Launch of Global Initiative: Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition / CGIAR

"The CGIAR Consortium is pleased to announce their support for the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition initiative launched today at the Open Government Partnership in London. It is the first global open data initiative spanning across public and private entities including donors, international organizations and businesses. The initiative seeks to support global efforts to make agricultural and nutritionally relevant data available, accessible, and usable for unrestricted use worldwide. The focus is on building high-level policy and public and private institutional support for open data. The initiative encourages collaboration and cooperation among existing agriculture and open data activities, without duplication, and brings together all stakeholders to solve long-standing global problems. At the G-8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture in Washington earlier this year, participants made a number of commitments to Open Data for Agriculture.  Following the conference, the governments of the United States (USDA lead) and the United Kingdom (DFID lead) partnered to form this global initiative. Open Data is a powerful tool for long-term sustainable development by improving the economic opportunities for farmers and the health of all consumers.  Open access to research, and open publication of data, are vital resources for food security and nutrition, driven by farmers, farmer organizations, researchers, extension experts, policy makers, governments, and other private sector and civil society stakeholders participating in ‘innovation systems’ and along value chains. Lack of institutional, national, and international policies and openness of data limits the effectiveness of agricultural and nutritional data from research and innovation. Making open data work for agriculture and nutrition requires a shared agenda to increase the supply, quality, and interoperability of data, alongside action to build capacity for the use of data by all stakeholders. With a focus on open data for agriculture and nutrition, the initiative seeks to: [1] advocate for new and existing open data initiatives to set a core focus on agriculture and nutrition data; [2] encourage the agreement on and release of a common set of agricultural and nutrition data; [3] share learning and guidance: by increasing widespread awareness of ongoing activities, innovations, and good practices; [4] advocate for collaborative efforts on future agriculture and nutrition open data endeavours; and, [5] advocate programs, good practices, and lessons learned that enable the use of open data particularly by and for the rural and urban poor ..."