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Post: Information Hub: A world class digital platform for Forestry and Agricultural data in South Africa

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Information Hub: A world class digital platform for Forestry and Agricultural data in South Africa

The world is well into the 4th industrial revolution of artificial intelligence, robotics and internet of things (IoT), and South Africa’s agro-forestry sector is facing serious challenges in accelerating technological development and adoption. Technological development associated with the 4th industrial revolution relies heavily on the availability of big data. Unfortunately, much of the data that Forestry and Agriculture would require to optimally unlock the potential of these technologies is not available digitally or sits in fragmented repositories.

With initial support from Forestry South Africa (FSA), and subsequently from the University of Pretoria and the Department of Science and Innovation (TIA program), a robust cloud-based data management system and associated app have been established to address this gap, referred to as the Information Hub. The Information Hub (IH) data-platform is an initiative of Innovation Africa @UP and the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) at the University of Pretoria.

The Information Hub is developing a centralised point for researchers and practitioners in Agriculture and Forestry for the management, sharing, and connection of information sources. The Information Hub aims to optimise the power of the intersectional technologies, big data analytics, national and corporate development, and competitiveness in South Africa. The data-platform allows users to perform data analysis and develop innovative and locally relevant digital tools to support national industry and government needs for growth and development. The data platform can facilitate the establishment of research networks, communities of practice (CoPs), and private sector and local government partnerships.

The Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) has made significant strides in digitizing its operations, encompassing the diagnostic clinic, culture collection, and fieldwork. This integrated platform serves as a central repository, facilitating the seamless integration of historical data, partner contributions, and newly collected information. The Information Hub acts as the core node for the National Forest Pest and Pathogen Surveillance project, enabling comprehensive data analysis and decision support functionalities. Collaborations with the Institute for Commercial Forestry Research (ICFR) and CropWatch Africa enhance GIS-based system support, information management, and in-field surveillance capabilities, further bolstering the effectiveness and efficiency of the overall surveillance framework.

A dedicated platform has been established on the Innovation Africa @UP Information Hub to ensure the secure deposition of data collected from the National Forest Pest and Pathogen Surveillance project and facilitate the visualization of that data. A streamlined approach has been implemented to capture, clean, and integrate the data, while careful consideration has been given to the format and interpretation of the data to ensure effective communication. Stakeholders have access to their respective data and a user-friendly dashboard has been developed, providing comprehensive visualizations and summaries of infestation levels of different insect pests and pathogens at a compartment level, which can be filtered by province, plantation, host plant, time (year/month), or for a specific pest / pathogen. Although still in the early stages, efforts are underway to develop formal methods of communication that will enable real-time management responses, enhancing the effectiveness and timeliness of decision-making processes.

If you are not part of the Information Hub community yet, you can download the app from either the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. If you are part of an organization that already uses the Information Hub, contact your organization’s representative to access the company specific project or data. You can also launch your own project and start to collect, organize, visualize and share your data.

You can learn more about the Information Hub here or contact us to join one of our monthly training sessions:

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Written by: Bernard Slippers, Arne Schreuder, Hannes Strydom and Brett Hurley

Source: Information Hub 

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