Workshop Report Ag-Data Hub Webinar with Senegal ’s Agricultural Extension and Advisory Service Providers April 2023 C O N T E N T S To cite this wo rkshop report Grossi A, Braun M, Hansen J, Trzaska S, List G, Dhulipala R, Worou N, 2023. Ag-Data Hub Webinar with Senegal’s Agricultural Extension and Advisory Service Providers. AICCRA Workshop Report. Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA). About AICCRA Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research in Africa (AICCRA) is a project that helps deliver a climate-smart African future driven by science and innovation in agriculture. It is led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and supported by a grant from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank. Explore AICCRA’s work at aiccra.cgiar.org Contact Us Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA). Email: aiccra@cgiar.org Photos: Amanda Grossi Disclaimer: This workshop report has not been peer reviewed. Any opinions stated herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of the IRI, donor agencies, or partners. All images remain the sole property of their source and may not be used for any purpose without written permission of the source. This workshop report is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial 4.0 International License. AICCRA Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension Refresher Training • 2 © 2022 International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Columbia Climate School Abstract A webinar on the topic of Senegal’s newly launched Ag-Data Hub was convened with Senegal’s main public and private agricultural extension and advisory service (EAS) providers on April 27, 2023. The webinar, which was organized as part of the World Bank’s Accelerating the Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) project, brought together EAS providers who were involved in the co- production, training of trainers (ToT), and upcoming pilot of the newly developed Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension (CRMAE) curriculum to learn more about the Ag-Data Bub incorporated within the curriculum’s Module 2 covering climate information and tools available for agriculture in Senegal. The Ag-Data Hub integrates data from multiple sources to help farmers and those who support them such as EAS to make informed decisions such as about which crops or varieties to plant in a given location, when to sow them, and more. Keywords Senegal; data; agriculture; climate change; climate variability; food security; capacity development; climate-smart agriculture AICCRA Report title here • 3 C O N T E N T S About the Authors Amanda Grossi is a Senior Staff Associate at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) of the Columbia Climate School. Within the AICCRA project, she is the IRI’s Regional Manager for Africa where she coordinates the IRI’s activities at the country-level in Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, Mali, and Senegal. In this role, she provides critical support to the development and delivery of capacity building initiatives and digital innovations, including those associated with the IRI’s Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) approach. Melody Braun is a Senior Staff Associate at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) of the Columbia Climate School. With a multidisciplinary background in Earth science, sustainable development and adaptation to climate change, her work focuses on the design and support of strategies to improve the integration of climate information into decision making processes to increase preparedness, response, and resilience to climate impacts. Ram Dhulipala is a Senior Scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Kenya specializing in digital agriculture and innovation. In the AICCRA project, he has led the co- development of Senegal’s national ag-data hub with national and international partners in Senegal. James Hansen is a Senior Research Scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), Columbia Climate School. With a background in Agricultural Systems, his work focuses on improving the management of climate risk and the use of climate information for farmer livelihoods, agricultural development, and food security in the developing world. Dr. Hansen served on the leadership team of the CGIAR research program on Climate, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), leading its Flagship 4 Program on Climate Services and Safety Nets from 2009 to 2019. Sylwia Trzaska is a Senior Staff Associate and climate scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) of the Columbia Climate School. Geneva List is a Senior Staff Associate at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) of the Columbia Climate School. Nadine Worou is the AICCCRA-Senegal Coordinator based at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Dakar, Senegal. In this role, Dr. Worou provides leadership and guidance, ensuring the delivery of outputs and outcomes for AICCRA's activities in Senegal, including partnerships strengthening and the generation and dissemination of knowledge from