The Protected For All Africa (SAFE4All) rolls out a local weather information Utility “ChatBox” as we speak in some chosen communities within the Northern Area to offer climate info to farmers.
This can assist revolutionise farming practices in northern Ghana, the place farmers face extreme climate-related challenges.
Focusing on all of the 5 areas within the north, the preliminary rollout within the chosen communities will take a look at the appliance’s effectiveness and the way simply farmers perceive it and make use of the information.
Talking at a workshop in Accra on Thursday, Affiliate Professionalfessor of Agriculture Economics on the College for Growth Research, Sylvester Ayambila, stated the modern app, designed to offer important climate information, goals to reinforce meals safety, mitigate migration, and enhance the livelihoods of farmers within the area.
In accordance him, a current wants evaluation survey performed by the group confirmed that 47 per cent of youth in northern Ghana use smartphones, offering a viable platform for the app’s dissemination.
Nevertheless, he famous that the survey additionally revealed vital disparities in cell phone utilization and schooling ranges between women and men the place just a few variety of girls had been utilizing cellphones and most had been uneducated, highlighting the necessity for focused interventions to deal with these gaps.
The app, which integrates native information with scientific knowledge, Prof. Ayambila said that it might present farmers with actionable insights on climate patterns, enabling them to make knowledgeable selections about planting, fertiliser utility, and crop administration.
“So the app will inform farmers whether or not it’s going to rain on at the present time and that is the quantity of rain anticipated or that it’s not going to rain the subsequent one week or two weeks, perhaps they will postpone their planting time,” he elaborated.
Moreover, he stated offering climate information to farmers, significantly in northern Ghana was essential, the place droughts and erratic rainfall patterns had devastating impacts on farming communities.
A Senior Meteorologist on the Ghana Meteorological Company (GeMET), Mr David Quaye, underlined that GeMET partnered with the SAFE4All mission to reinforce local weather resilience amongst farmers, selling sustainable crop manufacturing and meals safety within the nation.
He famous that the company was dedicated to offering important climate info to farmers, enabling them to make knowledgeable selections about crop choice, planting, and administration.
The Coverage Advisor for the SAFE4All mission, Dr James Natia Adam, stated the mission which sought to enhance farming practices and meals safety within the northern a part of the nation would assist tackle rural-urban migration.
He famous analysis had revealed that current knowledge on migration in Ghana didn’t adequately seize the affect of local weather change, to deal with this, the mission goals to advocate for the inclusion of local weather change-induced migration knowledge within the Ghana Statistical Survey.
A Undertaking Associate, Local weather Adaptation Companies, Dr Hasse Goosen, indicated that SAFE4All was a groundbreaking initiative to reinforce local weather resilience and meals safety throughout Africa, funded by the European Union to remodel the lives of farmers in Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe by offering them with important local weather info.
BY CECILIA YADA LAGBA
