Empowering Climate-Smart Agriculture with Copernicus and IoT Innovations for Smallholder Farmers in Africa

KijaniSpace (GreenSpace in Swahili) is a collaborative AU-EU initiative that leverages Copernicus Earth observation data and IoT for climate-smart agriculture in Africa. By integrating Copernicus data with local IoT systems, the project aims to enhance agricultural practices with two key programs: a Training Program for skill-building and product creation, and an Innovation Program for SMS-based experiments. Through its KijaniBox—a Space-IoT solution box—KijaniSpace enables accessible tools for sustainable development, targeting economic growth and green job creation in Africa and Europe.

Vision

The vision of KijaniSpace project is to extend the use of Copernicus Earth observation data for the application of climate-smart agriculture in Africa to regional research and innovation development. To enhance the use of Copernicus data by local African stakeholders, we have proposed several practical but innovative approaches

Key Impacts

In order to maximise the project results impact on topic Destinations, KijaniSpace implements an impact- and value driven approach towards topic Destinations via three Key Impact Pathways (KIPs):

• 1. Scientific Impact: (1) Creating high-quality new knowledge; (2) Strengthening human capital in research and innovation; (3) Fostering diffusion of knowledge and Open source.
• 2. Societal Impact: (4) Addressing EU policy priorities and global challenges through research and innovation; (5) Delivering benefits and impact through research and innovation missions; (6) Strengthening the uptake of research and innovation in society; and
• 3. Economic / Technological Impact: (7) Generating innovation-based growth; (8) Creating more and better jobs; and (9) Leveraging investments in research and innovation.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect hoste of the European Union or European Research Executive Agency (REA) Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.