Casper Sitemba (Government of Kenya) for the Open Government in Agriculture and Nutrition lightning talk session at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in Mexico City, 28 October 2015.

1. Open Data & Agriculture
(Kenya)
Mr. Casper Sitemba
GODAN Lead,
Office of the Deputy President
Republic of Kenya

2. “Open” Culture in Kenya
• The culture of ‘open’ was initially pioneered by the Ministry of ICT and the
ICT Board in 2010, when Kenya become the first Country in Africa to build
an OpenData Portal and subsequently join OGP in 2011.
• In the same year, August 2010, Kenya adopted a new Constitution that
underpinned the rights of citizens, especially in accessing information but
also in accessing timely & quality services from providers (including
Government;
• The Current administration, in its plans for 2013 – 2017 anchored a pillar of
‘openness’ (Uwazi), in the manner that it conducts its affairs and how it
delivers services to citizens;
• The Government is also currently working on the Freedom of Information
Bill that will seek to articulate the vision of the Constitution on
fundamental freedoms relating to right to information.

3. Agricultural Transformation
• The era of open data inaugurated by the then President Kibaki and
continued investment by the current administration has provided
developers, researchers and farmers, unprecedented access to
information on Agriculture;
• “What gets measured, gets done” – The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock
and Fisheries has performance contracts that ensure innovation in
Agricultural services are a priority and drive its planning & engagement;
• Ministry of Lands is digitizing all lands records making information on
land, easily accessible and available.
• Government has also mapped soils in Kenya, making it easier for farmers
to plant the right crops, procure the right fertilizers – “SMART Farming”
etc
• Investments in technology infrastructure in rural areas and a deliberate
drive to reduce cost of data further informing the need to encourage
farmers to access/use data for agricultural decision making;

4. Case Studies: Market Information System – State Department of
Agriculture (AMIS)
• AMIS provides market information to farmers, to make better
informed choices on getting better prices for their commodities.
• http://amis.co.ke/

5. KENYA PARTNERSHIP
ON SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT DATA
Harnessing the Data Revolution
For Sustainable Development
1. Agriculture
2. Health
3. Climate
http://www.dataforum.or.ke/

6. -Partnering with Private Sector
organizations, Humanitarian
Agencies to mitigate the effect of
El Nino
-Data Driven response to the
expected disaster which may lead
to loss of lives, crops, disease to
livestock etc.
-Includes Redcross, UNOCHA,
Equity Group etc
EL NINO SITUATION
ROOM

7. Kenya's Agriculture Transformation
Initiative
-The Office of the Deputy President is committed to setting up an
Agriculture Transformation Initiative based at the Situation Room
to ensure sharing and Access of agricultural and Nutritional Data.
-This ATI will support our GODAN Membership
-It is a joint collaboration with the Alliance for A Green Revolution
Africa and the Agriculture Pillar of the Kenya Partnership on
Sustainable Deve Data
-The Situation Room will consist of Data Scientists, analysts,
Developers, Techies et cetera

8. Case Studies: (Digital Shamba)
• M-shamba provides a market place to match crop problem as well as
telemedicine facilities for farmers to identify crop disease and purchase
solutions via mobile money.
• http://digitalshamba.co.ke/

9. Case Studies: (M-Farm)
• Enables farmers to plan ahead using data and information to plan
wisely – 16,000 farmers.
• http://www.mfarm.co.ke/

10. Case Studies: (M-Farm)
“I love Kenya because you feel you are home anywhere you go.”
- Jamila Mohamed

11. Thank You