Space To Empower Rural Food Producers

ESA has strengthened their partnership with the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to help vulnerable small-scale food producers not only increase their ability to grow food but adapt to climate change by using state-of-the-art Earth observation data.

Approximately 75% of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas and rely on agriculture and related activities for their sustenance. Many of these individuals are vulnerable to various risks associated with climate change, which can further exacerbate poverty and food insecurity.

Earth observation plays a crucial role to understand and monitor landscape use in an ever-changing environment. For example, it can support the assessment of water needed to optimise irrigation schemes, the monitoring of deforestation and land degradation, as well pollution in order to provide climate-smart agricultural solutions to improve resilience.

The UN International Fund for Agricultural Development addresses key challenges faced by rural communities dependent on agriculture. IFAD provides financial resources, technical assistance, and knowledge-sharing platforms to improve the resilience, productivity and livelihoods of smallholder farmers and rural communities – contributing to the overarching goal of eradicating poverty and hunger.

Since 2010, ESA has collaborated with IFAD and has demonstrated the use of Earth observation in the field of agriculture including the production of land cover maps in Madagascar. Recently, they worked together on pasture health maps in Kyrgyzstan, erosion maps in Lesotho, and identified the most vulnerable areas to the effects of climate change in Tajikistan.

During IFAD’s Innovation Day, representatives from ESA and IFAD signed a letter of intent to solidify their partnership in the use of satellite Earth observation within all phases of development projects including design, implementation, monitoring and impact assessment.

ESA’s remote sensing expertise and data will help IFAD’s agricultural programmes design, refine their geographic targeting, as well as monitoring natural resources such as pastures, forests, water and soils which are vital livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

This year, ESA and the UN Fund plan to assess livestock migratory routes and rangelands in Sudan and monitor afforestation in Türkiye and support IFAD’s new programme on agroecology.

Benjamin Koetz, Head of Sustainable Initiatives Office at ESA, said: “In a world of ever-increasing climate variability and weather extremes, Earth observation can provide timely information to better manage scarce resources like water or respond to floods and heatwaves. The partnership between ESA and IFAD allows to align development financing instruments with the latest space technology to adapt to climate change and support the Green Transition worldwide.”

Gladys Morales, IFAD’s Global Head of Innovation, commented, “Business as usual will not be enough to adapt and thrive as the climate crisis intensifies its effects on food production. Working together with ESA will increase the impact of IFAD’s investments in crop and livestock production, natural resource management and climate change adaptation.

“This is the kind of innovative partnership that help us make the difference in the last mile, where we work and where most poor rural people live.”