What happens if the climate forecast and agro-advisory information produced at the beginning of the season do not reach farmers and pastoralists? Or what if they do but farmers and pastoralists fail to understand the forecast or what decisions they need to make?
Over 53 public and private sector stakeholders met in Malawi and Tanzania in April 2015 to ponder over these questions and many others. These meetings were held as part of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) Adaptation Programme for Africa; a multi-agency programme funded by the government of Norway. The meetings aimed to brainstorm on best possible ICT and radio interventions required to address gaps identified in existing climate and agriculture advisory information delivery systems.The workshops were jointly organized and undertaken by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the World Food Programme (WFP).
Representatives of different sectors including climate, agricultural research and extension, farmer organizations, private sector cell phone providers such as Airtel and rural radio leaders discussed an ideal model for climate and agriculture advisory information flow in their countries. They then jointly identified and validated three components (content production, message delivery and end users feedback) of a successful national model for climate services communication to reach the end users.
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