At first glance, the ranch operated by the International Livestock Research Institute at the Kapiti research station and wildlife conservancy in Kenya looks similar to other ranches seen across eastern Africa. The only sign of an exciting new project are the electronic collars worn by some of the cattle. They enable scientists to create accurate digital representations of the cattle
L-R: GroundTruth staff Nkosingithandile Sithole, Ayanda Lephane and Nicholas Pattinson. The Enviro-Champs are a group of over a thousand people using citizen science to draw attention to water quality issues in South Africa. Supported by organizations like GroundTruth, they use simple but effective tools to collect data. Over the last few years, a partnership with CGIAR has shown that digital
The Limpopo River Basin supports life across four countries in southern Africa: Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. This precious resource must be sustainably and fairly managed, but the scale of monitoring conditions across the full extension of 1750 km is daunting. Under the CGIAR Initiative on Digital Innovation, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) has partnered with GroundTruth to
By Jason Liaw, IFPRI intern. Top photo credit Varun Kashyap. Imagine a world where women beekeepers in remote villages can access real-time advice and support through their mobile phones, using AI-driven apps to manage their hives more effectively. Thanks to recent work by innovators at Women for Bees, this vision is quickly materializing in India. Women for Bees promotes sustainable
By Rowena Valmonte-Santos Crop production statistics are essential for any government, but especially so in Mozambique where agriculture accounts for a quarter of economic production and the livelihoods of 80 percent of the population. The Statistics from Space project, funded by the Government of the Republic of Korea, aims to develop a highly accurate and efficient system to estimate and
The idea of creating a complete virtual representation, or Digital Twin, of a natural system opens up future in which decision-makers can easily identify and respond to environmental issues. Advances in remote sensing and cloud computing mean that it is technically feasible, but how can it practically be achieved in the context of the global South? The Limpopo Watercourse Commission
Photo credit: Groundtruth In South Africa, a simple test using a ‘clarity tube’ that measures the clarity of water has empowered citizen scientists to warn authorities of water pollution issues affecting their health and livelihoods. A new study has shown that the data from this method are reliable and can augment slower and more expensive laboratory testing. The tool has
A study in Rwanda shows that it is possible to collect population-level and near real-time data on people’s diets via mobile phone survey, at nearly the same level of accuracy as traditional enumerated survey techniques. Top photo credit: IFPRI. Read the study, ‘Validating high frequency deployment of the Diet Quality Questionnaire’, here. This work was funded by the CGIAR Initiative