METAGRI projects on agricultural meteorology and food security in Western Africa. Jose Camacho, SO/ AgM / CLW

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1 METAGRI projects on agricultural meteorology and food security in Western Africa Jose Camacho, SO/ AgM / CLW

2 METAGRI Projects Targeting smallholder farmer decision making Building up/reinforcing institutional capabilities on climate/weather services delivery at country level METAGRI ( ) 14 Western Africa countries Funded mainly by Spain: 1 Million Eur. Mostly Roving Seminars METAGRI OPERATIONAL ( ) 17 countries. Funded mainly by Norway: 2 Million Eur. Training on remote sensing and crop models, communication seminars, impact evaluation plus Roving Seminars. 2

3 METAGRI project Roving Seminars in Western Africa: 159 Seminars, 7300 farmers trained, 3000 raingauges distributed

4 Roving Seminars: Dialogue, participation and local observations. Mutual benefit and improvements in farmer decision making and NMHS product quality

5 Example of Crop Planting Advice based on Rainfall Crops: Millet and Sorghum Crop Cycle: days 1 Avoid planting before 10 June, but proceed to make field preparations. 2 From 11 to 30 June, plant long-cycle crops (120 days) as soon as the 10-day cumulative recorded rainfall which reaches or surpasses 20 mm. 3 From 1 to 20 July, plant short-cycle crops (90 days) as soon as the 10-day cumulative recorded rainfall reaches or surpasses 10 mm. Due to the high spatial variability of rainfall, each farmer or village can make planting decisions based on their own raingauge. 5

6 Training and Capacity Building METAGR-OPS project Roving Seminars in West Africa About 269 Roving Seminars over 17 countries. About farmers trained from 4500 villages. Pictures: sets/

7 IntercommissionActivities Examine standardization of the simple plastic raingauges, through collaborative efforts among the Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation (CIMO), Commission for Hydrology (CHy), CCl and CAgM. Contribution to WIGOS. Intercomparison raingauges Accra, Ghana, April 2012 to September 2013 Laboratorycomparisons. Universityof Genoa, Field comparisons, Lead Instruments Centre Vigna di Valle,

8 METAGRI OPERATIONAL Training WMO/EUMETSAT Sessions on the use of satellite data and products on agricultural meteorology and drought monitoring - Niamey, Nov Accra, Jun Ouagadougou, May Addis Ababa, March 2015 WMO/AGRHYMET Sessions on the use crop model SARRA-H - Niamey, Oct Banjul, Feb Abidjan, March 2014

9 METAGRI OPERATIONAL Communication Seminarswiththe media organizedin 14 Western Africa countries Seminarsand agreementswithlocal radios in Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau More details would provided by Ms. Oumy Ndiaye.

10 METAGRI OPERATIONAL Evaluation Methodology for Weather and Climate Services impact assessment (2015): a methodology for the assessment of climate services impacts at local level has been proposed. The Objective is the assessment of farmer use and impacts of Weather and Climate Services on smallholder farmer behavior and crop production. The assessment will be community based and context specific, indeed project impacts will be evaluated in relation to the national context for 4 selected countries. The methodology includes: a) Assessing the context of climate services in the country: b) Assessing use and impacts of Weather and Climate Services on farmers behavior c) Assessing impacts of Weather and Climate Services on crop production Test of impacts assessment methodology in Ghana, Mauritania, Côte d Ivoire and Niger developed in collaboration of the Focal Points of selected Countries for the application during the 2015 campaign. Now being performed in Mauritania as bridging activity to METAGRI SERVICES

11 METAGRI OPERATIONAL Test of impacts Making strategic choice on the seed variety that is more appropriate to the expected seasonal profile thanks to the seasonal forecasts and sowing calendar in different areas. A short-season variety can complete its cycle without water constraints in the case of deficit or shorter seasons, otherwise long cycle variety help to better exploit a surplus year; Making strategic choice on the geographical distribution of plots, thanks to seasonal forecasts to avoid, if possible, toposequencesthat don t concur well with the nature of the season, drought or water stagnation; Choosing the most appropriate planting date to avoid huge losses because of the false starts of the season, thanks to the integrated use of sowing calendar with the peasant rain gauge; losses due to reseeding are very important in the Sahelianzone in terms of seeds (8.5 kg seed per hectare in Mauritania) or in terms of working time (three days of work per hectare) Better tuning of crop development cycle with the rhythm of the rains: the use of the appropriate variety and choice of planting date can avoid the most sensitive phases of culture coincide with periods of water stress. Choosing favorable periods for different cultural operations, thanks to the weather forecast and the rain observation with the peasant rain gauge. Reducing the number of weeding can save in terms of money or working time (in Mauritania economic losses for each additional weeding are estimated at $ 45 / ha)

12 Thank you Jërëjëf Merci