research and innovations. She has more than 20 years of experience working on climate change challenges, system modelling, and forest resource management. AICCRA Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension Refresher Training • 4 Acknowle dgements The Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) project is supported by a grant from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank. IDA helps the world's poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people's lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world's 76 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Annual IDA commitments have averaged about $21 billion over circa 2017-2020, with approximately 61 percent going to Africa. The Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension (CRMAE) curriculum and its associated capacity building activities represent a collaborative effort made possible by the participation and exchanges between public and private actors in Senegal's agricultural advisory system, and led by the project partners, in particular the National Agency for Civil Aviation and Meteorology (ANACIM), the Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research (ISRA), the National Agency for Agricultural and Rural Council (ANCAR), the Network of Farmer and Pastoral Organizations of Senegal (RESOPP), University of Sine Saloum El-Hâdj Ibrahima Niass (USSEIN), Alioune Diop University of Bambey (UADB), MLouma, Jokalante, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), AfricaRice, and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). AICCRA Report title here • 5 C O N T E N T S High lights 1 2 3 Strengthening the capacity On April 27, 2023, a webinar A total of 14 participants of next users, particularly on the topic of Senegal’s representing public and agricultural extension and newly launched Ag-Data private agricultural extension advisory service (EAS) Hub was convened with and advisory service providers who work to Senegal’s main public and providers participated in the support farmers, on the private agricultural extension webinar and were capacitated latest digital innovations to and advisory service (EAS) on the basics of its adapt to a changing climate providers, in preparation for functionalities, navigation, and is crucial for enhancing the pilot of the new Climate use. access to climate Risk Management in information services and Agricultural Extension validated climate-smart (CRMAE) curriculum in which agriculture technologies information on the Ag-Data in Senegal. Hub has been integrated. 4 5 The open-source Ag-Data Hub The Ag-Data Hub has been is incorporated into the integrated within the CRMAE Multidisciplinary Working curriculum targeting Group (GTP) web page of the agricultural extension Agence Nationale de l'Aviation professionals. Ensuring Civile et de la Météorologie Senegal’s EAS providers are (ANACIM). current on the latest digital innovations is important for supporting Senegal to advance its Digital Senegal 2025 Strategy in line with its national Emergent Senegal AICCRA Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension Refresher Training • 6 Plan (PSE). ** 1: Introduction The Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate They also aim to pragmatically support the Research for Africa (AICCRA) project aims to tailoring and communication of such enhance access to climate information information to meaningfully inform on-farm services and validated climate-smart agricultural decision-making and build wider agriculture technologies in Africa, to help resilience of the agricultural sector. these countries strengthen the resilience of their agricultural sectors to the threat posed To advance these goals in Senegal, the AICCRA by climate change. Strengthening the capacity project guided the co-development and of next users, particularly agricultural training of trainers (ToT) on a newly developed extension and advisory service (EAS) providers Climate Risk Management in Agricultural who work to support farmers in Senegal and Extension (CRMAE) curriculum from March 6- five other target countries, is crucial for 15, 2023, with Senegal’s main public and achieving this goal. private EAS providers. Towards these ends, the AICCRA project has While the workshop covered many topics and been working to co-design and co-implement digital innovations including ANACIM’s curricula targeting the agricultural extension Maprooms (ANACIM, 2023) and the SIMAGRI systems in each of the six AICCRA target decision support tool (IRI, 2023) as part of countries to build foundational knowledge Module 2 of the new curriculum (See Figure 1) and skills to manage climate risk, including covering Climate Information and Tools Senegal. These curricula aim to help EAS Available for Agriculture, limited availability of providers to take advantage of best-available training personnel at the time did not allow and location-specific climate information sensitization and skills-building on two major products and tools in their countries to better AICCRA-initiated innovations which are plan for, manage, and respond to a changing incorporated in the curriculum, namely