The Digital Harvest: Boosting Liberian Farm Productivity with GIS

• Action Aid International is pioneering a digital transformation for Liberian farmers, aiming to significantly boost their productivity.
• Central to this initiative is IT expert Michael Doyah, who championed the integration of Esri’s ArcGIS solutions (ArcGIS Survey123 Connect and ArcGIS Dashboards) for enhanced data management.
• To ensure successful implementation, Sambus Geospatial provided intensive training to the Action Aid team on mastering these ArcGIS tools for data collection and visualization.
• The project empowers farmers to use digital tools to document yields and make data-driven decisions, improving their production cycles and livelihoods.
• The Action Aid team successfully developed and deployed functional surveys and dashboards, ready to roll out the project and foster digital agriculture in Liberia.

In a world increasingly driven by data, Action Aid International is championing a significant leap forward for Liberian farmers, aiming to scale up their productivity through the power of geospatial technology. Central to this initiative is IT expert Michael Doyah, a dedicated partner of Action Aid International and a fervent advocate for Esri’s ArcGIS solutions since 2020. Recognizing the software’s potential for streamlined data collection and enhanced collaboration, Doyah was instrumental in bringing Action Aid on board to leverage these transformative tools.

This year, Action Aid International is embarking on a pivotal project designed to revolutionize how local farmers manage and understand their agricultural output. The core of this project involves utilizing ArcGIS Survey123 Connect for detailed data gathering and ArcGIS Dashboards for insightful visualization. To bring this vision to life, Action Aid will empower farmers directly, teaching them to embrace digitalization to refine their production cycles and activities, starting with documenting their yields using intuitive survey applications.

How Sambus Helped

To ensure the Action Aid team was fully equipped for this ambitious undertaking, Sambus Geospatial, a trusted partner for innovation and transformational GIS solutions, stepped in to provide specialised, intensive training. Building on the team’s existing proficiency with ArcGIS Pro, Sambus Geospatial delivered a comprehensive five-day program focused on mastering ArcGIS Survey123, Survey123 Connect, and ArcGIS Dashboards.

Image: ActionAid’s Survey123 form

The intensive training guided the Action Aid team through the nuances of Web GIS with ArcGIS Online, advanced form design principles in Survey123—including offline data collection and synchronization—and sophisticated Survey123 Connect workflows using XLSForm for custom designs and conditional logic. The curriculum culminated in empowering the team to design and deploy dynamic, interactive ArcGIS Dashboards, transforming raw field data into clear, actionable insights through compelling charts, maps, and indicators.

Image: Data visualization on ArcGIS Dashboards

Results

Michael Doyah is ecstatic about seeing transformation in Liberian farming. According to him, the Action Aid team is well poised to share the knowledge and skill with local farmers, creating tailored surveys and dashboards that will be instrumental in enhancing local agriculture. He is confident that these tools will enable the team to effectively support farmers in documenting their yields and making data-driven decisions to improve their livelihoods.

The results speak for themselves. The Action Aid team successfully developed and published a functional Survey123 form and designed a linked ArcGIS Dashboard, demonstrating clear proficiency in survey management and data visualization. They are now outstandingly well-equipped to roll out their project, bringing the benefits of spatial data collection and analysis directly to the agricultural community in Liberia. Further practice and real-world application will undoubtedly see Action Aid’s impact grow, fostering a new era of digital agriculture in Liberia.

Sambus Geospatial looks forward to the project being fully rolled out and to hearing the success stories that will come from Liberia through Action Aid International.