Precision Agriculture for smallholder farmers: An option?

Bruno Gerard, J. Hellin, B. Govaerts, A. McDonald, T. Krupnik

Mexico City – 14 December 2013

Kite aerial photography of Bagoua village, Niger, B. Gerard 1999

Diseases

Climate change

BreedingAgronomy

Projected demand by 2050 (FAO)

Worl

d-w

ide

aver

age

yiel

d

(tons

ha-

1)

Linear extrapolations of current trends

Water, nutrient & energy scarcity

Potential effect of climate-change-induced heat stress on today’s cultivars (intermediate CO2 emission scenario)

Year

Mueller et al., Nature 2012

MAIZE SI3: Smallholder precision agricultureWHEAT SI3: Nutrient and Water-Use efficiency

www.wheat.orgwww.maize.org

Principle

• Precision agriculture for smallholder farmers should be seen at multiple scales:– Not only dealing with within field spatial variability

but also intra-farm (and inter-farm) resource allocation

– Precision Agriculture -> more precise agriculture (spatial and temporal dimension)

– Where, when, what, how?

Why should new technologies not benefit smallholders farmers of the world?

Penetration of cell phones in countries where we work is high

‘From the description of site-specific activities it is obvious that although precision agriculture, as seen in Europe and North America, is largely irrelevant in developing countries. The need for spatial information is actually greater, principally because of stronger imperative for change and lack of conventional support’ Cook et al., 2003.

Bangla

desh, K

hulna

Burkina F

aso, Y

atenga

Ethiopia,

Borana

Ghana,

Lawra-

Jirap

a

India, Bihar

India, Hary

ana

Kenya, N

yando

Kenya, M

akueni

Mali

, Sego

u

Nepal, M

id-Weste

rn Terra

i

Niger, K

ollo

Senega

l, Kaff

rine

Tanzan

ia, Usam

bara

Uganda,

Albertine Rift

Uganda,

Kagera

Basin

72.1 70

30

70.7

82.1

99

60

80

56.4

84.3

52.9

92.1

60 6054.3

Cell phone

Data Source: CCAFS Surveys 2012

Amazing technological breakthroughMore for less: better, easier, faster and cheaper

Gerard et al. , Soil Sci. Plant Nutr.1997

CIMMYT 2013

Photo: J. Cairns

Four building blocks of precision agriculture for smallholder farmers

- Remote sensing and other monitoring tools (weather, soil monitoring ) -> diagnosis, spatial and temporal dimensions

- Nutrient, water and disease management, crop modelling -> how you turn diagnosis into recommendations

- Information and Communication Technologies -> how you get diagnosis from and provide recommendations to farmers (path for crowdsourcing)

- Mechanization -> how you apply rec. in the field Articulation of those blocks are system specific and needs dvpt of specific business models

Priorities• Recommendation domains for intensification at different granularities

(regional, national, landscape, farm)• Yield gap and risk assessment (link with crop insurance, credit)• Ex-ante assessment of information needs at extension and farmer levels• Improved management practices (water, nutrients, tillage, timing) and

prototype site specific recommendations through ICT models• Upscaling/downscaling:

On-farm trials - Proxi-sensors – UAV/airborne – spaceborne• Data articulation/fusion/assimilation

– Vegetation, soil, climate/weather, socio-economic, markets• Cross-regional learning!• Additional partnership with ARIs• Public-private partnership (i.e BASF, Syngenta, crop ins., RS)• Capacity building of NARS and extension services