and varying climate. Senegal’s new national Ag-Data Hub (CNSC, 2023) and iSAT advisory tool. As such, the IRI team organized a webinar on the topic of the Ag-Data Hub with those EAS providers trained in March who are responsible for leading the pilot of the curriculum. Ensuring Senegal’s EAS providers are current on the latest digital innovations is important for supporting Senegal to advance its Digital Senegal 2025 Strategy in line with its national Emergent Senegal Plan (PSE). The target audience of the Ag-Data Hub webinar was participants of the Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension (CRMAE) Curriculum Training of Trainers for Senegal’s Agricultural Extension System workshop held from March 6-15, 2023. **************************************************************** ** In partnership with AICCRA, Ag-Data Hubs are currently being established by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Kenya, Zambia, Mali, and Senegal to be jointly owned by the government’s meteorological and agricultural departments. The hubs integrate data from multiple sources to help farmers make informed decisions about which crops or varieties to plant in a given location, when to sow them, and more (AICCRA, 2022). In Senegal, the Ag-Data Hub is incorporated into the Multidisciplinary Working Group (GTP) web page— Cadre National des Services Climatiques (CNSC) in French—hosted by the national meteorological service, Agence Nationale de l'Aviation Civile et de la Météorologie (ANACIM). AICCRA Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension Refresher Training • 8 ** 2: Approaches and Methods Workshop Structure and Participation (CRMAE) curriculum in May 2023 to the Ag- Data Hub, provide an overview of its main The workshop, which was organized by functions, give opportunity for participants to AICCRA-Senegal, was facilitated by Dr. Ram practice navigating the ag-data hub platform Dhulipala of the International Livestock to answer common climate-related Research Institute (ILRI) who led the technical agricultural questions, and allow EAS co-design and co-development of Senegal’s providers who are a main target user of the national Ag-Data Hub (CNSC, 2023), officially platform to interact with its developer. launched in March 2023 with national and international partners. Language support (in A full list of the 14 participants is available in French), moderation, and discussion Box 1, though in brief, representation facilitation was provided by the International included: Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) of the Columbia Climate School. National Institutions The workshop aimed to expose public and • The National Agency for Civil Aviation private EAS providers who would lead the and Meteorology (ANACIM) pilot of Senegal’s new Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension Those who work closest with farmers must be current on the latest digital innovations to support decision-making in a changing climate. Towards this end, AICCRA-Senegal hosted a webinar with Senegal’s main public and private extension and advisory service (EAS) providers on its newly launched national Ag-Data Hub. Pictured here, Melody Braun of the IRI opens the webinar with a brief explanation of the Ag-Data Hub and its aims. **************************************************************** ** • The Senegalese Institute of The Private Sector Agricultural Research (ISRA) • MLouma Farmer Organizations • Jokalante • The Network of Farmer and Pastoral Organizations of Senegal (RESOPP) Development Partners (International Organizations) Educational Institutions • the International Livestock Research • University of Sine Saloum El-Hâdj Institute (ILRI) Ibrahima Niass (USSEIN) The list of trainers and support staff for • Alioune Diop University of Bambey the workshop can be found in Box 2. (UADB) • Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Agricoles et de l'Alimentation (ESSA) of L'Université Amadou Mahtar Mbow (UAM) Figure 1: CRMAE curriculum modules. The four component modules of the Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension curriculum targeting extension staff build upon and reinforce each other. AICCRA Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension Refresher Training • 10 3: Key Results and Findings ** Recording of the Webinar Modalities of Collaboration between Ag-Data Hubs and Ag-Techs A recording of the webinar can be accessed on the AICCRA project’s YouTube channel here Some of the private sector participants (AICCRA CGIAR, 2023). including MLouma wanted to know how those working in agricultural technical organizations General Comments and Feedback might fully leverage the data in the ag-data hub. The AICCRA team responded and clarified that the CNSC website and portal on Adaptation of the Ag-Data Hub for Research which the ag-data hub sits is an open-source portal. However, if any organization wants to The EAS providers present on the call access the same data through and API, it will appreciated the many functionalities and need to establish an agreement with ANACIM practical nature of the Ag-Data Hub. which owns and hosts the portal. Participants