Why do Farmers Need Climate Services?

Dr. Arame TallClimate Information Services- Scientist,

Championa.tall@cgiar.org

2 • 3/21/11Climate Services: Critical Input for improved farm-level risk

management

Climate information services build resilience by empowering farmers to anticipate and manage climate-related risks

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Empowering Farmers to anticipate climate-related risks

So that climate hazards, do not necessarily evolve into food crises that rock the livelihoods of farmers across the region…

Credit: Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre

4 • 3/21/11 Why Farmers are Not Getting Salient Climate

Services

We need to work together to overcome these

tenacious challenges to Climate Service delivery

Credit: Arame Tall, CCAFS

Successful Pilot Experiences since 2009 demonstrate that Delivering Climate

Information Services to Farmers is Mission Possible

Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia 2009-2012

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• Opening Spaces for iterative dialogue, interaction and Co-production of climate service

• PAR > key to involve communities, capture innovation– Community diaries of climate

impacts, forecast bulletin boards

Co-production of Climate services

• Preliminary Results of Kaffrine end project assessment – Increase in access, from handful in

2011 to 100% by 2012– Demonstrated Usefulness of

received information, for all products across timescales

– Added value to traditional forecasts

1) Giving Famers an Effective Voice

in the design of Climate Services

Top: CCAFS Research site of Kaffrine, arid center Senegal, where principle of Co-Producing Climate Services was experimented with. Below: Community members approving video of project activities they designed, before onset of project activities. Credit: A. Tall

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• Place specificity of farmers’ climate information needs

• Salient communication channels identified to reach the most vulnerable: Community relays/boundary

organizations (red cross volunteers, World vision staff)

SMS in local language Forecast bulletin boards in

strategic outposts across village At village mosque At water boreholes (women)

Climate Information Needs of farmers in Malem Thierign (above) different from those in Dioly (below). Credit: Arame Tall,

CCAFS

2) Leveraging ICTs to ‘reach the last mile’

• Need to Focus on Equity: reaching women and other underserved groups

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Credit: Mariane Diop-Kane, ANACIM

The shorter the time range,

the more precise the forecast

Credit: Red Cross/PetLab

Bringing forecasters and end-users to work together to put climate knowledge in the hands of communities

at risk from HMDs

3) Using Innovative tools to Communicate forecasting uncertainty

- Didactic Games

9 • 3/21/11Communicating probabilistic downscaled seasonal climate information to farmers

> The PDF

Farmers discussing what 1mm of rain means…

Credit: Dr. Ousmane Ndiaye, ANACIM

Credit: J. Hansen, CCAFS Ousmane Ndiaye, ANACIM

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Credit: J. Hansen, IRI/CCAFSKPC Rao, ICRISAT

….To Wote, Eastern Kenya: Research into Use

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• Tailored to User needs– Content (hazard, geographic coverage)– Timing: Alarm threshold– Message format & language

• Suite of Seemless forecasting products

– Seasonal– Dekadal– 72h– 48h– 3h- nowcasting Key to help farmers manage uncertainties

inherent in climate/weather forecasting, with confirmation of risk throughout season

Credit: UK Met Office

4) Developing suite of SEEMLESS forecast products

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5) Promoting a coordinated Framework for CSs, from

global to local levels Fig. 2: Outcome of pilot GFCS national Workshops in Burkina, Niger and Mali (July-Sep. 2012)

A Best practice model of the Cycle of Climate Service Production

Global

Regional

National

13 • 3/21/11 Everyone has a role to Play in Linking Information to

Action

Credit: Arame Tall, CCAFS

Fig.: Different Roles in the Chain of Climate Information Production and Communication

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1. Identifying Good practice2. Upscaling Climate Services to millions of

farmers– Incentivizing Legal and Institutional Frameworks for

Climate Services at National level– Leveraging strong partnerships between NHMS, Agricultural research and extension services to produce integrated agro-climate advisories– Role of boundary organizations and media for wide

communication

3. Minimum Standards for Assessing Livelihood Impact - making the case for Climate Services

CCAFS Strategy to Scale up Climate Services for Farmers

2013-15

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• Examples surveyed by CCAFS prove that it is today Mission Possible to reach millions of farmers with salient and downscaled climate information and advisory services relevant to support their decision-making under an uncertain climate.

• It is time to Scale Up this approach for many other farmers to have access and benefit from available climate information and advisory services.

• The time is Right for Climate Services.

Reaching Farmers with Climate Services at Scale > Mission Possible

Photo: Farmer in Ouelessebougou village, happy beneficiary of Mali’s 30year old Agromet advisory program. Credit: A. Tall

For more information, contact:Arame Tall, a.tall@cgiar.org