Extensive research has focused on using data and satellite imagery in precision agriculture, but its use in rangeland management remains underexplored. Rangelands, covering 70% of the world’s land and supporting over 500 million people worldwide, are key for food security and the economy in some of the harshest environments. Unfortunately, they are increasingly threatened by climate change. Nearly half of the world’s rangelands face degradation, with severe impacts on biodiversity, food security, and economies, particularly in regions like Namibia, where 80% of the population relies on rangelands. Lack of sustainable practices aggravates this issue, as does bush encroachment, a phenomenon characterized by the increase of shrub species at the expense of palatable grasses. Namibia suffers from bush encroachment on a massive scale, with over 80% of its land affected by this issue.
Accurate data is critical for sustainable rangeland management, enabling predictions of productivity, drought planning, and optimal stocking rates. However, data collection in Namibia and the SADC region remains limited despite abundant satellite imagery. To address this gap, Farm4Trade, in collaboration with the University of Namibia, Omeva Consulting, and local experts, has created a dataset. This achievement was made possible through the sponsorship and support of the Lacuna Fund, the world’s first collaborative initiative dedicated to empowering data scientists, researchers, and social entrepreneurs in low- and middle-income regions with the resources needed to create labeled datasets that tackle pressing local challenges.
SDG: #2 (Zero Hunger), #13 (Climate Action), #17 (Partnerships for the Goals)
Sectors: Rangeland Management, Sustainable Agriculture, Livestock Farming
Countries: Namibia
Donors: Lacuna Fund
Duration: April 2024 - April 2025
Project Title: Namibia: A New and Open Dataset for Rangeland and Pasture Management
Project Partners: AgriConsult Namibia, Agri-Ecological Services, University of Namibia, and Farm4Trade
The primary aim of the project is to provide a ground-truthed field dataset to calibrate and validate satellite-derived estimates of rangeland condition indicators. Once calibrated, these satellite products will enable near real-time monitoring of rangelands for more effective management.
Hosted on Kaggle (available at: Lacuna Dataset on Kaggle), it features detailed information on rangeland indicators on 20 sites across different Namibian ecoregions. It includes unified labels and legends for easy interpretation and integration into research. The dataset is structured to support a variety of use cases, including satellite calibration, rangeland condition assessments, and sustainable livestock production planning.
A meticulously designed user manual accompanies the dataset to ensure its effective utilisation. The manual includes:
This combination of a robust dataset and an accessible user manual ensures that users can maximise the potential of our client's dataset for research, decision-making, and innovation in rangeland and agricultural management.
Despite covering 70% of the Earth’s land and sustaining over 500 million people, rangelands are under significant threat from degradation, climate change, and bush encroachment. This challenge is particularly severe in Namibia, where 80% of the population relies on rangelands, and over 80% of the land is affected by bush encroachment. This project matters because it provides data that can drive sustainable rangeland management, which is critical for supporting livelihoods, conserving biodiversity, and ensuring food security in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions.
Distribution of Rangeland Types Globally. Image source: Rangelands Atlas
https://www.rangelandsdata.org/atlas/maps/distribution-rangeland-types-globally
We prioritised data usability by involving end users at every stage of the project. From the outset, stakeholders were engaged through two co-design workshops—one at project initiation and another at closure— to foster shared ownership and ensure practical outcomes.
We facilitated the involvement of farmers and students in the data collection process and supported local experts and the Farm4Trade technical team in coordinating activities, ensuring inclusive participation with gender representation.
Our hands-on fieldwork experience enabled us to implement a practical and efficient project management approach, supporting the collection of quarterly georeferenced data across 20 sites in Namibia’s key livestock-producing ecoregions.
Leveraging our extensive UX expertise, we contributed to the development of a dataset and an end-user manual that align with FAIR principles— ensuring the data is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable for rangeland monitoring and decision-making.
Omeva Consulting played a central role in project management, communication, and ensuring data usability. Our key responsibilities included:
By combining deep expertise in agri-tech, rangeland management, and drought resilience with a practical, field-driven approach, we ensured the project delivered scalable solutions for sustainable rangeland monitoring in Namibia and the broader global rangeland community.
This project has been completed, and the dataset with an accompanying end-user manual and case studies are available on Kaggle as Namibia’s Rangeland and Pasture Dataset (Gewers et al., 2024) at https://www.kaggle.com/dsv/8719158 .
In the first quarter of 2025, in partnership with Data Science Nigeria and Arewaladies4Tech, we are celebrating International Women’s Day by hosting a female-focused hackathon. This event will showcase the importance of datasets in rangeland management and highlight the need for gender-inclusive insights in data analysis.
Later in the year, with the generous support of the Ramon Areces Foundation, Ace Sur de África, and the Spanish Embassy, we are launching an applied, hands-on course for students and staff at the University of Namibia. This training will equip animal scientists and rangeland researchers with essential data analysis skills.
Interested in cooperating with us on any of these initiatives or generating new case studies that will bring fresh insights or advancements to rangeland management? We are excited about the research and dissertations that this openly available dataset will inspire!
We look forward to hearing from you. Do not hesitate to email us at info@omevaconsulting.com or maria@omevaconsulting.com.
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