The document discusses food security challenges in the Sahel region of Africa. Agriculture is dependent on rainfall which is highly variable, resulting in potential crop failures and food crises. A crop risk zones monitoring system is proposed to help farmers plan planting times to minimize risks and maximize yields. The system would use satellite data and forecasting models to monitor the growing season and provide early warnings of dry spells or other risks so farmers can receive advice to improve food security and resilience. A prototype has been developed for Mali and Niger using open source tools to identify risk zones and support decision making.

1. THE CONTEXT
www.sensorwebhub.org
contact person: t.de.filippis@ibimet.cnr.it
Food Security in the Sahel Region
AgricultureintheSahelianRegionischaracterizedbytraditionaltechniquesanditisstronglyde-
pendent on climatic conditions and rainfall. In general, low rainfall during the growing season can
bringtolowercropyieldsand,sometimes,tofoodcrises(Sultan,2005).
Cropyieldsmaysuffersignificantlywitheitheralateonsetorearlycessationoftherainyseason,
as well as witha highfrequencyofdamagingdryspells.(Mugalavaietal.,2008).Earlyrainsatthe
beginningoftheseasonarefrequentlyfollowedbydryspellswhichmaylastaweekorlonger.As
theamountofwaterstoredinthesoilatthistimeoftheyearisnegligible,earlyplantedcropscan
sufferwatershortagestressesduringaprolongeddryspell.
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Istituto di BiometeorologiaP. Vignaroli, L. Rocchi, T. De Filippis, V. Tarchiani, M. Bacci , P. Toscano, M. Pasqui, E. Rapisardi
ThemainneedofSahelfarm-
ersistoensureabetterfood
security, adaptingtraditional
cropcalendartoclimaticvari-
abilitysotominimizerisksand
maximizeyields.
Prevention for Food Security
PLANNING
PREVENTION
PLANNING
PLANNING
thechoiceofthe
sowingdate
abilitytoestimate
effectivelytheonset
oftheseason
abilitytoestimate
potentiallydangerous
dryspells
01
advicestofarmersarea
fundamentalcomponent
ofprevention
THE NEED
The Crop Risk Zones Monitoring System for Resilience to Drought in the Sahel
Mainly based on tools and models
usingnumeric forecasts and satel-
lite data to outlook and monitor
thegrowingseason.Thisapproach
is centered on the early identifica-
tion of risks and the production of
information within the time pre-
scribed for decision-making
(Vignarolietal.,2009).
Early Warning
Systems
The MWGs are in charge of the
agro-hydro-meteorologicalmoni-
toring and the production and
dissemination of agrometeoro-
logical information supporting
thedecisionmakingprocessfrom
farmers to national and interna-
tionalstakeholders.
Information for
Decision Making
In the Sahel, particularly in CILSS
(Permanent Interstates Commit-
tee for Drought Control in the
Sahel) countries, national Early
Warning System (EWS) for food
securityareunderpinnedbyMulti-
disciplinary Working Groups
(MWGs) lead by National Meteo-
rologicalServices(NMS).
Multidisciplinary
Working Groups
Early Warning for Food Security
2016 Vienna | 17 – 22 April
MODULESOUTPUTS
-
geographical
extent
definition
temporal
extent
definition
crop and
variety
definition
MODULE
CHOICE
INSTALLATION
crop installation
identification
MONITORING
season and crop
monitoring
FORECAST
sowing and
warning forecast
advice
choice
phenological
phases image
installation
phases image
sowing condition
forecast image
installation date
anomaly image
soil available
water image
installation
condition
forecast image
sowing failure
image
resowing
image
crop water needs
satisfaction image
crop water
needs satisfaction
forecast image
crop water
needs satisfaction
forecast risk zone
image
RISK
INFORMATION
END END
END
START
PRECONDITIONS
ADVICE
CROP
INSTALLATION
PHASE
1
ADVICE
CROP
VEGETATIVE
PHASE
2
FARMERS
EARLY WARNING SERVICES
END
MODE SCOPE ACTION USERS
DIAGNOSTIC
DROUGHT
MONITORING
CROP RISK ZONES
IDENTIFICATION
DROUGHT
MANAGEMENT
FOOD INSECURITY
VULNERABILITY
ASSESSMENT
EXTENSION SERVICES
AGRICULTURAL
SERVICES
PREDICTIVE
SOWING
ADVICE
CROP STATUS
PREDICTION
PLANNINGFIELDWORK
REDUCE
SOWINGFAILURE
CROP RISK ZONES
MONITORING
FARMERS
EXTENSION
SERVICES
NATIONAL &
REGIONAL
EWSs
NATIONAL EWSs
REG/ INT ORGANIZATIONS
& DONORS
NAT/REG NETWORKS FOR
FOOD CRISIS PREVENTION
THE CROP RISK ZONES
MONITORING SYSTEM
The challenge and the objective of this work is to make avail-
able for MWGs and any other local users an open
access/sourceCropRiskZonesMonitoringSystem(CRZMS)
supporting decision making for drought risk reduction and re-
silience improvement. A first prototype has been developed
for Niger and Mali NMSs, based on a coherent Open Source
web-based infrastructure to treat all input and output data in
an interoperable, platform-independent and uniform way.
