GIS IN SUPPORT OF

GREAT LAKES CASSAVA INITIATIVE

CHRISTOPHER LEGG

GIS CONSULTANT

Total and per-capita cassava production in Sub-Saharan Africa (FAO data)‏

East African

“Great Lakes”

region

Cassava is an essential food crop

in the six countries of the East

African “Great Lakes” region

Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) and

Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD)

threaten food security in an already

impoverished region

CMD infected cassava CBSD in cassava tubers

Disease-resistant cassava

multiplication plot Participatory selection of varieties

Geo-location using GPS

is an essential part of all

GLCI field work

60 Garmin Etrex units

are already deployed,

and more will be

purchased.

Training in GPS

procedures is given to

all field staff

Key project and partner staff are trained in

basic GIS skills, using free and open-

source software, in order to view and

analyse GPS data against backgrounds of

other data sets

CASSAVA

DISEASE

SURVEYS

HOUSEHOLD

SURVEYS

ADMINISTRATIVE

BOUNDARIES

POPULATION

DISTRIBUTION

AGRICULTURAL

PRODUCTION

LAND-USE /

LANDCOVER

MAPS AND

TABLES

FOR

TARGETING

CMD BY

DISTRICT

FOOD

PRODUCTION

BY DISTRICT

CASSAVA

DEPENDENCY

BY DISTRICT

FARMING

HOUSEHOLDS

PER DISTRICT

TARGET

DISTRICTS

Extraction

of

population

from grids

Interpolation

of CMD

incidence and

severity.

Averaging to

districts

Disaggregation of

agricultural

production

statistics to

district using

land cover

Extrapolation

of food

security data

to unsampled

districts

Interactive

selection

of target

areas by

project

staff

CASSAVA

DISEASE

SURVEYS

HOUSEHOLD

SURVEYS

RESISTANT

PLANTING

MATERIAL

SURVEYS

FARMER

GROUP

SURVEYS

TARGET

DISTRICTS

DISTRICT

WORK PLANS

PROGRESS

REPORTS

INTERNAL

ASSESSMENT

Maps from

field GPS

data

Maps and

statistics from

field data

Mapping and

comparison

with

previous

data

Maps and

statistics

to

illustrate

changes in

food

security

SELECTING TARGET DISTRICTS

Targeting based on ranking of

population, cassava production

and CMD incidence

MAPPING DATA FROM FIELD SURVEYS

Data from cassava disease surveys and

household socio-economic surveys, geo-

located by GPS, are mapped by

interpolation and averaging

WITHIN-DISTRICT TARGETING USING GRIDS

MAPPING DISTRIBUTION OF RESISTANT

CASSAVA VARIETIES

250 Intel “Aid Station” mini-laptops have been

purchased for the project, in cooperation with

NetHope

These will be used for data collection and

analysis, and also for distance learning using

Agilix GoCourse training courses developed in

the project

GLCI is committed to introduction of advanced data

collection and communication technologies, and is

experimenting with GPS-enabled mobile devices