Digital Platforms in Climate Information Service Delivery for Farming in Ghana

Abstract

Phone-based applications, Internet connectivity, and big data are enabling climate change adaptations. From ICT for development and agriculture perspectives, great interest exists in how digital platforms support climate information provision for smallholder farmers in Africa. The vast majority of these platforms both private and public are for delivering climate information services and for data collection. The sheer number of digital platforms in the climate information sector has created a complex information landscape for potential information users, with platforms differing in information type, technology, geographic coverage, and financing structures and infrastructure. This chapter mapped the existing climate information services and examined their impact on policy and practices in smallholder farming development in Africa, with a focus on Ghana. Specifically, the chapter provides highlights of digital platforms available to smallholder farmers and agricultural extension agents, analyzes the public and/or private governance arrangements that underpin the implementation of digital climate information delivery, and assesses the potential of these platforms in scaling up the use of climate information. The chapter contributes to understanding the dynamics of climate information delivery with digital tools in Africa, and suggests a future research agenda.

Country-specific challenges to improving effectiveness, scalability and sustainability of agricultural climate services in Africa

“…GMet offers data and customized, fee-based agrometeorological services that largely target development projects, institutions and researchers, as their cost makes them generally inaccessible to smallholder farmers (Anaman et al, 2017). Radio remains the most important channel by which farmers access weather and climate information, supported by call-in programs that allow a degree of interaction (Antwi-Agyei et al, 2021;Sarku et al, 2021). Mobile phone-based services are expanding rapidly with the creation of online climate information dissemination platforms.…”

Towards adoption of mobile data collection for effective adaptation and climate risk management in Africa

“…With this comes the need for a cheaper, faster and more rigorous approach to the collection of hydro-meteorological data, but also social data on timing, magnitude, locations and coping capacity of the people than that are currently available. Because of the growing need for data to support adaptation and climate risk research, there have been calls to leverage digital technology for data collection (Sarku et al, 2021).…”