Previously posted on the Open Institute’s blog Buntwani is a Swahili word for the open air space in rural African communities where people congregate to discuss issues of common interest, meet with elders or other local leaders and formally receive guests from other villages. It is also the name of an event organized by Open Institute through which […]
GODAN was formed in 2013 out of a meeting that was inspired by the G8. You can read the backstory here. Although global south governments are a big part of their agriculture sectors, they weren’t prominent in GODAN at launch. With some like the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Mr Willy Bett, taking a keen […]
Data coordination has presented a challenge to Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) implementers for a long time. This is now more acute with the larger number of indicators in the new framework. CAADP aims to fight poverty and hunger through strengthening agricultural transformation which includes paying close attention to areas such as: investment in Agriculture, tripling Intra-African […]
The Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) is a worldwide network of institutions and governments supporting open data within the agriculture and nutrition space. LDRI has been part of GODAN since 2016 and is actively involved in the Capacity Development Working Group as well as the Government of Kenya’s GODAN National Steering Committee. We […]
This short survey is part of a broader effort to understand the kinds of data stakeholders in the agriculture sector want most. Please click on this link to participate https://docs.google.com/a/developlocal.org/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSftLnfqFKJ4q2dplCdWYkzmgJKWV0iPFpXJd27YixVP6LCQ4w/viewform. Your participation is highly appreciated. Participants will receive an advance copy of our report on data needs for Africa’s stakeholders and also receive advance invitations to […]
The Open Data for Development Network (OD4D), during the recent International Open Data Conference (IODC 2016), announced that LDRI shall be the initial coordinator of the Africa Open Data Network. Consequently, we are now tasked with developing plans on how the network takes shape on the continent. The official announcement by OD4D can be found here. Africa’s […]
Agriculture and nutrition open data, especially its role in supporting progress towards the achievement of SDG2, formed the central theme of this year’s GODAN Summit in New York city. It was a rich experience bringing together like-minded individuals and organisations working towards improving agriculture to end hunger and extreme poverty around the world. It was a […]
July 5, 2016, Nairobi Kenya: Local Development Research Institute (LDRI) has today announced the launch of TransformAgriculture.org, a knowledge and data portal containing data, research, reports, policy briefs and news on agriculture in Africa. The portal makes it possible to find, for the first time, data, research and news on Africa’s agriculture from multiple sources in […]
Africa relies on rain fed agriculture to feed its people and millions of others around the world. Rain, however, isn’t always the most reliable partner in this endeavour. Realisation of agricultural transformation in Africa will need the continent to make some changes. The World Bank, the International Water Management Institute and many others estimate rain […]
‘Pessimism around poor agricultural performance coupled with optimism about its potential and its necessity as an engine of growth and development combine to inform many of the most popular agriculture centred policy recommendations for Africa’ (Oya, 2010:85). Indeed as Oya notes, literature on determinants of agricultural policy in Africa often gravitate towards two polarizing views. […]
Located within the drought-prone Sahel region, Senegal is heavily reliant on rain fed agriculture despite the irregular rainfall that characterizes the region making resilience building a priority. The reliance on rain fed agriculture, only 5% of agricultural land is under irrigation, results in high fluctuation in production output adversely affecting many families. Agriculture (including forestry, […]
China was the most disaster-affected country in 2014, with drought, storms and flooding affecting more than 58 million people and economic damages of 23.17 billion US $. Between July 2011 and mid-2012, a severe drought was experienced in the horn of Africa. It ramped up a chronic livelihoods crisis to a tipping point of potential […]