A lack of timely and accurate information on crop conditions and prospects is a critical issue in the majority of south and east African countries. Such information is necessary for informed and prompt decision-making in the face of emergencies, food insecurity and planning requirements for agricultural markets. A series of projects are addressing these needs through the development of relevant, user-friendly remote sensing monitoring systems, advanced mobile field data collection tools and collaborative internet technologies, working in close collaboration with established in-country partners. Systems include the GEOGLAM Crop Monitor systems, at national and regional scales, Global Agriculture Monitoring System (GLAM), Early Warning Explorer (EWX), and GeoODK. EO data used include MODIS, VIIRS, CHIRPS Rainfall and satellite-derived data and a series of crop masks derived from various systems including Landsat and Sentinel 2.

Kenya

The first national crop monitor for Kenya was released in mid-2018. Read about the Kenya crop monitor launch here. The Kenya National Crop Bulletin is published regularly on the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation website.

Uganda

There is a regular regional bulletin published for Uganda. An end-of-season crop report has been integrated with the climate forecast for the first time in early 2019.

Tanzania

Read about the Uganda and Tanzania work on Supporting National Agricultural Monitoring for Food Security.

Rwanda

Training in Rwanda has been initialized for the first time with a 2019 training tour.