(LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2019-06-28) Baarbé, Jeremiah; Blom, Meghan; De Beer, Jeremy
This article identifies a data governance model that could help reduce dataset access
inequities currently experienced by smallholder farmers in both developed-world and
developing-world settings. Agricultural data is globally recognised for its importance
in addressing food insecurity, with such data generated and used by a value chain of
contributors, collectors, and users. Guided by the modified institutional analysis and
development (IAD) framework, our study considered the features of agricultural data
as a “knowledge commons” resource. The study also looked at existing data collection
modalities practiced by John Deere, Plantwise and Abalobi, and at the open data
distribution modalities available under the Creative Commons and the Open Data
Commons licensing frameworks. The study found that an “agricultural data commons”
model could give greater agency to the smallholder farmers who contribute data. A
model open data licence could be used by data collectors, supported by a certification
mark and a dedicated public interest organisation. These features could engender an
agricultural data commons that would be advantageous to the three key stakeholders
in agricultural data: data contributors, who need engagement, privacy, control, and
benefit-sharing; small and medium-sized-enterprise (SME) data collectors, who
need sophisticated legal tools and an ability to brand their participation in opening
data; and data users, who need open access.