"Knowledge should precede action," said Dr. Ousmane Ndiaye of the Senegal Meteorological Service citing one of the farmers he works with.
Smallholder farmers make many decisions that are affected by weather and climate every year. But most smallholders lack reliable information and tools that can help them weigh these decisions.
The Climate Services Africa Adaptation Programme, which is the first multi-agency initiative to be implemented under GFCS, seeks to fill this gap by building capacity of countries to produce and communicate climate information services for farmers, beginning in Tanzania and Malawi.
In September 2014, project partners the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the World Food Program (WFP) conducted a training at the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) on producing seasonal climate forecasts at the district level. Dr. Ousmane Ndiaye from the Meteorological Agency of Senegal led the training on the IRI’s Climate Predictability Tool (CPT). The training enabled staff from the Tanzania Meteorological Agency to downscale the 2014 October-November-December seasonal rainfall forecast to the district level to better serve the decision needs of farmers and pastoralists.
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