OUR SERVICES

Identify critical data opportunities

The pillar helps in identifying critical data opportunities to support key stakeholders and strategic partners on decision-making. Therefore, augmenting the center as a data clearinghouse and knowledge center, offering business support and advocating for evidence-based policies, particularly at the subnational level.

Transforming Sub-Saharan Africa’s food systems requires a deeper look at the myriad data challenges, ranging from data availability and quality to the need for better policies and data sharing. One of the key challenges is the limited availability and quality of agricultural data (e.g., crop yields, weather patterns, market prices, land use, and farm management practices) and even when data is available, they are not available at the right level (e.g., national aggregates vs. granular local data). Insufficient data collection systems, limited monitoring infrastructure, inadequate data management practices all contribute to this challenge.

As part of the centers cross-cutting themes, SAFIC is launching a data community of practice CoP – the Agri Market Data for Investment and Growth, AMDiG – a strategic partnership that seeks to encourage widescale application of evidence-based interventions to unlock markets and private sector action as engines of inclusive agricultural transformation. It is vital to foster collaborations among public and private sector organizations, academia, and NGOs to facilitate knowledge-sharing and co-creation, resources pooling, and access to specialized expertise. These cooperative efforts will stimulate innovation, expand market opportunities, boost economic growth, and foster job creation as SMEs evolve into data-ready entities. The CoP will seek to create change through three strategic focus areas:

  • Mainstreaming Data Insights for Value chain & Enterprise Decision-making and investment (Objective: Encourage widescale use of evidence and data-driven insights for value chain investments and business decisions in the agricultural sector through harmonized data collection and sharing systems, development of tools for data analytics and engaging the private sector to share market side data)

  • Aligning Government priorities, Policy Positions and Interest to Farmer Practise, Private Sector Needs & Investments (Objective: To bridge the gap in data granularity & influence decision making and planning at the subnational and practitioner level. This activity will focus on subnational data collection and updating)

  • Building efficient and sustainable Supply chains through effective Value Chain Coordination, Formalization & Governance (Objective: To optimize value chains for agility, efficiency and sustainability by aligning supply and demand through effective governance and coordination. This activity will focus on Business and supply chain optimization, value chain governance models and market system development strategies)