A multi purpose tool Model Input
PREDICT & DIAGNOSE
ABOUTTHE CRZMSTOOL
THE MODEL
 MSGCumulatedRainfallEstimateImages (5–10dd)
 GFS Cumulated Precipitation Forecast (180 h)
 Monthly PET (Potential Evapo-Transpiration )
 Average start of growing season
 Average end of Growing season
 Available soil moisture,
 Crops agronomic data - phenological phases: crop
cycle length and cultural coefficient (Kc)
Model Flow Chart
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
Model Output
Created by Simple Icons
TheSystemarchitectureandfunctionsarebasedonZAR(ZoneàRisque)agro-
meteorological model where the data collected from different sources and the
model output will be accessible using OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) web
servicesandgeospatialdatastandards.
CRZMS increases the accessibility
of the right drought risk informa-
tion for different stakeholders; it
provides specific advises for end-
users at different decision-making
levels, bridging the gap between
available technology and local
users’needs.
PREVENTION
FOOD
MODEL
CROP SOW
EARLYWARNINGPHENOLOGYMONITORING RESILIENCE
• Sowingadvices
• Seedingsuccessfulprediction
• Cropwaterstatusprediction
FORECAST
MODULE
• Dateofcropinstallation and
ofsowingfailures
• Dateofre-sowingcondition
• Actualvs.Averagecropinstal-
lation
• Actualvs.lastyearcropinstal-
lationanomalies
INSTALLATION
MODULE
• Phenological stage
• Crop water satisfaction level
• Soil water availability
MONITORING
MODULE
BacciM.,DiVecchiaA.,GenesioL.,TarchianiV.,VignaroliP.,2009.IdentificationetSuividesZonesàRisqueagro-météorologiqueauSahel.In
ChangementsGlobauxetDèveloppementDurableenAfrique,volume3.Rome,AracneEditrice.ISBN978-88-548-2980-0
MugalavaiE.M.,KipkorirE.C.,RaesD.,RaoM.S.,2008.Analysisofrainfallonset,cessationandlengthofgrowingseasonforwesternKenya.Ag-
riculturalandforestmeteorology148:1123-1135.
Sultan B., Baron C., Dingkuhn M., Sarr B., Janicot S., 2005. La variabilité climatique en Afrique de l’Ouest aux échelles saisonnière et intra-
saisonnière.II:applicationsàlasensibilitédesrendementsagricolesauSahel.Sécheresse,16(1):23-33.
VignaroliP.,TarchianiV.,BacciM.,DiVecchiaA.,2009.LaPréventiondescrisesalimentairesauSahel.InChangementsGlobauxetDèveloppe-
mentDurableenAfrique,volume1.Rome,AracneEditrice.ISBN978-88-548-2894-0
BIBLIOGRAPHY
This work was supported by the World Bank - Selection No. 1180159. The challange fund. “Building Resilience to Drought in the Sahel by
EarlyRiskIdentificationandAdvices”.
Thabks to Niger National Meteorological Service (DMN) and to Mali National Agency of Meteorology (MALI-METEO), Mali for their com-
mitmentandcollaboration.
CREDITS:IconsTheNounProjectbyStefanParnarov,KevinAugustineLO,SimpleIcons,PabloRozenberg,CreativeStall
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Postgres SQL
PostGIS
GeoDatabase
ZAR
MODEL
Specific servelets
ETL procedures for
data loading
SYSTEM OUTPUTS
Maps and Reports
Download
RS Rainfall
images chains
EUMETCast
Receiving Station
Backend
beans/procedure
(J2EE)
BACKEND
WebGIS Application
View & Query Data
USER
INTERFACE
FRONT
END