2017 ICT4D Conference

The rapid adoption of digital technologies in the agriculture sector is making vast amounts of data from across the value-chain easily available. Data is available from a range of different sources including data collectors on the field with hand-held devices, transaction data crowd-sourced from actors across the supply chain, near-sensing data from networks of field based sensors or remote sensing from drones and satellites. This presentation looks at examples of how multiple sources of data have been combined to address agronomic, environmental and social issues in the Cocoa, Coffee and Hazelnuts sectors.

UTZ is a not-for-profit organization working towards a world where sustainable farming is the norm. It is the largest program for sustainable coffee and cocoa worldwide with labels on over 20000 products across 135 countries. In 2015, over 650,000 smallholder farms across 37 countries produced coffee, cocoa, tea and hazelnuts certified by UTZ.

This presentation will look at specific use-cases from Indonesia, Turkey, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana where UTZ has used a combination of different data sources to address sustainability issues. Examples include
• Identifying encroachment into protected forest reserves using farm polygons and land use maps
• Checking cocoa tree pruning practices by measuring biomass changes over time from satellite images
• Assessing the risks and impact of child labor using data on distance, roads and transportation links between a farm and nearby villages
• Advising farmers on the application of fertilizers using soil moisture data gathered from satellites and recent weather patterns

This presentation will also address the question of scale and discuss UTZ’s journey in providing these services to over 650,000 small holder farms.