FAO, Stakeholders Deliberate On Open Access To Agricultural Data, Information And Knowledge In Ghana
credit: FAO Ghana
Stakeholders and the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO have met to discuss potential mechanisms for improving access to agricultural data, information and knowledge sharing through open data, open science and open access initiatives to enhance their contribution to food security and good nutrition in Ghana.
Dr Abebe Haile Gabriel, the FAO Representative to Ghana and Deputy Regional Representative for Africa, at the opening session of the forum underscored the need to adopt innovative solutions in order to advance the agriculture agenda. “In an era of information and knowledge revolution, facilitated by breakthrough in digital technology, we must adopt innovative solutions, including accessing open data, in order to advance transformation agenda of agriculture and the rural economy. Easy access and availability to agriculture and rural development related data, knowledge and technologies, contributes to enhancing rural livelihoods, food security and nutrition status,” he noted.
According to him, the FAO strongly believes that success in agricultural and rural development depends on individual actions of millions of rural family farmers, whose decisions are shaped by the information, knowledge and technologies available to them.
Speaking at the same function, Dr Victor Kwame Agyeman, Director-General for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) acknowledged that not all research outputs generated by the his organization, the CSIR are easily available and accessible and indicated that the CSIR would soon adopt an Open Access Policy to improve the situation.
“The objective of the policy is to open up scholarship and invent new ways so that the immense opportunities offered by digital technology can facilitate access to research results, particularly extending it to the numerous stakeholders such as farmers and fisher folks and decision makers to inform their decision making.”
Participants agreed on the importance of open data and open science and their potential contribution to enhancing food and nutrition security. They also highlighted the need for advocacy, policy support and capacity development, and agreed to establish a multi-actor platform, building towards a Ghana Open Data Alliance.
Participants at the Forum on Open Data, Open Science and Open Access to Agricultural Information in Ghana included representatives from government, academic and research organizations, development practitioners in agriculture and rural development, farmer organizations, information technology specialists involved in ICT in agricultural and rural development, development communication specialists including radio broadcasters, and library and information professionals.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has since 1975 supported initiatives aimed at enhancing the visibility and access to agricultural sciences and technical content generated in Member states.
In Ghana, the FAO has had a long-running relationship with the Ghana Agriculture Information Network Systems (GAINS) Coordinating centre based at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), providing a variety of inputs over the years in the context of the AGRIS network, and more recently has facilitated capacity development activities in agricultural information management and information strategies; provided advice on the re-examination of GAINS objectives and stakeholder involvement; and supported development of digital institutional repositories in GAINS member institutions; all this is aimed at enhancing access to agriculture information in the country.
