Co-producing climate information services with smallholder farmers in the Lower Bengal Delta: How forecast visualization and communication support farmers’ decision-making

Kumar, Uthpal; Werners, S.E.; Paparrizos, Spyridon; Datta, Dilip Kumar; Ludwig, Fulco

doi:10.1016/j.crm.2021.100346

Cited by 17 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…For this reason, we developed specific indicators and represented them to assist surfing destination managers to be better prepared to make climate-smart decisions as recommended by the Global Framework for Climate Services [2]. In this vein and following Kumar et al [82], who explored how the visualization and communication of the forecast support the end users' decision making, our graphics in the results section are designed to be simple and easy to interpret for surfing destination managers, surf schools, and surfers, among others.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Climatic Potential of Somo’s Surf Spot for Tourist Destination Management

et al. 2022

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Surfing is one of the most popular activities in coastal tourism resorts. However, the sport depends strongly on the met-ocean weather conditions, particularly on the surface wind-generated waves that reach the coast. This study provides examples of how users’ needs and user perspectives are considered by climate data specialists to develop needed, highly useful information addressing human and social needs. In this vein, the climate analysis of such data can provide input on the expected length of a surfing season, according to the surfer’s level of expertise. In addition, other water sports, such as SUP Wave and windsurfing, among others, might be indicated when surfing conditions are not optimal. Finally, the safety of surfers and other tourists who venture into the sea is also dependent on those conditions. We collaborated with the surfing community to define a series of indices for quantifying surfing days (SD), surfing days stratified by surfers’ skills (SDS), alternate offers (AOs), and surfers’ and swimmers’ safety (SuS and SwS). These are of general applications but require wind and wave data at a very fine scale as the input. To illustrate the potential of our indices, we applied them to the Somo beach (Cantabria, Spain). We downscaled a global wave hindcast dataset covering a 30-year period to a spatial resolution of 100 m to obtain wave-surfing information at Somo’s surf spot. The results confirmed Somo’s status as a year-round surf spot, with SD values of 229.5 days/year and monthly values between 22 days/month and 16 days/month. SDS showed different seasonal peaks according to the surfers’ skills. Beginners’ conditions occurred more often in the summer (18.1 days/month in July), intermediate surfers’ conditions appeared in the transitional seasons (14.1 days/month in April), and advanced and big-wave riders in the winter (15.1 days/month in January and 0.7 days/month, respectively). The AO index identified the SUP wave values of 216 days/year. Wind water sports presented values of 141.6 days/year; conversely, SUP sports were possible on only 7.4 days/year. SuS and SwS identified different seasonal hazard values, decreasing from the winter, autumn, and spring to minimum values in the summer.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Climatic Potential of Somo’s Surf Spot for Tourist Destination Management

et al. 2022

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“…When the harvest exceeds the food requirements for self-maintenance of the farmers and their families, smallholder farmers can sell the surplus to increase the farmer's capital. Secondly, adjusting agricultural practices based on the soil moisture condition allows farmers to spend less by avoiding re-sowing in case of failure, reduces use of fertilizer and pesticide and aids timely harvesting [28,87]. We also notice that many farmers in our study areas and in the sub-Saharan Africa, in general, have water pumps for irrigation [88].…”

Section: The Needs For An Information Service Based On Soil Moisture ...mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Here it should be noted that farmers in our study areas are not familiar with forecast time scales for more than one week, as indicated earlier. Many farmers receive agricultural information including forecasts from radio and TV (Figure 2a), with a lead time of up to three days [28]. The use of weekly, bi-weekly, and one month forecasts is suggested for better agricultural decision-making although traditional farmers usually do not take decisions for more than one to two weeks in advance [23,70].…”

Section: The Needs For Weather and Water-related Agricultural Informa...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The available CISs only provide weather and climate information and soil moisture information is still not well implemented [26,28,[80][81][82]. Development of CIS-SM remains a challenge because of various reasons: (1) there are only limited in situ soil moisture measurements across the globe, (2) weather forecast providers delivering soil moisture forecast products are very limited, and (3) analyzing soil moisture forecast tailored to specific locations and needs involves soil moisture modeling and measurements.…”

