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Western Cape exhibits agriculture technology geared to drive sector development

Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde

Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde

Photo by Duane Daws

5th May 2015

By: Tracy Hancock

Creamer Media Contributing Editor

  

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The new systems showcased by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture on Tuesday were expected to provide a gateway for industry and policy-makers in the Western Cape to the latest intelligence from the sector and served as an important decision-making tool.

The department had invested R108.8-million in its Research and Technology Development Services programme this financial year, driving “technological revolution” in the agricultural sector.

“This is on top of the substantial sums the private sector is investing,” Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde said when delivering his keynote address at a technology exhibition hosted by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture.

He told stakeholders at the Percheron Hall, in Elsenburg, that innovation was a key priority for economic growth, with the new products on show creating the right environment to compete internationally.

“The growth of the agriculture industry will be based on knowledge, innovation and technology,” explained Winde, adding that residents across the province were now able to easily access this information to grow their agribusinesses.

“The innovations created in the Western Cape have national and global application. You can see how these technologies, when used together, have completely changed the way we do business in this province’s agriculture sector. For example, the flyover data, through which we have mapped the agricultural landscape of the entire province, is changing the way we collect and analyse data.

“Through applications such as CAMIS [Cape Agricultural Mobile Information System] and AgriTouch, farmers are able to get high-tech satellite information, such as crop water levels, regarding their particular farm on their cellphones or by visiting one of the touchscreen kiosks. This technology presents massive potential to work smarter and increase efficiencies,” Winde enthused. 

Eleven projects were introduced at the exhibition and included the spatial intelligence project, a detailed airborne survey that mapped the footprint of the Western Cape’s agricultural sector.

The project mapped about 250 000 fields, as well as identified land use, and thousands of infrastructure points. “This project has paved the way for the introduction of several new technologies,” said the Western Cape government in a statement.

The Western Cape AgriStats portal, a comprehensive Web-based agricultural statistics portal aimed at farmers, researchers and policy-makers, was also showcased.

This included a census of all crops, agricultural infrastructure and agritourism ventures.

“In addition, the department included its ongoing livestock census data, which enables the user to now also access data on cattle, goat, sheep, horse, ostrich and pig numbers,” noted the Western Cape government.

Drawing from the airborne survey, the AgriStats portal sought to inform decision-making, with access to the portal free through the department’s website.

A third project on show was the Cape Farm Mapper, a desktop web mapping application, which provided access to updated spatial intelligence.

Through the use of open-source and proprietary software, it can assist with decisions around agriculture practices, environmental management and farm planning.

The features offered by the Cape Farm Mapper were access to spatial databases; web services; viewing, querying, searching and creation of spatial data; map navigation; familiar Bing, Google and OSM base maps; SG Cadastre search for farms and erven; layer view and query; feature drawing tools; data import and export; and map printing.

The Cape Farm Mapper enabled access to data sets on erven and farm cadastre boundaries; the Surveyor-General; administrative demarcation boundaries; the Municipal Demarcation Board; agricultural baseline parameters;, dryland potential, land capability, grazing capacity; broad soil descriptions; climatic parameters (monthly temperature and rainfall); atlas of climatology and agrohydrology (RE Schulze); conservation; vegetation classification and water resources.

CAMIS, a mobile application (app) for farmers, which provided access to key agricultural indicators, was developed by the department’s Geographical Information Systems unit.

CAMIS, a location-based mobile Web app that shared agricultural and natural resource information on the Western Cape, was a miniature, location-based version of the Cape Farm Mapper desktop Web app.

 

A fifth innovation was the digital Smart Pen, which allowed officials to electronically capture farm visit reports, creating paperless processes.

“The department’s extension support programme offers financial advisory support to new farmers, with extension advisory officials conducting regular visits to supported projects,” explained the Western Cape government.

As such, the introduction of the Smart Pen for these visits had dramatically improved access to information and increased productivity.

The Agricultural Information Management System was also introduced on Tuesday and combined the fly-over data and the digital pen technology to provide an accurate and verified baseline of the current state of agriculture in the Western Cape.

It was believed that by combining spatial intelligence and the collection of interview data obtained at farms, the department would be able to monitor and track the effect of policy changes.

It included older data to ensure that comparisons could be made, while reports could be tailored to reflect specific requirements.

The Western Cape Department of Agriculture also showcased the interactive AgriTouch kiosk, which offered advice on market access, key sector indicators, agribusiness promotion and information on departmental services.

The interface was fully touch-screen operated and had wireless, GPRS (third generation) and local area network capabilities.

“Through this service, land reform beneficiaries and emerging farmers will have easy access to the information they need to take their enterprises forward.

“The project will be launched with a machine in each district, including Elsenburg and a couple at Thusong centres. The goal is to have kiosks in all municipal spaces,” the Western Cape government advised.

Another innovation on display was the FruitLook, which used satellite technology to analyse crop growth and water use.

The technology had helped farmers improve their production, reduce costs and had raised awareness around water use, the Western Cape government pointed out.

FruitLook provided weekly updates on nine growth parameters, such as actual evapotranspiration, biomass production and leaf nitrogen content, which would help farmers understand the effects of farm management on their crop.

On FruitLook, wine and fruit farmers could register their irrigation blocks and analyse crop growth and water status over time and space during the growth season.

As such, FruitLook could help identify why yields in one field were higher than in the other and how irrigation scheduling affected crop growth.

“The dataset behind FruitLook presents huge opportunities for statistical analysis of wine and fruit cultivation in the Western Cape. This includes linking crop growth and water use to soil type, slope, aspect and weather conditions,” the Western Cape government noted.

The GreenAgri portal, an online tool that outlined green agricultural practices and profiled the latest environment-friendly innovations, would officially be launched next month through a partnership between the Western Cape Department of Agriculture and sector development agency GreenCape.

GreenAgri was expected to provide a platform for collaboration and networking in the sector and monitor the latest developments in the green space.

Lastly, the Western Cape Department of Agriculture’s vets had developed a comprehensive directory for exporters.

This data system offered valuable information for local exporters, including outlining accessibility of different markets and the requirements of trading partners.

Vets issuing export certificates captured information about importing countries. This information included template movement, export certificates and import permits.

The data system included the contact details of all South African vet officials and export authorities. All information was classified according to species or product and was updated as market access expanded.

The Western Cape Department of Agriculture also used the exhibition to launch its new website, which went live during the event, replacing its 20-year-old website.

“The new website has been optimised for usability, includes more content and is easy to navigate. The website currently has close to 13 000 visitors each month and 30 000 page views. It will continue to be a valuable source of information and I am confident the new, upgraded version will reach an even larger audience,” Winde said.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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