As part of DFID's contribution to the G8 initiative on Open Data for Agriculture, a broad survey of key stakeholders in sustainable African agriculture was conducted to assess current and emerging trends related to data collection, processing, and dissemination.

A total of 281 stakeholders were contacted by email among 11 organizational categories. Results from the online survey were compiled along with a live interview responses into a centralized database for analysis. Respondents were asked to state their data needs that were consistent with their stated uncertainties and results show that data realignments were needed in the following genres, soil data, marketing data, climate data, biodiversity and poverty data. The results would be used to provide recommendations for improving the collection and use of data in African agriculture. The study concluded that initiatives to develop awareness of the key decisions and what data is needed to support them is essential for governments, policy makers and researchers.

The study was done by researchers from CGIAR, World Agroforestry Centre and Hubbard Decision Research with financial support to DFID.

Read the full report here

Citation:   Clapp, A.; DauSchmidt, N.; Millar, M.; Hubbard, D.; Shepherd, K. A survey and analysis of the data requirements for stakeholders in African agriculture. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Nairobi, Kenya (2013) 28 pp