Gro Intelligence, a company using artificial intelligence to analyze agriculture and climate data, recently launched the Food Security Tracker for Africa with support from The Rockefeller Foundation.

The Food Security Tracker for Africa is based on Gro Intelligence’s global data and analytics platform. It provides data and insight on factors related to food security through an interactive map of Africa. Users can click on a country to access information on crop production, crop stocks and demand, import price, drought conditions, and crop health for a selected major crop.

The Rockefeller Foundation views the collaboration with Gro Intelligence as an opportunity to mitigate global food price inflation by increasing access to data and reducing reactions based on fear. Their Director of Communications, John Spangler, and Vice President of the Food Initiative in Africa, Mehrdad Ehsani, tell Food Tank, “strengthening food systems to be more sustainable and resilient is essential, and we hope that this tool demonstrates that technology can be part of the solution for closing the agriculture data gap.”

“Gro’s…team used a machine learning yield prediction framework to generate over 80 production forecast models for corn, rice, wheat, and soybeans across 49 different countries. The models incorporate real-time environmental data and historical production data to predict available supply,” William Osnato, Senior Research Analyst at Gro Intelligence, tells Food Tank. “Once the growing season starts, the yield model aggregates district level weather and crop condition data to produce yield forecasts. Gro takes these forecasts, along with area harvested from the USDA, to produce production forecasts,” Osnato adds. These forecasts update weekly to ensure users are working with the most relevant information.

Gro Intelligence contrasts crop yield projections with crop demand for consumption and export to determine a stocks-to-use ratio for a selected crop and country over a 12-month period.

Read the full article about food security in Africa by Jonathan Ribich at Food Tank.