Section: The Needs For An Information Service Based On Soil Moisture ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although CISs have been promoted in several countries, the up-to-date CISs, including the FarmerSupport APP (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spacewek. farmersupport accessed on 10 February 2022) only provide information on the recent and forecasted meteorological variables, primarily precipitation and temperature [26][27][28]. Soil moisture that plays an important role in the soil-plant-atmosphere system is still not well implemented in the currently available CISs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Role of Soil Moisture Information in Developing Robust Climate Services for Smallholder Farmers: Evidence from Ghana

Sutanto

Paparrizos

Kranjac-Berisavljevic

et al. 2022

Agronomy

Self Cite

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In Ghana, most of the farmers are engaged in small-scale rainfed farming where the success is influenced by the prevailing weather conditions. Current Climate Information Services (CISs) only provide information on rainfall conditions to reduce their farming vulnerability to climate extremes. Access to other practical knowledge, such as soil moisture content would benefit farmers further in the decision-making process. This study aims to assess the role of soil moisture information in farmers’ agricultural decision-making and to understand how this information is being perceived, assessed, and applied. Exploratory research, combined with field visits and farmer interviews, was carried out in Gbulung, Napakzoo, and Yapalsi communities in the outskirts of Tamale, northern Ghana in October–December 2021. Results show that soil moisture information is highly important for activities, such as fertilizer application and sowing. Soil moisture information, however, is not readily available to the farmers, causing them to rely solely on their indigenous knowledge to monitor the soil moisture conditions. Our study reveals that developing a CIS embedded with soil moisture advisory module (CIS-SM) will help farmers in conducting strategic and tactical decision-making in their daily farming activities.

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Access to climate information services and climate-smart agriculture in Kenya: a gender-based analysis

Ngigi

Muange

2022

Climatic Change

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Climate change is a significant threat to agriculture-related livelihoods, and its impacts amplify prevailing gender inequalities. Climate information services (CIS) are crucial enablers in adapting to climate change and managing climate-related risks by smallholder farmers. Even though various gender groups have distinct preferences, understandings, and uses of CIS, which affect adaptation decisions differently, there is little research on gender perspectives of CIS. This study employs a novel intra-household survey of 156 married couples to evaluate the gender-differentiated effects of CIS access on the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies in Kenya. The findings reveal gender differences in access to CIS, with husbands having significantly more access to early warning systems and advisory services on adaptation. In contrast, wives had better access to weather forecasts. About 38% of wives perceived that CIS meets their needs, compared to 30% of husbands. As for CIS dissemination pathways, husbands preferred extension officers, print media, television, and local leaders, whereas wives preferred radio and social groups. Recursive bivariate probit analysis shows that trust in CIS, a bundle of CIS dissemination pathways, access to credit, and membership in a mixed-gender social group, affected access to CIS for both genders. Access to early warning systems and advisory services positively affected decisions to adopt CSA by both genders. Still, access to seasonal forecasts influenced husbands’ decisions to adopt CSA but not wives. Besides, there were gender differences in how CIS affected each CSA technology based on gendered access to resources and roles and responsibilities in a household. It is necessary to disseminate CIS through gender-sensitive channels that can satisfy the needs and preferences of different gender groups to encourage the adoption of climate-smart technologies. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10584-022-03445-5.

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Co-producing climate information services with smallholder farmers in the Lower Bengal Delta: How forecast visualization and communication support farmers’ decision-making

Cited by 17 publications

References 51 publications

Exploring the Climatic Potential of Somo’s Surf Spot for Tourist Destination Management

Exploring the Climatic Potential of Somo’s Surf Spot for Tourist Destination Management

The Role of Soil Moisture Information in Developing Robust Climate Services for Smallholder Farmers: Evidence from Ghana

Access to climate information services and climate-smart agriculture in Kenya: a gender-based analysis

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