Earth observation & crop modeling to sustainably support agricultural value chain digitalization

Small scale producers provide livelihoods for more than 2 billion people and produce about 80% of the food in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia (AGRA, 2017). Ranging from exclusive subsistence to commercial income, small holder farmers suffer from poor access to agronomic advices, quality inputs, markets, finance and insurance. Efforts towards increasing productivity through subsidization of fertilizer often failed to generate the expected outcome mainly because of poor traceability and associated support systems hampering scalability and favoring local diversion. Fertilizers are one means for productivity, but their supply and use by farmers must be improved to avoid negative environmental impacts. Increasing agriculture productivity while preserving the environment and optimizing the resources are at stake in Kenya as in many countries’ agricultural policies.

Today, knowledge and technology can be combined to build climate-smart and fully scalable projects to promote soil health and agricultural sustainability.

The Kilimo solution, generated by a consortium of French and Kenyan companies (Airbus, ITK, GE-Data and LocateIT), with a proof-of-concept run on Vihiga county in 2020-2021 with the financial support of French Ministry of Economy & Finance, aims at tackling these issues by synergistically connecting geospatial imagery services, soil and crop modelling and digital agriculture management system.

Geospatial live analytics identify and monitor cultivated area on large territories. Agro-environmental models generate live indicators of plot nutrient cycles to rationalize fertilization towards yield and carbon dynamics. Both geospatial and agronomic outputs are combined on one hand, to timely assess acreage and production estimates as well as global input need, and on the other hand, to generate optimal practices and metrics at farmer level for a fully scalable, efficient, and sustainable agriculture management.

Benefits for Kenyan farmers

White maize is a basic staple food in Kenya. It is a vital crop. Public and private actors from the Vihiga county in Kenya are mobilized around this project and involved in:

• Ensuring food and nutrition security
• The fine tuning of agricultural inputs
• Measuring and improving soil health
• Increasing carbon sequestration

Benefits for producers :

• Receiving customised advices
• Traceability of input usage
• Capacity building and skills training
• Dynamic production previsions