West Africa: Improving Literacy and Agricultural Market Systems. Retrieved September 1, 2010.

January 18, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Text to Change: SMS reminders double HIV testing

Short text messages can be used to increase HIV awareness and double the number of people who go for HIV testing, a survey has stated. According to the results of a survey conducted by Text to change, an SMS quiz and reminder sent to respondents led to an increase in the number of people who went for HIV testing.

The SMS campaign was conducted in February 2010 in Lira (Northern part of Uganda). The survey documents that after sending SMS questions and reminders in the second week of February, 398 HIV tests were carried out at the Lira AIDS Information Centre, twice the number compared with 185 in the first week of February.

The survey was conducted among 7,000 people in Lira with an average age of 28.Among those surveyed majority had sufficient knowledge on issues surrounding HIV and family planning. However, only 44 percent had been tested of HIV in the past year.

During the survey conducted by Text to Change, in partnership with Deutscher Entwicklungsdients (DED), more than 145,000 people in the North Western region of Uganda were asked via radio broadcasts to subscribe to the Text to Change HIV/AIDS SMS Quiz. A record 96% of participants in the survey stated that the survey helped them gain new knowledge on HIV and related issues. Ralf Westhageman from DED Lira, stated:

“Both AIC and DED were surprised with the excellent results in terms of program participation and uptake of HCT services. People in Lira liked this programme so much. Even until today we get an enquiry to continue with it. Together with the Town Council, we never expected such a high number (7,000) of subscribers to take part and get involved. In short, it is without doubt, that we can call it “the most successful HIV Programme in Lira to date”.

Participants received seven questions on HIV/AIDS issues and three on family planning. One of the questions asked was: Would you think of getting an HIV test? YES or NO to improve participants’ knowledge, an SMS confirming whether their responses were correct was sent. Participants, who replied an incorrect answer, received additional information on HIV.

The survey indicates that on average, 74% of all questions sent via SMS were answered correctly a clear sign that majority of participants are somewhat knowledgeable in regard to HIV and related issues.

This marked an increased level of awareness compared to the 2006 Domestic Household Survey where only 28% of women and 36% of men had any comprehensive awareness of HIV/AIDS. Men formed the majority of the respondents -81%. Generally women were much more likely to answer correctly on questions regarding their higher chances of becoming infected with HIV whereas men answered correctly on the issue of a woman transmitting HIV to her baby during pregnancy or breastfeeding.

The objective of the study was to improve HIV/AIDS awareness and to increase the number of people going for testing services in Lira in order to increase the awareness of one’s HIV status and to encourage people to seek early treatment and care in order to decrease further HIV transmission. Lira-town has an estimated 80,000 inhabitants according to the results of the 2002 census and approximately 145,000 people living in the wider district. The high mobile penetration in East Africa has placed the use of SMS as an appropriate means of disseminating information due to easy access and simplicity in use.

Click on this link to the Text to Change website for the full research paper.

January 18, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

ALIN New Approach to African Farmers Learning

Maarifa centre in Kenya

An article written by Maina Wararu for the New Agriculturist describes a profound new way for farmers to sell their goods in Africa. In Ng’arua, a remote village in Kenya’s Rift Valley province, smallscale farmers may now sell their produce directly through e-marketing. Thanks to the use of internet technology, farmers in this semi-arid region, some 350 kms north west of the capital Nairobi, are now cutting out the middlemen and selling their maize to the highest bidder. This is thanks to Sokopepe, an online commodity marketing platform developed by the Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN), an NGO working in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

January 13, 2011/by actualize

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