On June 7 and 8, RCMRD trained a number of national and county government staff from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock (MoALFI) on data collection to support agricultural monitoring. The trainers included RCMRD/SERVIR-E&SA Technical expert, Agriculture and Food Security Mr. Stephen Sande and RCMRD Data Marketing Officer Mr. Lawrence Eric Ng’ang’a.
During the Consultation and Needs Assessment (CNA) workshop conducted in Kenya in August 2016, low crop productivity was identified as the major problem. In prioritizing the needs for improving agricultural productivity, consecutive meetings were held with Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation (MOALFC), State Department of Crops Development (SDCD) and the University of Maryland (UMD). During these discussions, the priorities areas identified led to the development of the Kenya Crop Monitor, the GIS based Sampling Frame, cropland mapping and yield modelling and forecasting. To develop these Earth Observation tools and products, ground data is required. The data, when collected, will be used to train the machine learning models, thereby resulting in better detection and mapping of croplands. In view of aforementioned background, the training on data collection to support agricultural monitoring was conducted focusing on creation of sampling frame, unit area of insurance and sampling points from in-season imagery.
Photo1: Group discussions during the training held in Kenya
Officers were taken through field navigation to sampling points and criteria for picking other sampling points to aid use of machine learning algorithms to support crop-type mapping and yield estimation. The officers were able to produce the current monthly crop monitor bulletin. The agricultural officers were taken through the process of navigating to sampling points using links that would be generated by the agricultural national office teams to aid in agricultural data collection. The agricultural officers further produced the current monthly crop monitor bulletin.
Photo 2: A group photo of the participants during the Agricultural Monitoring Training
It was agreed that RCMRD would provide remote technical support to officers who might experience challenges in either production of sampling maps or field navigation as well as downloading of imagery to support the next set of priority counties. Additionally, RCMRD would provide the county officers (upon request) with higher resolution imagery (LASAC Imagery) to aid in crop mask updatingand explore use of KoBoToolbox for automation of data collection forms for one pilot county in the second phase of crop-cutting scheduled for September 2021.
