Weather and agriculture at the heart of Africa’s food security
Agriculture in Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate variability. Real-time monitoring of floods, droughts and other climate-related risks, together with climate and weather forecasts provided by national meteorological services, plays a central role in anticipating and managing climate impacts.
Reliable weather information also supports the design of effective policies for resilience and adaptation across many sectors of society, starting with agriculture, which remains a cornerstone of livelihoods and food security in much of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Reliable and timely data are essential
Effective forecasting depends on access to large volumes of reliable and timely climate and meteorological data. This is precisely what is still lacking in many African countries, where the impacts of climate change are especially severe for agriculture.
The United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank and other international partners have invested in building networks of automated weather stations across Africa. These stations can take measurements every 15 minutes, even in hard-to-reach areas, and automatically transmit data to a central meteorological office.
Having access to real-time data can make a decisive difference when responding to or mitigating climate-related emergencies that directly affect crops and rural communities.
Improving communication between weather networks
A second challenge lies in the lack of coordination among the actors involved in building weather monitoring networks in Africa.
Different companies have installed weather stations using varying components and maintenance systems. As a result, many of these networks are unable to communicate with each other.
When a national meteorological service cannot efficiently combine, synchronise and analyse data from multiple sources, a significant share of available information is excluded from final forecasts and assessments.
To address these barriers, scientists from the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University developed the Automatic Weather Station Data Tool (ADT). Training activities were carried out with the support of the Accelerating Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) and Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today, for Tomorrow (ACToday).
ADT is a free and user-friendly application that allows users to view data from different networks and monitor technical issues in real time, providing timely and high-quality information for agricultural decision-making.
Easier access to weather data for agriculture
The International Research Institute for Climate and Society has also developed the Maproom platforms in Africa. These are freely accessible online analytical and visualisation tools designed to make climate data easier to use when rapid action is needed in response to climate emergencies.
Maprooms are currently used by more than 20 African countries. One of their key strengths is their high spatial resolution, now down to four kilometres, compared to nine kilometres in earlier versions. This allows for very detailed weather analysis, which is particularly valuable for planning agricultural activities at local level.
The platforms indicate, for example, the likely onset of the rainy season, rainfall intensity and other parameters that, in many African regions, can make the difference between food security and food insecurity.
Climate trends influence agricultural planning and on-farm decisions, but they also guide public authorities in organising the distribution of seeds and fertilisers based on expected weather conditions. Clear and comprehensive information is therefore essential.
The availability of weather data represents an important innovation for agriculture in Africa. Equally important is training to ensure these data are used effectively, an area where AICCRA is working across the board, both directly with farmers and by training local trainers.