Invest in geospatial technology - Experts
Ghana and other African countries need to invest in geospatial technology to take advantage of all the opportunities that come with its use, including increased efficiency in agriculture and urban planning.
Geospatial technology is used mostly for surveying and mapping.
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In the agricultural sector, it plays an influential role by increasing yields, managing of resources, prediction of outcomes and improving farm practices.
This was the major highlight of speeches delivered at the opening ceremony of the Africa Geospatial Data and Internet Conference in Accra.
With data and technology driving development across the world, speakers at the event, including the Director General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr Kodjo Essiem Mensah-Abrampa; the Regional Representative of the FAO, Abebe Haile-Gabriel; the Minister of Lands and Natural
Resources, Mr Kwaku Asomah Kyeremeh; and the United States Ambassador to Ghana were of the view that digital innovations would provide huge opportunities for the economic transformations that the continent sought to achieve.
Dr Mensah-Abrampa said in spite of the challenges confronting the world, such as inequalities, poverty and environmental degradation, it was making progress, powered by technology.
He said while the task of NDPC was to develop a strategy to curb poverty and promote development, it had to be underpinned by data.
“The proper collection, analysis and usability of timely and relevant data can mean the difference between development, success and failure.
On progress towards reliance on geospatial technology, he said, the country had developed and adopted a National Geospatial Data Policy in addition to the establishment of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure.
“The benefits of geospatial are today, undoubtedly undeniable. We see it in its application in disaster management, transportation planning management, tourism, agriculture and virtually all sectors of importance in advanced economies,” he said.
Mr Haile-Gabriel, who was full of praise for the conference, said it would facilitate a common understanding of how to maximise geospatial, information communication technology and internet-related opportunities in Africa and address challenges that the digital transformation brought to agriculture and rural systems.
He said it would also open the door to exploring pathways for assessing both the risk and opportunities from the digital transformation along the agri-food value chains.
“This is critical for improved food security and nutrition but also to promote an enabling environment for youth employment and entrepreneurship in the digital economy, “he said.
Mobile technology
Although agriculture employs a huge chunk of Africa’s population, the continent’s commodities are often priced by developed countries, leaving farmers the poorer.
In that regard, the FAO Representative said the continent’s digital future would ultimately be shaped by the extent to which African economies were organised to make their agri-food systems competitive as clearly, there were challenges.
Sub-Sahara Africa’s mobile cellular subscriber penetration rate is the lowest in the world (45 per cent against 67 for the world). Smartphone adoption rate is even less ( 36 per cent against the world’s 60 per cent average.)
The cost of internet data is out of the reach of many with the cost of one gigabyte broadband more than double of the average for Latin America and more than five times for the average for Asia.
Worrying
The figures, he said, were worrying, saying “digital divide is a significant issue, not only between developed and African countries; but also between rural and urban; gender; inter-generational (average age of farmers is around 60 years); rich-poor; public-private.”
The Chairman of Dot Com, Ghana and Ghana’s internet pioneer, Prof. Nii Quaynor, made a case for easy access to open source tools for the development community.
“For the innovation community, open source tools such as open maps present a cost-effective input into developing projects. Africa must make a conscious effort to make available more open source tools for the innovation community to produce very cost-effective solutions.
Mr Asomah-Cheremeh said Ghana considered geospatial technology as a tool for progression and had taken key steps, including developing digital addressing system to drive all sectors of the economy.
