Harnessing Earth Observation for Climate-Resilient Farming in Africa: Insights from the NASA Harvest Africa Program

Global food security and sustainable agriculture rely on the ability to monitor and support smallholder farms, which are extremely vulnerable to climate change impacts. Recent advances in AI, machine learning, and Earth observation provide new capabilities to quantify agricultural risks even in high-risk with underfunded regions and are/can inform policies for building resilient food systems. However, challenges remain in fully leveraging these technologies to aid smallholder farmers.

This talk will provide an overview of cutting-edge research applying AI/ML and Earth observation to agriculture monitoring and climate risk assessments in Africa. Examples will demonstrate the utility of these methods for food security applications while summarizing open problems and pathways to real-world impact. Specific topics will include developing scalable crop mapping models, frameworks for establishing national-level monitoring programs, and analysis of participation and funding flows in the Earth observation sector in Africa. The intention is to synthesize a landscape view of the state-of-the-art, real-world impact achieved and remaining gaps, especially around data sovereignty, local capacity building, and technology adoption policies needed to support smallholder agriculture in developing countries fully. The lecture will be followed by a reception in Copley Formal Lounge.

Dr. Catherine Nakalembe is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland’s Department of Geographical Sciences. Her research focuses on remote sensing and machine learning applications in smallholder agriculture, food security, early warning, and disaster assessment. She is the NASA Harvest Africa Director and NASA SERVIR Applied Sciences Agriculture and Food Security Thematic Lead. She has received several honors and awards for her work, including the prestigious Al Sumait Prize, the 2022 Golden Jubilee Medal (the highest civilian award of Uganda), the 2020 Africa Food Prize (the preeminent award recognizing an outstanding individual or institution that is leading the effort to change the reality of farming in Africa), and a 2019 GEO Individual Excellence Award for her dedication to improving food security in Africa through the enhanced use of Earth observations.