Agro-MAPS : Mapping sub national land use statistics on a global scale

1. Agro-MAPS: Mapping sub national land use statistics on a global scale H. George, I. Verbeke and S. Corsi Land and Water Division, FAO Wye City Group Workshop on Statistics on Rural Development & Agricultural Household Income ROME, 11-12 June 2009

2. Overview Agro-MAPS Origins & key characteristics Value addition Land use issues and rural development Selected land-use applications Development of land-use indicators Mapping & characterization of land-use systems Concluding remarks

3. Agro-MAPS: Origins LU information needed for specific global applications • IFPRI -- Impacts of new technologies; nutrient balances, .. • SAGE -- Climate change; human impacts on ecosystem services, .. • FAO -- Land degradation, farming systems, early warning, .... Informal Consortium (Agro-MAPS) • Meetings (2002; 2003); pool data holdings • CIAT (joined in 2003); IRRI, ILRI – major contributions • Funding: within existing programs; MEA (core indicator data set) • FAO contributions: coordinated through interdepartmental working group (SPATL)

4. FAOSTAT – 57 countries Agro-MAPS – 5690 units Key Decisions Maize • Focus on food crops; globally/ regionally important; most recent data; time series? • Production, Harvested area; Crop yields • Geo-referenced; admin 1 and 2 • Global coverage, largest countries • Pool existing data holdings & published sources (e.g. Ag census) • Harmonize data (codes; units; but no corrections); include reference to data sources • No long-term commitments! OPPORTUNITY: Seek partners to develop synergies for further improvements ---data gathering, content, formats, harmonization, long-term development, ...

5. Data Compilation/ Harmonization Multiple sources (± metadata) Ambiguities (-, ., 0, blank, NA, ..) Boundaries (variations - extent, names, codes – SALB, FIPS, NUTS, GAUL, ad-hoc, ..) Crop codes Data access/ dissemination CD-ROM (2006) Web site development (interactive, 850 Mb data) & distributed update IPR (“Agro-MAPS”; EUROSTAT, data vs boundary info, ..) SAGE CIAT FAO IFPRI Challenges of implementation

6. Geocoding Match codes appearing in tables and maps

7. Boundaries: A X-cutting issue CHALLENGE: compile & distribute all aggregated data and their corresponding boundary maps MALAWI FAO IFPRI • Different boundaries from different sources • Differences reported for different crops; year; • Disputed Boundaries

8. 59 - admin2 130 – admin 1 Status: Data coverage Contents • 134 Countries - 92% of the world land surface covered • Some data without maps • Updates/corrections (via publications; collaborators; projects, .. public feedback

9. perfectagreement Status: Data quality Agro-MAPS > FAOSTAT < FAOSTAT FAOSTAT • Use ‘metadata’ to consult original sources • Develop better indicators for data sharing

10. Web-based LU info system • Web site enhancements • rapid update; • best resolution display • Derived info products to support applications • major crop combinations • raster versions Interactive display BY REGION

11. % Data displayable On-line query Find best matching shapefiles!

12. Download options • CSV, dbf, .. • All statistical data (by country, region) • All statistical data for a specific query • Shapefiles (except Europe) Download

13. Site updates & adjustments Site Administrator only • Rapid update • datasets, • layers All Users • Adjust parameters • crop combination tools

14. Generate a CD of the site

15. Preview time series data BY COUNTRY Data sources Burkina Faso Locally important crops Burkina Faso Important crops

16. Agro-MAPS: Added value • Global compilation of sub national data • versus national aggregates – FAOSTAT • global analyses & perspective studies • geographic targeting within countries • Geo-referenced formats • vector; raster for easier integration with user applications (under development) • Derived information – LU characterization • indicators on rural development issues • locally important crops or crop groups -> LU systems mapping

17. MDG1 LU changes to combat food insecurity & poverty High bioenergy demand & indirect LU changes Land scarcity Large scale cropland acquisitions Climate change impact on land suitability and use Increasing urbanization Highly variable food prices; trade MDG7 land degradation (including forest) sustainability of agro-ecosystems/ biodiversity food versus environmental tradeoffs Land issues & Rural Development

18. Development of LU Indicators Percent changes crop production; per capita production area harvested; per capita area harvested yields (NB: influences due to management; rainfall) yield gap Proportions harvested area to total suitable area (NB: differs from arable land to total land area) harvested area to cropland area (i.e. cropping intensity) Differences Potential vs Actual yields (e.g. field trials, Agro-MAPS)

19. Yield gap – sorghum (kg/ha) - BFA YIELD GAP -- Difference between potential yields and actual yields available from Agro-MAPS.

