Harnessing Data to Enhance Agricultural & Food Security
Food security remains a critical priority, especially in rapidly growing regions like sub-Saharan Africa. DG harnesses data to help decision-makers understand agricultural, economic, and market systems, enabling timely, targeted support for farmers. By focusing on strengthening larger systems, we work to ensure smallholder farmers can access the information they need. We also build tools with partners to support information sharing, streamline processes, and ensure data quality and long-term sustainability, integrating learning strategies throughout to enable high-quality decision-making and results.
a Livestock Information Vision Ethiopia (aLIVE) Program
The aLIVE program is fulfilling the needs of livestock decision-makers in Ethiopia by improving the accessibility and reliability of livestock data. The overall goal of aLIVE is to support Ethiopia in meeting national food demands as well as achieving food security while building a more robust, independent economy.
Digital Advisory Support Services for Accelerated Rural Transformation (DAS) Program
The DAS Program seeks to advance food security across Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia by advancing access to and use of technological solutions that support smallholder farmers.
Visualizing Insights on Fertilizer for African Agriculture (VIFAA)
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the lowest fertilizer usage in the world – insufficient to replace soil nutrients lost every year to crop production. To maintain agricultural productivity and sustain farmers, both the government and the private sector in Africa need to better collect, analyze, and use relevant data to encourage fertilizer use. Through the VIFAA Program, we are working with partners on dashboards and tools to improve, manage, and visualize fertilizer data in Africa. VIFAA is a six-year program led by DG in partnership with the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), Wallace & Associates, and with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
More from Our Blog
The Future of Food Systems: Spotlight on Ethiopia
When we discuss food systems, we are not just talking about farms; we are referring to the entire food supply chain. We are talking about how people eat, live, and navigate an increasingly volatile climate. This blog post analyzes Ethiopia's national food systems strategy as an example of where UNFSS can go next in strengthening food security globally.
Building a Sustainable Cashew Sector in West Africa Through Data and Collaboration
Cashew-IN project came to an end in August 2024 after four years of working with government agencies, producers, traders, processors, and development partners in the five implementing countries to co-create an online tool aimed to inform, support, promote, and strengthen Africa’s cashew industry. This blog outlines some of the key project highlights, including some of the challenges we faced, lessons learned, success stories, and identified opportunities for a more competitive cashew sector in West Africa.
Unlocking Africa’s Agricultural Potential: Introducing the Soil Nutrient Roadmap
For over a decade, Development Gateway: An IREX Venture (DG) has been at the forefront of digital agriculture, leveraging agricultural data to support input monitoring, value chain analysis, and farmer-centric governance models. With funding from the Gates Foundation, DG is launching the Soil Nutrient Roadmap (SNR), a cutting-edge initiative using geospatial data to estimate current and future soil and crop nutrient requirements.