Fourniture d´informations météorologiques aux producteurs
Year: 2018-2020
Financial support: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) Meaning-Making Research Initiative (MRI)
Technical support: Laboratoire d’Analyses et de Recherches sur les Dynamiques Economiques et Sociales (LARDES)
Target: Cotton and Maize Farmers
Intervention area: Municipal area of Bembèrèkè, North Benin
Objectives of the project
The overall objective of the project is to provide smallholder farmers with weather-related information through mobile phone Short Message Service (SMS). This is a pilot R&D project that is also aimed at testing the impact of weather information on the production decisions (i.e. labor allocation) and performance (i.e. yield and farm income). Specific research objectives are: 1) Explore the implementation feasibility, including the challenges in providing weather-related information through mobile phone SMS to smallholder farmers; and 2) Analyse the impact of the weather-information on labor allocation. yield and farm income. The development objective are: 1) engage farmers with climate services in general and weather information in particular, and 2) improve farmers production and income.
Description of the project
The project relies a participatory approach to engage with farmers to shorlist specific weather information that are deemed important for agriculture. The phase 1 of the project involves 06 pilot villages in the municipal area of Bembèrèkè in north Benin. Target farmers received weather forecasts information on weekly basis through mobile phone SMS. Weather forecasts information was made available to farmers by compiling data from three climate models. Field officers were assigned to each village to provide on-site technical support to farmers. We use a monitoring system that captures high-frequency data on actual rainfall, farmers decision, etc.
BReDA field officers leading a focus discussion group with farmers (BReDA, 2018)
BReDA field officer installing a rain gauge (pluviometer) in a farm (BReDA, 2018)
BReDA field officer conducting information campaign on climate change effects (BReDA, 2018)
BReDA field officer training a farmer on how to read and interpret weather information received on his mobile phone (BReDA, 2018)
BReDA staff running a small information workshop with village leaders to explain the purpose and approach of the project (BReDA, 2018)
BReDA field officer visiting a maize field after flooding (BReDA, 2018)
BReDA field officer visiting a maize field after flooding (BReDA, 2018)
Sample of monitoring sheet designed for farmers to keep them inform on the date of each monitoring visit
Information meeting organized by BReDA with representatives of farmers at the beginning of the project (BReDA, 2018)