20. Yield gap map (sorghum, Kg/ha) Yields from field trials versus yields from Agro-MAPS For geographic targeting of regions where productivity gains are possible

21. Harvested vs suitable area Harvested area Highly suitable area

22. Harvested vs suitable area

23. Harvested vs total cropland Harvested area total cropland area

24. Cropping intensity Harvested area to total cropland (i.e. cropping intensity) It is useful for estimating future food production under given conditions of the availability of land suitable for cropping and population growth

25. Land use systems mapping • Distinct geographic assemblages of • the natural resources base, • current land use and management, and • the socio-economic setting • Facilitates ‘territorial’ vs. sectoral policies & planning • Global  sub national scales Farming systems & Poverty- 2001

26. Locally important crops • Set of crop(s) having the highest relative percentages of total harvested area which together just exceed a predetermined threshold percentage (75%) of the total harvested area for each administrative unit. • “Mixed’ label if the number of crops is greater than 4 (user selectable)

27. RESOURCE BASE (production conditions) ENTERPRISE (use of resources – land use) SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT (explanatory factors – influence land use management practices) AEZ suitability crops & management population density soil; climate; terrain livestock & management infrastructure (access to advisory services; markets) land cover fishing & management land availability groundwater integrate District-level farming systems map National LU systems mapping Senegal Agro-MAPS data • ± indicators to suit end-user needs • land tenure, plot characteristics • orientation/intensity of production • prices/ subsidies, credit access scale independent framework created by spatial integration of relevant data for each of the 3 major land-use characteristics with the aid of geographic information systems as well as with input of expert local knowledge

28. LU systems & attributes LADA -- National land degradation assessment - Senegal

29. LU systems & degradation % area affected by land degradation

30. Agro-MAPS: User survey • Climate change • GIS-based cropland GHG inventory for Burkina Faso and Tanzania • C sequestration calculation • MSc research project aiming to upscale the emissions of the ozone depleting gas methyl bromide • research on carbon sequestration in croplands Land-use (policies; assessment; planning) Land use assesment in calculating arid and semi arid land area in Kenya Plantation planning Comparing yields between SSA and LA Biofuels policies impact on land use For presentation of sugarcane production ares under cultivation and yield in India For research Purpose- Land-livestock planning on country scale Data Preparedness for response to emergency seminar on food security Academic and scientific Modelling exercise on water use Research on Crop Growth Modeling biofuels research Change in indigenous land practices since 1950

31. Agro-MAPS: User survey Environment analyses and management Geospatial analysis for evaluating North American and European Union ecological areas for pesticide dissipation studies project Ecological Region analysis North America and EU Establish GIS database for environment management Investment and marketing Investment research Preparing analyses for sales department Size markets in Argentina and Brazil soyabean production in Madhya Pradesh research researching oil palm industry in DRC Gain understanding of African agricultural imports/exports to assist my work in Mozambique as a volunteer consultant to sustenance farmers food production and consumption in asia

32. For more info ... webstats http://www.fao.org/landandwater/agll/agromaps/interactive/page.jspx

33. Agro-MAPS: ready access now to sub national LU data (vs national aggregates) derived information, on global scale Facilitates development of LU indicators of relevance to MDG1 and 7 issues in rural development LU systems maps allowing a territorial vs a sectoral approach to policy formulation and planning Info gaps remain time series data; no data for some countries seeking collaborative arrangements for future sub national LU data compilation (not just statistics) Concluding remarks