Training on Agricultural Campaign Monitoring and Crop Yield Forecasting in Africa, Tunis, March, 4th- 8th

The Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC), are co-organizing a training workshop on the use of the Growth Monitoring Statistical tool (CST) and the GuetCrop platform to support the monitoring of crop growth and the forecasting of agricultural yields.

This training is organized within the framework of GMES & Africa and will extend over 5 days (March 4th to 8th, 2024), targeting primarily institutions and technical departments within the Ministries of Agriculture in Africa, as well as experts and thematic specialists involved in the process of developing agricultural statistics. The start of the workshop was marked by welcoming statements from Mr. Nabil Ben Khatra, Executive Secretary of the OSS, Mr. Nizar Tabia, Technical Director of the National Center for Cartography and Remote Sensing (CNCT), Mr. Aissa Hlaimi, Director General of the DGRE (Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Maritime Fisheries) and Mr. Hervé Kerdiles, Expert at the Food Security Unit of the JRC.

Unanimously, these speakers recognized the need for efficient tools or systems for forecasting agricultural yields in order to estimate agricultural production early and accurately, and to develop effective strategies to anticipate potential shortages and ensure food availability in the context of climate change.

The workshop is organized in a hybrid mode to allow participants from all regions of Africa to take part and interact directly with the JRC training team. This training brought together around thirty participants in Tunis, as well as more than 100 online participants. The sessions of this first day alternated between theoretical presentations on the determinants and factors to consider in the approach to yield estimation and practical exercises aimed at ensuring mastery of the CST tool. The training provided participants with the opportunity to directly use data related to their areas of interest, in order to test the CST tool in yield forecasting.