The Tobago House of Assembly has received tablets to assist with data collection within agriculture in Tobago.
In a statement the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said five tablet computers were donated to the THA’s Division of Food Security, Natural Resources, the Environment and Sustainable Development, as part of the Project “Improving the monitoring system for climate change impacts on the agriculture sector in Trinidad and Tobago”.
The FAO said the Project is part of readiness activities for accessing Green Climate Fund (GCF) resources for addressing climate change.
The FAO said the Project, which began in January 2020 and ends in November 2022 focuses on the collection of important baseline data and information that would be useful for future decision-making on climate change priorities in the agriculture sector and therefore, provides a basis for concept note and proposal development for climate change actions.
Therefore, the FAO said timely and accurate data will be critical and the sustainability of this initiative will be necessary post-project.
FAO Representative (Trinidad & Tobago and Suriname) Reuben Robertson noted that effective planning requires valid data and the new digital tools are enablers to strengthen the process.
“Key objectives of this readiness project are:
- to develop a framework for the collection and analysis of agricultural and associated activity data – including hydrological and meteorological data
- to build the capacity of key stakeholders to use agricultural, hydrological and meteorological data to improve resilience
- to climate change, through the development of a database with mobile data collection capability.”
The FAO said an ArcGIS database, which will be launched soon, allows for the storage and analysis of climate and agriculture data.
The FAO said the webpage will present available data to all stakeholders including farmers and non-governmental organizations.
For the field data collection, paper-based forms have been converted to digital forms in KoBoToolbox. Using the forms on Tablets, mobile data collection on farmers, crop/livestock production and prices can be accomplished easily and uploaded into a database.
Also, under the project, two Data Collectors have been hired to assist with data collection over the next few months in Tobago. A two-day training session will be conducted with Agriculture Officers, Extension Officers and Data Collectors to ensure knowledge transfer.
The Ministry of Planning and Development is the chief implementer of the project and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO/UN) is the Delivery Partner (DP).
Key project partners include the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries; the National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO); the Tobago House of Assembly (THA); the Water Resources Agency (WRA); the Meteorological Service of Trinidad and Tobago (TTMS) and the Central Statistical Office (CSO).
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