Geodata for Agriculture and Water – improving food security

Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) improves food security in developing countries by using satellite data. Netherlands Space Office (NSO) is executing this programme, commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a second call for proposals has been released in September 2014.

The Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) programme was started in 2013 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ) and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment (I&M). The Netherlands Space Office (NSO) is executing the programme. The G4AW Facility stimulates public-private partnerships and is supporting initiatives to set up large-scale, demand-driven, and user-tailored satellite-based service chains. The ultimate goal is to improve the output of the agricultural and fishing sector by providing food producers with relevant information, advice or financial products. This will lead to improved sustainable food production and/or improved efficiency in the use of inputs for food production and/or improved income in your country.

In August 2013 the first call for proposals (Euro10 million) was released targeted at 15 G4AW partner countries. After project assessment, subsidies for four projects were granted.

The second call for proposals has been released September 5, 2014 with an available budget of Euro  30.5 million. In the second call for proposals the G4AW Facility is targeted at 26 countries. G4AW will enable partnerships of private and government organisations, NGOs and research institutes to set up service chains that improve food security with satellite data.

• Submission deadline for the Request for Advice is Friday, November 28, 2014.
• Submission deadline for the Application (full project proposal) is Friday, February 27, 2015.

More information about the call for proposals can be found on the G4AW website.