A GIS-based interactive map enabling data-driven decision-making in Nigeria’s food supply chain

Abstract

The accessibility of open-source data on fresh food supply chains provides key stakeholders from the public and private sectors with insights for better decision-making to drive food loss reduction. Nigeria has a fair amount of open-source agricultural and climate-related data. However, most of these datasets are not readily accessible. If they are open-access, they are often not easily digestible for the supply chain stakeholders to help them in decision-making. Using visually engaging interactive maps and graphs could help solve this challenge. This paper presents a detailed method used to develop an interactive web Geographic Information System (GIS) tool that collates and visualizes available open-source datasets for fresh food supply chains in Nigeria. Open-source data were acquired in various forms, including tabular, vector, and rasters, processed and uploaded as layers on the interactive web map. The gathered raw open-source data include crop production data, market prices, weather, road network, market locations, mobile coverage, water access, water scarcity, and food insecurity. Most of these data needed some processing on open-source geographic information system applications and web-based computing platforms to transform them into sources of actionable insights. These final processed layers were then uploaded to a consolidated interactive web map built on the Google Earth Engine platform. This interactive map can lead to relevant insights that could help stakeholders in Nigeria optimize their supply chain of fresh produce. The method described here also allows for the reproduction of such maps for other countries.