Foster K. Mensah
Executive Director
Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services (CERSGIS)
University of Ghana

Biography
Foster Mensah is the Executive Director of Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services, a Geo-information Services and Research Support Centre based at the University of Ghana. He has worked with the Centre since 1994, when he was engaged as Applications Specialist on the World Bank funded Ghana Environmental Management Project, commissioned by the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency to produce satellite image-based national digital land use database for Ghana. He has subsequently worked as project manager on a number of GIS/Remote Sensing related projects for the World Bank, UNDP, African Development Bank, and the Government of Ghana, and provided remote sensing and GIS support to a number of research projects. Foster is a geo-information specialist with professional experience is in land use/land cover mapping from remotely sensed imagery GPS mapping and spatial modelling. He has an MPhil in Geography and Resource Development from the University Ghana, Post Graduate Diploma (Integrated Map and Geo-Information Production) from the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, Netherlands, and B.Sc. (Geodetic Engineering), University of Science and Technology, Ghana.

Abstract
Use of Geospatial Technologies as SMARTAgri tool for the next level of advanced Agriculture: The African perspective

Agriculture plays a key role in the economies of most African countries, thus a critical factor in efforts to combat poverty and food insecurity. Despite its importance, agriculture in the Africa is characterised by low productivity and plagued by major environmental constraints, with per-hectare yields for most crops among the lowest in the world. The generation old model of agricultural growth used by African governments is not sustainable in the long term, as production systems lag behind burgeoning urban development. Geo-enabled agriculture which refers to the utilization of spatial data to facilitate evidence-based decisions in farming systems to promote agriculture development, hold enormous potential for the development of a new model for Africa’s agricultural growth agenda. Geospatial Technologies to the collection, harmonization, packaging and dissemination of agri-related datasets to guide farmers and farm-related enterprises in determining high efficiency and increased returns on agriculture investments in a sustainable manner. While geospatial tools have been successfully used for natural resources, and environmental, management, actual use of the technology in the agriculture sectors is slowly gaining ground in Africa. This presentation portrays efforts by the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services, University of Ghana, Accra to fill the data gap in Ghana’s agriculture industry and contribute to the overall goal of agricultural transformation.