Assimila is working with Farmerline and CABI-Africa to develop an operational system for forecasting maize yields in Ghana using a crop model, coupled with Earth observations and weather data. Information will be provided down to the detail of individual farms – without the need for expensive and time-consuming ground surveys of crop growth. The forecasts are designed to be used by all those involved in the maize supply chain including farmers, maize traders and Government agricultural advisors.

Our system provides information on: current yields to improve market efficiency; future yields based on climate scenarios to enhance long term food security food security; and past yields analysis to enable benchmarking and productivity improvement. We do this by implementing a quantitative crop yield monitoring and forecasting system based on the integration of physical crop models, meteorological data and Earth observation imagery. The system produces information at the plot scale for current and future yield analysis, and at the regional scale for long term climate resilience. Information will be provided to farmers, supply chain actors, governments and international organisations.