GeoFarmer app jointly developed

The GeoFarmer app allows community workers and farmers to easily collect and share information on climate-related agricultural interventions. Development agencies can use the tool to gather effective feedback and to respond to emergent needs. Users can collect and share geospatial data on weather, farm conditions including soil and crop types, and monitor the adoption of techniques to make farms more productive and resilient to climate change.
This useful GeoFarmer app was co-developed between the International Center for tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and Z_GIS and is based on the GeoCitizen framework. It has been deployed and tested in Colombia, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda. Two visiting researcher from Salzburg, Mona Bartling and Christian Feil, worked together with Scientists from CIAT to adapt the GeoCitizen framework for the purpose of research for agricultural development in developing countries. 

“An app like this gives farmers a voice and helps close the communication gap between people working in the development sector, researchers working on development technologies, and farmers,” said Andrew Jarvis, a co-author and director of CIAT’s Decision and Policy Analysis research area. “We’re better at understanding farmers’ needs and we’re more responsive to emerging opportunities and unanticipated challenges", states Anton Eitzinger from CIAT.

Read more on future developments in the CIAT blog; research findings published 'open access' in Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Volume 158, March 2019, Pages 109-121.

Photo Credit: Georgina Smith / CIAT. For more information contact g dot smith [at]cgiar.org

Z_GIS contact: Karl Atzmanstorfer