from ISRA inquired as to whether the dashboard might be adapted more to Language support research purposes, since ISRA is generating agricultural data for various research aspects. The AICCRA team While the EAS providers on the call were responded that while the Ag-Data Hub was concerned about the Ag-Data Hub platform designed with the primary purpose of being in English, it was clarified that the supporting agricultural advisories and the platform is also available in French for ease of dissemination of this information, if ISRA has use by Senegalese extension staff or others. sufficient data, this kind of adaptation could be supported, funding permitting. Ram Dhulipala of ILRI shows participants how to navigate around Senegal’s newly launched Ag-Data Hub, and in particular its Agriculture dashboard with crop production data. The hub integrates data, such as climate and agricultural data, from many sources to help inform climate-sensitive decisions. **************************************************************** 4: Conclusions and ** Recommendations Participants explore the various kinds of historical climate data available in the Ag-Data Hub dashboard during the webinar. Beyond future (forecast) climate information, the portal also provides access to past historical (climatological) and monitoring data. In terms of next steps, the recording of the webinar was made available to the public and private EAS providers present on the call, for reference and wider sharing during the May 2023 pilots with extension staff at the respective sites (Thies, Bambey, Kaolack). AICCRA Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension Refresher Training • 12 ** 5: List of Participants and Trainers Box 1 List of Participants: Ag-Data Hub Webinar with Senegal’s Agricultural Extension and Advisory Service Providers (April 27, 2023) No. Name Gender Organization/ Contact Structure 1 Ababacar Sy Diallo M RESOPP Ababacarsydiallo7@gmail.com 2 Ousmane Sarr M RESOPP Ousmane.sarr@resopp-sn.org 3 Yakhya El Hadji Thior M ISFAR/UADB Yakhya.thior@uadb.edu.sn 4 Sadibou Sow M UADB Sadibou.sow@uadb.edu.sn 5 Thierno Aliou Tall M ANCAR thiertal@gmail.com 6 Aboubacar Sidy Sonko M MLouma assonko@mlouma.com 7 Diabel Ndiaye M ANACIM diabel.ndiaye@anacim.sn 8 Cheikh Thiaw M USSEIN Cheikh.thiaw@ussein.edu.sn 9 Babacar Faye M USSEIN Babacar.faye@ussein.edu.sn 10 Babacar Seck M Jokalante Babacar.seck@jokalante.com 11 Nogaye Gaye F ANCAR no2gaye93@gmail.com 12 Bassirou Sine M CERAAS/ISRA esayas.lemma@moa.gov.net 13 Adama Faye M ISRA bassirou.sine@isra.sn 14 Amadou Ndiaye M ESSA of UAM Adama.faye@isra.sn There were a total of 14 trainees, one of whom was a woman (7%) and 4 (29%) of whom were youth (under the age of 35). **************************************************************** * Box 2 List of Facilitators: Ag-Data Hub Webinar with Senegal’s Agricultural Extension and Advisory Service Providers (April 27, 2023) No. Name Gender Organization/ Position/Title Email Structure 1 Melody Braun F IRI Senior Staff Associate mbraun@iri.columbia.edu 2 Amanda Grossi F IRI Senior Staff Associate amanda@iri.columbia.edu 3 Sylwia Trzaska F IRI Senior Staff Associate syl@iri.columbia.edu 4 James Hansen M IRI Senior Research Scientist jhansen@iri.columbia.edu 5 Geneva List F IRI Senior Staff Associate geneva@iri.columbia.edu 6 Ram Dhulipala M ILRI Senior Scientist rdhulipala@cgiar.org AICCRA Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension Refresher Training • 14 References ** AICCRA CGIAR, 2023. Senegal: Training Webinar on National Ag-Data Hub (with French). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydYef06AJ-s ANACIM, Climate Data Library Maprooms, 2023. Available at: http://213.154.77.59/maproom/index.html Cadre National des Services Climatiques (CNSC), 2023. Portail GTP sur le suivi de la campagne agricole au Sénégal. Available at: http://65.0.242.164/gtp/ International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), 2023. Climate-Agriculture Modelling Decision Support Tool, SIMAGRI. Available at: http://simagri-senegal.iri.columbia.edu/ AICCRA, 2022. Blog: How climate data is transforming agriculture decisions in Africa [Internet]. AICCRA - Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa. Available at: https://aiccra.cgiar.org/news/how-climate-data-transforming-agriculture- decisions-africa **************************************************************** * Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate It is led by the Alliance of Bioversity Research for Africa (AICCRA) is a project International and CIAT and supported that helps deliver a climate-smart by a grant from the International African future driven by science and Development Association (IDA) of the innovation in agriculture. W o r l d Bank. Citation: Grossi A, Braun M, Hansen J, Trzaska S, List G, Dhulipala R, Worou N, 2023. Ag-Data Hub Webinar with Senegal’s Agricultural Extension and Advisory Service Providers. AICCRA Workshop Report. Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA). Available online at aiccra.cgiar.org Research supported by: AICCRA Climate Risk Management in Agricultural Extension Refresher Training • 16