The Eleventh Regional Wheat Workshop For Eastern ... - Cimmyt

Spatial tools/or wheat research - Hodson et al.
these barriers to the effective use of GIS. This paper describes two user-friendly spatial
decision support tools that have been developed specifically to assist researchers within the
sub-Saharan Africa region.
Collaboration between CIMMYT's Natural Resources Group and the Characterization,
Assessment and Applications Group (CAAG) at the Blackland Research and Extension
Center (Temple, Texas) has resulted i.n advanced spatial tools being developed, and made
accessible, to researchers in the African region. The first of these tools, namely the Africa
Country Almanac (Corbett et at., 1999), represents one of the most advanced stand-alone
spatial decision support tools available in the world. The second tool, the Africa Maize
Research Atlas (Hodson et at., 1999; 2000), relies on freely available but commercially
produced software (ArcExplorer, from Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.) to
provide access to digital spatial data. A key concept behind both the Africa Country Almanac
and the Africa Maize Research Atlas is that they should represent much more than simple
software packages. In this context, both systems come pre-loaded with data sets that are
targeted particularly to the needs of researchers in agriculture and natural resource
management.
Accessibility is a key factor in the successful adoption of any new technology. A
considerable amount of effort has been made to make the spatial tools described here as
accessible as possible to researchers and decision-makers who are not GIS-experts. Simple
intuitive user interfaces, incorporating a familiar "Microsoft Windows point and click
approach", have been utilized (Fig. 1) with the aim of making these systems as accessible as
spreadsheets. Experience has shown that even with a minimal amount of training - in the
order of two days - complete novices to the area of GIS can grasp the fundamentals of these
systems and start applying them. Prohibitive costs are another barrier to widespread
accessibility, but the tools described here are currently being made available at minimum cost
to bona fida researchers for non-profit uses.
As for any technology, unless practical applications are found, a GIS tool will be of limited
value. The GIS tools described in this paper are no exception. Several real world examples of
the application of these systems to agricultural problems, particUlarly related to wheat
systems, are described. These include the investigation of potential areas for the expansion of
wheat production within Ethiopia, facilitating the transfer and exchange of material,
technology, and/or information from existing wheat research stations, and assisting in the
efficient use of resources through effective targeting.
The tools described here represent "entry-level" GIS applications, and as such have an
important role to play in GIS capacity building or raising spatial awareness. Many institutions
now have access to advanced GIS systems that are managed by GIS specialists. However, for
a GIS laboratory to provide effective support, it must have access to collaborators who are
aware of the potential applications of GIS to their work. In addition, having simple low-cost
systems through which the outputs of advanced spatial analysis can be widely distributed is
also vital. "Entry-level" applications, such as the Africa Country Almanac and the Africa
Maize Research Atlas, therefore, have an additional role to play in awareness building that
goes beyond being gateways to spatial information.
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