David Bergvinson

Presented at KSI

12 March 2015

Digital Agriculture and my vision of the future for ICRISAT, and observations from WCA

ICRISAT is a member of the CGIAR Consortium

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Public-Private-Producer Partnerships (PPPPs) are key in supporting demand-driven innovation in agriculture • ICT will play a key role in knowledge exchange, targeted

recommendations, market integration and finance to make agriculture an attractive enterprise, especially for youth

• PPPPs will play a critical role in feeding 9.6 billion people by 2050 in a sustainable and equitable manner

• Key challenges: aligned goals, triple wins, trust, enabling environment, governance of big data and realized value from a financial, societal and environmental perspective

• Governments, donors, partners and our teams in Mali and Niger are supportive of ICRISAT and our move to a value chain framework to define research priorities, partnership, and goals. This too can be enabled by ICTs.

Key Points

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Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be replacing the MDGs in 2016

• Goal 1 – End poverty in all its forms everywhere

• Goal 2 – End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

Setting the Stage

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Current realities in developing countries. . . Setting the Stage

Smallholder farmers in Africa have little access to inputs, information and services to increase productivity and access equitable markets – this is even more challenging for woman farmers

Over 7 billion mobile phones are in use with greatest growth occurring in developing countries. TelCos are expanding rapidly in rural areas within developing countries by offering value added services

Better, faster, and cheaper products/services will increase SHF productivity, providing gains in poverty-reduction, nutrition, education, and savings

Better Faster Cheaper

Increase adoption rate through collaborative, bi-directional feedback loops

resulting in farmer-preferred products and

services

Reduce development and delivery time for new

varieties through rapid-cycle innovation

Provide scalable, lower-cost solutions tailored to the

specific needs of an individual SHF to increase

farm productivity

March 12, 2015

Better, faster, and cheaper delivery through digital technology

The Goal

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Stitching currently disparate data together enables us to offer integrated solutions: Power of location, time and unique identifiers

Location and time can stitch together diverse sources of information and support delivery of farmer-specific

information

Soybean chickpea

Cattle breeds

Microbiome

Unique identifiers enables mining of genetic resources and standard trait

ontologies enables collaboration

ICT-enabled goal: Increase farm productivity, market opportunities, reduce risk, improve natural resources and nutrition

Markets

Weather

Soils

Seeds

Financial

services

(not exhaustive)

Nutrition

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Data policy and standards (minimum standards, best practices, metadata, etc.)

Landscaping

Curation and Cleaning

Mobile Data Collection

Partners:

ODK, Nafundi, Tango, aWhere,

ESRI, Digital Globe, Grantees

Data Acquisition

Hybrid storage

Data sovereignty

AWS, Azure, OpenStack, etc.

Partners:

Cascadeo, Digital Globe, ESRI

Data Storage

GIS:

ESRI, OGC, etc

Business Intelligence:

Microsoft Stack, Tableau, Cognos

Partners:

ESRI, aWhere, SpatialDev, Digital

Globe etc.

Data Consumption

Azure TBD

Cloud Storage

Other

Location and time stitches together diverse sources of information and support delivery of farmer-specific information

Geospatial / Temporal Genomic

© 2014 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | 8 March 12, 2015

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Data and Information Ecosystem

Mobile

Geospatial

Bio-informatics

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Crop/Livestock improvement

Inputs and farmer services Post-harvest handling and access to markets Research and development

Basic Research Agronomic research

Soil Health/ Watersheds

Farm manage- ment

Seed systems Knowledge exchange

Storage/ Processing Consumers/Feed Value addition

Promotes rapid cycle

innovation

Leverages location and time

primitives to connect data and

drive to insight

Accelerates R&D for

genetic gain

Cloud Enables seamless data storage

and real-time reporting across the

value chain

Enables targeted provision of farmer-

preferred products and services

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Value Proposition of Digital Across the Agricultural Value Chain

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Cloud-based business intelligence tools are now used to accelerate delivery of farmer preferred technologies

• Mobile Data Collection (MDC)

• On-farm trials

• Market intelligence

• Business Intelligence to support farm planning and practices

• Seed companies use mobile money to reduce costs; ensure product integrity

• Farmers are using mobile money to pay for seed and fertilizer

ICT Tools Being Used

Challenges: • Valuation of farm data • Literacy and UI to support knowledge

exchange and decisions at farm level • Personal Identification Information • Big Data Governance • Reliable and affordable connectivity

in rural areas • Lack of high quality GIS data • Spatial Data Infrastructure is weak • Capacity building

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Mobile technology is already being used to support the smallholder farmer

• Mobile phones have increased farmers’ access to equitable markets and consumers

• Mobile phones are being used for traceability to support price premiums for locally grown food

• Tailored information and videos offers new opportunities to train women and youth about agriculture

ICT Tools Being Used

Challenges: • Ag companies want to own the

platform (exclusivity); shared platform stimulates competition

• Advisory services are popular; timely access to inputs to follow recommendations is a challenge

• Info-entrepreneur bias towards products from sponsoring companies

• End-to-end support is not widely available as it often involves multiple actors to converge along the value chain.

