Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN), a consortium of 340 organisations from international farming research groups to universities and agribusiness giants, will meet in New York on Thursday and Friday to discuss progress on their “open data revolution to zero hunger”. In some countries, data on groundwater levels or land fertility is considered a matter of national security, to be kept secret. The main barrier to opening agricultural data “is not a technology issue, by any stretch” but more basic problems such as a lack of trained staff, she said. In Africa, universities in Kenya, Uganda and Senegal are all working to open their research data, Townsend said. In many sub-Saharan African countries “it’s a lot easier and more palatable" to open up agricultural data than other kinds.

Source: The Star September 13, 2016 10:30 UTC