Climate Service for Agriculture:

Transcription

1 Climate Service for Agriculture: Assessing Farmers' Existing Use and Need of Climate Information in Ada District, Ethiopia Tsegaye Tadesse, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Applied Climatology and Remote Sensing Expert Geospatial Science Coordinator National Drought Mitigation Center University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE Co-authors: Andualem S. Shiferaw, Tonya Haigh, and Jemal S. Ahmed The 15th annual Climate Predic3on Applica3ons Science Workshop (CPASW), Anchorage, Anchorage, 2-4 May 2017

2 Introduction Rain-fed agriculture is the main economic sector in Ethiopia Drought adversely affects the lives of millions of people each year, causing significant damage to economies, the environment, and property. Drought is one of the biggest challenges facing farmers in Ethiopia that significantly impact food security. has both a natural and social dimension. The risk associated with drought for any region is a product of both the region s exposure to the event (i.e., probability of drought occurrence at various severity levels) and the vulnerability of society to drought. In most cases, the social dimension is the factor that turns drought into a disaster. Thus, drought is a complex phenomenon that should be seen from multidimensional angle.

3 The Cycle of Disaster Management Drought risk management is a cross-cutting activity that affects every sector of society, helping develop comprehensive management structures that encompass all levels of government and community. (Wilhite et al., 2014) Prof. Don Wilhite

4 Farmer s existing level of climate information utilization in Ada District, Ethiopia Case study conducted by: National drought mitigation Center (NDMC) Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) Study is based on: survey, focused group discussions and various informal interactions with farmers and extension agents to collect data from 180 households in the Ada district (World Bank and NASA)

5 NASA IDS GHA Project What The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Interdisciplinary Science Research Program Project in the Great Horn of Africa (Tadesse, et. al) Theory -Participatory Research: -A collaborative approach to research that bridges the gap between scientific knowledge and experiential knowledge Outcomes - Integration of the participation various stakeholders (National representatives, NGOs, and local end-users) through: -Workshops -Webinars -Surveys/Interviews with various stakeholders -Other opportunities

6 Pilot project (World Bank) The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research in collaboration with several local and international patterns have been implementing projects aimed at improving climate services for smallholder farmers. Case study: Agroweather tools for climate smart agriculture in Ethiopia implemented from Study area (lei) and Partners & funding sources

7 Preliminary Results about 60% of farmers interviewed have access to forecast information from the national radio and agricultural extension agents as the primary sources. the awareness and access to forecast information do not necessarily translate into utilization only 6% of farmers who have access (out of 180) said they have used the climate information provided for decision making.

8 Primary reasons for low number of users of climate information reasons for low number of users of climate information that are: discrepancy between farmers needs and forecasts information provided, lack of spatial explicitness of the forecast, format of the climate products, lack of trust of the information provided. The study indicates that, farmers relied more on their traditional knowledge and experiences as well as advices from elderly farmers at a farm-level decision-making.

9 Existing situation/challenge: both general observation and project findings Generally, considerable gap between the information needed by small-scale farmers and that provided by the meteorological services National Met service Little or no dialogue between users and producers of climate information Lack of proper understanding of farmers decision system Lack of effective methods of communicating the available information in farmer friendly manner Unavailability of information in a format that can easily be understood by the farmers Weak institutional partnership among key institutions in climate-agriculture interface Farmers Lack of awareness about seasonal climate forecasts and their reliability Lack of trust by farming community on information provided by NMA Misperceptions about the climate and its variability and Lack of understanding about the probabilistic nature of forecast information Inadequate agro-meteorological infrastructure/services and human capacities

10 Efficient and effective user-oriented climate services for Agriculture: recomendations The primary steps in improving or establishing an effective and farmers-oriented climate service should include: understanding of farmers information needs, identifying factors that would encourage them to use the information, and engage them in the design and improvement of a Drought Early warning System (DEWS).

11 Climate Information Flows 1. Generate Climate Informa?on Na?onal: Meteorological agencies and departments Regional: IGAD Climate Predic?on and Applica?on Centre (ICPAC), FEWSNET, African Flood and Drought Monitor, Regional Center for Mapping Resources for Development 2. Process/ package/apply/ transfer Climate Informa?on Early Warning/Disaster Risk Management (e.g. FEWSNET, FAO) Agriculture Sector (e.g. Ethiopian Ins?tute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) (also produc?on some informa?on), Interna?onal Development Enterprise (IDE)) Water Sector (e.g. Interna?onal Water Management Ins?tute (IWMI), Ministry of Water, Irriga?on, and Energy (MoWR)) Research/Academic developing innova?ve methods of transfer 3. End Users Na?onal Ministries Local and regional agencies NGOs Farmers/Extension Water managers Community leaders Disaster risk managers Response coordinators & Others

12 Final Thought Giving not only useful BUT useable forecast (tailored for specific user needs) This case study could be representative of millions of farming communities across Ethiopia may be helpful for climate information providers such as the Ethiopian National Meteorology Agency (NMA) to address the needs of the farming communities.