CGIAR Big Data Convention 2017

Agricultural productivity research has evolved from ‘pure research’ into an understanding that we ignore signals from market systems at our peril. At the same time, new digital communications channels have emerged that enabled us to build true interactivity with even very isolated farmers and value chain actors in ways that were not possible just a few years ago. Market systems themselves are generating tremendous amounts of data: social media chatter as Facebook is adopted even in the hinterlands, mobile network data, barcode data. For the first time it is possible to build active, dynamic and hopefully learning/adaptive feedback loops between researchers and farmers or those who work with them. This session will provide a different perspectives on this complex topic.