The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development and with financial support from the African Development Bank (AfDB), has officially launched the second phase of the Earth Observation for Agricultural Statistics project (EOSTAT II) in Zimbabwe. 

FAO won the SDG Custodian Agency Prize at the seventh annual GEO SDG Awards, which recognizes the productivity, innovation, novelty and exemplary efforts in the use of Earth observations to support sustainable development.

Accurate and timely crop yield estimation is a cornerstone of food security planning, particularly in regions heavily dependent on agriculture. In Ethiopia, FAO has been at the forefront of integrating Earth Observation (EO) data and process-based models to enhance national agricultural statistics.

The EOSTAT Field Boundary Digitizing Mapathon took place from 16 September to 1 October 2024 in Zimbabwe, marking a significant leap forward in agricultural data collection for the country. 

FAO’s Earth Observation for Statistics (FAO-EOSTAT) project, an innovative initiative supported by the Agrifood Economics and Policy (ESA) and the Statistics (ESS) Divisions, leverages next-generation Earth Observation (EO) big data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance traditional statistical tools for producing land cover and land use statistics.

By: Rajendra Aryal, FAO Representative in Indonesia and Timor-Leste and Imam Machdi, Deputy Chief Statistician, BPS-Statistics Indonesia. 

The WaPOR water-efficiency portal and a land-cover monitoring project in Lesotho both contribute to SDG monitoring

The innovative approach developed by FAO relies on free of charge Earth observation data, vegetation and climate modeling, as well as field survey data to build the Government of Lesotho’s capacity to produce official annual land cover map that are standardized, accurate, granular and validated

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Digital Earth Africa and Frontier SI have initiated a new collaboration to help African countries use Earth observations to produce land cover and crop statistics

A new Memorandum of Understanding enhances the use of Earth observation data for food and agriculture statistics

The organization’s work on measuring and monitoring SDG indicator 15.4.2, the Mountain Green Cover Index (MGCI), awarded at GEO Week 2021