Indonesia: The Geospatial Information Agency (Badan Informasi Geospatial or BIG) promoted the use of GIS during the recent annual National Social Solidarity Expo and Awards, organised by the Ministry of Social Affairs. The event aimed to bring together concerned stakeholders from the public and private sector to discuss challenges and opportunities in poverty reduction programmes and other social welfare activities. One of the key topics discussed during the event was food security.
To address this issue, BIG presented how GIS can be used to determine the level of food security in Indonesia and study certain geographic attributes affecting the crops. The results of this activity are thematic maps that allow users to analyse spatial relationships between select variables thereby enabling farmers to enhance their crop yield.
Experts from BIG also added that leveraging GIS for food security analysis can also be used to determine food insecure hotspots, especially during times of natural disasters, by doing so would allow local authorities to plan intervention in affected areas.
Source: Future Gov
