Commonwealth Secretariat supports the harmonisation of agricultural data in the Caribbean

LONDON, England – The Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda is making decisive strides in elevating national agricultural data infrastructure, using its convening power to bring together stakeholders who can deliver a step-change in the sector.

In June, a multi-stakeholder regional dialogue in the Caribbean, hosted by the government of Barbados, interrogated the idea of reinforcing existing individual data systems at the country level to enhance engagement with more complex regional and global data infrastructure for better decision-making.

The dialogue in Barbados was the last in a series of four consultations. These national dialogues started with Malawi in September 2023, Ghana in November 2023, and Bangladesh in May 2024. They were all focused on improving the use of climate data for food systems transformation. A write-shop held in Malawi in August, combined insights from all four dialogues and relevant stakeholders, and will be used to design an investment roadmap for countries.

The dialogue in the Caribbean brought together UN agencies, government ministries, NGOs, and research institutions and universities, together with the private sector, from Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Suresh Yadav, senior director of AI, Trade, Oceans and Natural Resources at the Commonwealth Secretariat, said:

“This digital public infrastructure is very important and crucial as the countries are moving towards the adoption of artificial intelligence. AI is based on data and therefore the data governance, data management practices, and digital public infrastructure will play a critical role in mainstreaming these technologies in the development journey of the countries.”

This initiative, dubbed NAgDI, proposes a model of digital public infrastructure for agricultural data management. Agricultural data, including climate data, can be divided into two types. Content data conveys information or intelligence in either its unprocessed or processed form, and includes soil maps, agronomic data, weather, financial data, production data, yield data and market data.

User data typically refers to different pieces of information which, when brought together, can lead to the identification of a particular person or entity across the agricultural value chain. This would include data on farmers, farm fields, traders, enterprises, research networks, extension networks, financial institutions and cooperatives within the ecosystem.

Dr Benjamin Addom, the Secretariat’s adviser on agriculture and fisheries trade policy, added:

“Governments need to drive the process and private sector, NGOs, farmers, UN bodies, and other key players need to be on board. And, once this is done, we hope there will be more efficiency in data management for better services for our farmers, for our fishers and other stakeholders in each country.”

Equitable access to data and the wider use of information services and data management processes is becoming necessary, especially in the context of food systems transformation.

In most countries, there is an absence of a national approach for managing data, especially on how to make content data readily available without compromising user data. NAgDI can help to address these challenges and gaps through better data coordination.