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A Smallholder Farmer’s Story The reach of digital technology

Illustration used with permission by Sam Dryden

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Technology enablement of inclusive market-oriented development (IMOD)

Inclusive Value Chains

Early pioneers for

realizing this vision:

Mobile Money

eCommerce

Supply Chain Management

ICT for

Extension

Processing / Branding

Internet Training

Demand Forecasting

Rural youth

Farmer Urban

Consumer Technology Ecosystem Inputs & Farmer

Services Research &

Development Post-harvest

For $1 billion impact in WCA in 5 years Seeking a $20 m co-investment

Country Total Value now Billion $

Value after intervention

MALI 3.87 3.95

GHANA 7.22 7.35

NIGER 3.26 3.33

NIGERIA 37.84 38.55

SENEGAL 1.49 1.52

TOTAL 53.68 54.70

1000 e-Extension

agents YOUTH AND WOMEN

Nutrition and environmental

impact through DA

targeting CONSUMERS

Timely market, husbandry and weather info for FARMERS

Tool for POLICY

MAKERS to manage and

monitor

PRODUCTION

COLLABORATION

MARKET LINAKGES

CAPACITIES

SOIL AND ENVIRONMENT

WASTAGE

INFORMATION

POLICY & ECOSYSTEM SUPPORT

PARTNERS

GOVERNMENTS

Real Time Market Info. & Feedback

Research Development

D-Ag: Pathway to Prosperity Information, Feedback DB

Geospatial Tools

Genomics / MetaGenomics System biology

Breeding Informatics

Crop Modelling

Information Technology

Seed Systems

Stakeholders

cloud

Small Holder Farmers

Phenotyping

Field Robotics

ICT tools- various apps on mobile for decision support

Strategic partners IDC &

MIP

KSI

RDS CEG

GL+DC

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We can realize this vision through demand-driven innovation

ICRISAT Strategic Plan

• Inclusive market-oriented development

• Employ a systems perspective

• Complimentary, purposeful PPPPs

• Rapid-cycle, demand-driven innovation

• Real-time M&E

• Empowering women and youth to become Ag entrepreneurs

• Agri-business Innovation Platform to SMEs

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… to achieve scale and sustainability

• Shared vision of success – up front

• Trust among partners – earned over time

• Win-Win-Win partnerships – equitable benefits across parties

• Enabling policy environment – equitable access to inputs, services and markets; PPPPs speak with one voice to change policies

• Capacity building of partners – empower entrepreneurs (esp. women and youth) for success in ag services and value addition

• Data governance – govern big data to protect PII but unlock potential to target technology and know your customer

• Awareness of key issues – nutrition, health, ecological limits, equity; SDGs can drive behavior change towards PPPPs

PPPPs are Challenging but Essential

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Senegal – CORAF meeting on Innovation Platforms

• Innovation Platforms to support Integrated Agricultural Research for Development – model for CORAF and FARA and some CGIAR Centers and CRPs

• Innovation Platform for bringing diverse stakeholders together to address complex development issues

• Long evolution of farming systems research that merits documenting (e.g. farming systems research → IP)

• ICRISAT was well represented at CORAF meeting, signing of MOU

• Action: explore how Innovation Platforms can be scaled and sustained in service of inclusive value chains, especially by women and youth

Observations and Learning in West Africa

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Mali – meeting with staff, partners and national leadership

• Our programs in Mali are active and growing with increased support from donors and government commitment to allocate 15% of budget to rural development

• Staff are committed to our important mission and work with a wide range of committed partners – field visit to Siby

• General staff meeting raised several issues related to infrastructure, training/mentoring, security, developing country strategies

• ICRISAT well respected by IER, GoM, Donors, NGO/PS partners and Farmers Organizations

• Action: work with team on country strategy and our capital investments and staffing to support implementation

Observations and Learning in West Africa

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Niger – meeting with staff, partners and national leadership

• Our programs in Niger have had tremendous impact, especially pearl millet and groundnut (Dosso Region) – HE Brigi Rafini emphasized need to communicate our successes better

• Staff are committed to our important mission; urgent need for ICRISAT’s scientific output; need to attract other organizations to Sadore to strengthen a systems approach

• General staff meeting raised several issues related to infrastructure, staffing, security, developing country strategies

• ICRISAT well respected by INRAN, GoN, NGO/PS partners and Farmers Organizations

• Action: work with team on country strategy and our capital investments and staffing to support implementation

Observations and Learning in West Africa