Provision of Climate Information

Needs Address

• Reduction in climate uncertainty via the provision of relevant weather and climate information
• Within a suitable enabling institutional environment, accompanying advisory services to enable decision-makers to understand and act on the information 

Adaptation effects

• Reducing uncertainty can help farmers make better use of seeds and technologies
• Information can be used to support complex and context-specific decisions about farm labour and resource allocation
• Climate forecasts bring in new information to complement and enhance farmers’ knowledge, for example, enabling predictions for the rainy season to be extended beyond the timeline for traditional indicators.

Figure: An illustration of possible farmer early actions based on prediction across timescales. Source: Tall, et. al., 2013

Overview and Features

Distribution of relevant climate information to those who can use it for agricultural adaptation action

Cost

• Equipment costs
• Human Resources including weather observation and forecasting, agricultural advisories, extension services offering two-way communication with users, and information dissemination through media and other local agencies

Energy source

Human resources

Ease of maintenance

• Requires regular contact and information updating specific to context
• Must continuously assess the need to improve service delivery

Technology performance

• Personal interactions are probably most effective for communicating complex climate messages
• The most effective climate services include a variety of approaches, for example, posting advisories in public places, announcements over loudspeakers, enlisting NGOs and extension services to help communicate, translating advisories into local languages

Considerations

• Climate information should be accompanied by services that communicate, train and help users understand how to interpret and act on the information
• Mobile phones and rural radio have been successfully used to convey weather information to a very large audience
• Must involve farmers in the co-design, co-production and co-evaluation of climate services
• Must establish partnerships that bridge the gap between climate, agricultural research and farmers

Co-benefit, suitability for developing countries

• National meteorological services need support to be able to supply such information over large areas.
• Forecasts must reach remote rural communities in time for farmers to make use of them
• The credibility and uptake of information is enhanced by demonstration of its economic benefit
• Observation networks (meteorological stations, , data management and dissemination), and human capacities at various levels are needed
• Must proactively engage, and target the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalised, particularly women, from the onset.
• In countries where extension services are inadequate to reach a wide rural population, non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, such as farmer associations and religious organisations, and the media can play a crucial role

Information Resources

Anuchiracheeva, S. and Pinkaew, T. Jasmine Rice in the Weeping Plain: Adapting Rice Farming to Climate Change in Northeast Thailand. Oxfam. Available from: http://www.preventionweb.net/files/11376_thaicasestudyengyasothorn1.pdf  [4 November 2014]

Tall, A., Jay, A. and Hansen, J. 2013. Scaling Up Climate Services for Farmers in Africa and South Asia. Workshop Report. CCAFS Working Paper no. 40. CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Copenhagen, Denmark. Available from: https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/27833/WP40.pdf?sequence=1  [Accessed 04 November 2014]

Tall A, Hansen J, Jay A, Campbell B, Kinyangi J, Aggarwal PK and Zougmoré R. 2014. Scaling up climate services for farmers: Mission Possible. Learning from good practice in Africa and South Asia. CCAFS Report No. 13. Copenhagen: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Available from: https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/42445/CCAFS%20Report%2013%20web.pdf?sequence=8 [Accessed on 04 November 2014]