How Satellites Are Supporting Farmers Across Africa | Catherine Nakalembe | TED

If farming was your primary source of income, and if you can't grow anything, there's not much you can do.

It's very demoralizing. It's very overwhelming.

A lot of the countries where I work, farmers face fires, pests, diseases, droughts and floods.

If crops fail, no food is available for a lot of people who depend on what they produce.

It translates into, you know, sometimes an entire generation being undermined.

My name is Catherine Nakalembe and I'm a satellite food security specialist.

I use satellite data to map and monitor crops, and then work to make sure that information can be used by decision makers and organizations that support farmers.

I primarily focus on Africa: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Mali, Senegal.

Last time I checked, there were over 8,000 satellites observing our Earth.