April-May, 2024, Madhesh Province, Nepal –  As a part of the KOICA-funded Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Project, GGGI Nepal Country Office conducted 12 orientation sessions from April 9, 2024, to May 31, 2024, on weather forecasts and early warning systems for eight women farmer groups in six municipalities in the Madhesh Province of Nepal. The CSA project aims to build comprehensive climate change resilience among farmers in the region, with a particular focus on empowering women and youth. Recognizing limited access to weather forecast information sources and early warnings among women, the CSA project conducted dedicated trainings on increasing access to weather information, early warnings, alerts, and agromet advisories for informed decision making in agricultural practices. 

Women farmers in the region have ready access to smartphones and maintain an active social media presence. In an orientation session in Mukhiyapatti Musaharniya Rural Municipality, 47 of the 50 women participants owned a smartphone and had a Facebook account. This showed a high level of access to the internet and web-based information, and it made it straightforward to link women farmers to government online weather advisory platforms. GGGI shared information about government websites and social media channels, emergency toll-free numbers, agriculture mobile apps, and online agromet advisory systems with the women farmers. GGGI even assisted the participants in following the relevant pages on social media and helped the women access customized information on these platforms.

It was observed that farmers were skeptical of the accuracy of the weather advisories. For instance, Fulkumari Bahri, a woman farmer from Bhangaha municipality, remarked, “Natural disasters are in God’s hands, how can we predict them?” Responding to her question, Mr. Rakesh Kumar Shah from GGGI showed real time weather updates that matched the day weather and advised, “Weather forecasts are possible, and the government of Nepal issues three-day weather forecasts daily. Extreme weather events are forecasted, and tracking those weather forecasts and alerts helps in preparedness and minimizing the losses.” 

Mr. Shah added, “It‘s important to access correct, location-specific information from reliable sources. Regularly following weather alerts and becoming familiar with the terminologies, probabilities, and languages ensures the accuracy of advisories. Familiarizing ourselves with online information sources and using this information to plan agricultural activities is crucial to protecting against climate disasters. It is possible to plan irrigation, pesticide use, selection of drought- or submergence-tolerant varieties, etc. based on such forecasts.”  

Given that Madhesh Province is prone to recurrent extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heat waves, and storms, raising awareness about adaptation techniques to reduce agricultural losses and prevent damage to livestock and assets is crucial. During the sessions, farmers shared observations of how climate change, particularly shifts in rainfall patterns and heatwaves, is affecting their harvests. GGGI answered their queries and explained the linkages between climate change and agriculture. The GGGI team also advised them to follow appropriate crop timelines and use agromet advisories to decide on crop and variety selection and improve agricultural practice schedules based on weather forecasts. 

185 women farmers benefited from the orientation sessions conducted in different municipalities. 34 male farmers also participated in the sessions. The participants became more confident in accessing agromet advisories and disaster alerts, taking advantage of weather information to plan their farming activities and to prepare themselves for extreme weather events.  

“I wasn’t aware that so much information on weather forecasts, early warnings, alerts, and agromet advisories is readily available on mobile phones,” said Phool Devi, municipal council member of ward no. 3, Mukhiyapatti Musaharniya Rural Municipality. “By using these agromet advisories, we can significantly reduce agricultural losses caused by weather events. It’s crucial to raise awareness among farmers about accessing and utilizing weather information for making informed decisions,” Ms. Devi added. 

Moving forward, GGGI Nepal country office, through its Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Project, will further implement targeted interventions to strengthen climate resilience among farmers in the region. The project is also supporting the municipalities in wider dissemination of weather forecasts, early warnings, alerts, and agromet advisories.

Read about KOICA-GGGI Climate Smart Agriculture Project here

Download Weather Forecast and Climate Information Brochure (In Nepali) here