World Meteorological Organization Working together in weather, climate and water

WMO OMM

WMO www.wmo.int

Overview of Agricultural

Meteorology in WMO

Robert Stefanski Chief

Agricultural Meteorology Division

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Key Questions in AgroMeteorology

What are the weather / climate events that

impact agricultural decision-making?

How to relate weather / climate information to

meaningful agricultural actions / practices?

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Users of Agrometeorological

Information

Any agricultural decision-maker:

International officials (i.e. Red Cross, WFP, UN)

Government official

Extension agent

Farmers, ranchers, foresters, fishers

Media

General public

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Roving Seminars on

Weather, Climate

and Farmers

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• Seminar content is adapted to the local conditions of the country and regions

• Roving seminars 1-2 day duration and bring together

farmers from a group of villages to a centralized location in any given region

• Based on the success from Mali, raingages distributed to the farmers at each seminar.

• The focal point of each country, with assistance from Mali, prepared agrometeorological advice that was provided to the farmers along with the raingauges.

Roving Seminars on Weather, Climate and

Farmers in West Africa

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2009 Seminar - Mali Met Service Presentation

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2009 Seminar – Farmers ask Questions

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2009 Seminar – Demonstration of Raingauge

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Distribution of Rainguages to

Nigerian Farmers

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www.wamis.org

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Climate Services and Agrometeorology

• Need Historical Climate Data

• Quality controlled

Monthly Precip

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Mil

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Climate Services and Agrometeorology

• Historical Climate Data

• Crop Information

• Basic Soil Information

Simple Crop Model

Crop Advice for

Rural Farmers

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Example of Crop Planting Advice

based on Rainfall

Crops: Millet and Sorghum

• Crop Cycle: 90 – 120 days

• 1 – Avoid planting before 10 June, but proceed to make field preparations.

• 2 – From 11 to 30 June, plant long-cycle crops (120 days) as soon as the 10-

day cumulative recorded rainfall which reaches or surpasses 20 mm.

• 3 – From 1 to 20 July, plant short-cycle crops (90 days) as soon as the 10-day

cumulative recorded rainfall reaches or surpasses 10 mm.

Due to the high spatial variability of rainfall, each farmer or village can make planting decisions based on their own raingauge.

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“Agriculture in Mali” in Climate Risk Management in Africa: Learning from Practice. Hellmuth, M.E., Moorhead, A., Thomson, M.C., and Williams, J. (eds) 2007 IRI

Crop yields and farm incomes for farmers taking management decisions with and without agrometeorological

information, in the 2003–2004 season.

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Roving Seminars in Western Africa:

Georeference – 159 Seminars 2009-12

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• Goal: increased self-reliance of rural farmers by raising awareness of effective weather & climate risk management and sustainable use of weather and climate information and services for agricultural production.

• Four-year pilot project (2008-2011) involved 15 countries organized over 140 seminars

• 5,700 farmers participated including 1,000 rural women

• 3,000 rain gauges were distributed to 2,800 villages

• New project is funded by Norway to increase effectiveness of weather / climate information to farmers (2012-2014)

METAGRI Project - Roving Seminars on Weather,

Climate and Farmers in West Africa

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WMO Projects in

Agricultural

Meteorology

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Agrometeorological Projects

• METAGRI-OPS Project – West Africa – 15 Countries • Soil Moisture Decision Support System - Africa

• Rockefeller Foundation Grant for Training of Trainers on Weather

and Climate Information and Products for Agricultural Extension Services in Ethiopia (Two years);

• Caribbean Agrometeorolgical Intiative (CAMI) funded by EU ACP (3 years);

• World Bank Project in Lake Victoria Region – • Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project (SWFDP) • Agriculture and Fisheries

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Severe Weather

Forecasting

Demonstration Project

(SWFDP)

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Cascading Approach for Forecasting

Global NWP centres to provide available NWP products,

including in the form of probabilities;

Regional centres to interpret information received from global

NWP centres, run limited-area models to refine products,

liaise with the participating NMHSs;

NMHSs to issue alerts, advisories, severe weather warnings;

to liaise with DMCPAs and the media, and to contribute to the

evaluation of the project.

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Cascading Forecasting Process

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Global Centers NMCs RSMC

Disaster Management

Centres

Agriculture Lake Victoria Fishers

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Key Objectives of SWFDP-Eastern

Africa

To establish the technical operating infrastructure of

the demonstration project incorporating the

cascading forecasting process, in order to

commence improvements in the lead time and

accuracy of forecasts for extreme weather

phenomena;

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Key Objectives of SWFDP-Eastern

Africa

To develop/enhance dissemination systems to

improve delivery of products and services to the

general public, disaster management and media as

the main users with a particular focus on:

agricultural activities, food security and food aid;

safety of fishing and transport vessels on the Lake

Victoria and over the coastal areas of western Indian

Ocean;

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Key Objectives of SWFDP-Eastern

Africa

To improve communication of warnings and

forecasts with users at all levels but with a particular

focus on the community level with a view to

measuring progress in the uptake and use of the

information provided through the project, at the

community level.

World Meteorological Organization Working together in weather, climate and water

WMO OMM

WMO www.wmo.int

Thank You

rstefanski@wmo.int

www.wmo.int/agm