The Anomaly hot Spots of Agricultural Production (ASAP) system, developed by the JRC, will produce monthly reports that identify hotspot countries to support further investigation as well as early planning of aid interventions or adaptation of rural development programmes.

The system covers 80 countries, and is based mainly on Earth observation and meteorological model outputs. In addition to the monthly warning reports, every ten days, it will issue automatic warnings at province level and make available crop monitoring indicators for technical experts.

The early warnings of impending problems for food production in food insecure countries can then feed into the main existing international coordination mechanisms including for example the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, complementing the information provided in the Global Network against Food Crises, and will also contribute to multi-agency early warning products such as the Crop Monitor for Early Warning.

ASAP launch event

The system will be launched during the European Development Days, on June 8th. Experts from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Development and Cooperation and the JRC will explain the ASAP's objectives and how to use it.

United Nations' representatives will present how existing early warning systems of the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme link with the ASAP.

...

Full news available via the link below.

Via ec.europa.eu