Diagnosing the potential of hydro-climatic information services to support rice farming in northern Ghana

Nyadzi, Emmanuel; Nyamekye, Andy Bonaventure; Werners, S.E.; Biesbroek, Robbert; Dewulf, Art; Slobbe, Erik van; Long, Hoang P.; Termeer, C.J.A.M.; Ludwig, Fulco

doi:10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.002

Cited by 46 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 56 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Indeed, today's information systems in Ghana still apply a traditional top-down approach, referred to as "one-directional". In these first-generation climate information services, researchers create and transfer knowledge and/or technology to end-users (e.g., farmers) and assume that farmers will access, understand, and adopt the information provided for improved decision-making [19,54]. This applies to the forecast information provided by the Ghana Meteorological Agency and by private information services such as Esoko and Farmerline [19,45].…”

Section: Evaluation Of the Coproduction Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our study went beyond this traditional approach. It used a holistic or second-generation methodology that acknowledges farmers as active participants in the production of knowledge and the codesign of innovative technology [19,60]. This approach additionally promotes processes of intense collaboration between researchers and dedicated groups of farmers and extension agents, to build a strong foundation for technology design, weather forecast production, and dissemination of knowledge to the wider community.…”

Section: Evaluation Of the Coproduction Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Coproducing Weather Forecast Information with and for Smallholder Farmers in Ghana: Evaluation and Design Principles

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many West African farmers are struggling to cope with changing weather and climatic conditions. This situation limits farmers’ ability to make optimal decisions for food and income security. Developing more useful and accessible weather and climate information services (WCIS) can help small-scale farmers improve their adaptive capacity. The literature suggests that such WCIS can be achieved if forecast information is produced jointly by farmers and scientists. To test this hypothesis and derive design requirements for effective WCIS, we evaluated the outcomes of an experimental coproduction of weather forecasts in Ada, Ghana. The experiment involved a user-driven design and testing of information and communications technology (ICT)-based digital (smartphones and apps) and rainfall monitoring tools by 22 farmers. They collected data and received weather forecasts during the 2018/2019 study period. The results showed a positive evaluation of the intervention, expressed by the level of engagement, the increase in usability of the tools and understanding of forecast uncertainty, outreach capacity with other farmers, and improved daily farming decisions. The success of the intervention was attributed to the iterative design process, as well as the training, monitoring, and technical support provided. We conclude that the application of modern technology in a coproduction process with targeted training and monitoring can improve smallholder farmers’ access to and use of weather and climate forecast information.

show abstract

Section: Evaluation Of the Coproduction Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evaluation Of the Coproduction Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coproducing Weather Forecast Information with and for Smallholder Farmers in Ghana: Evaluation and Design Principles

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Yet many farmers still use indigenous knowledge (IK) to adjust their farm practices or diversify their production to respond to local climate variability (Ebhuoma & Simatele, 2019;Eriksen et al, 2005;Radeny et al, 2019;Shoko & Shoko, 2012). Other farmers use a combination of meteorological information and IK for their weather and seasonal climate forecasting decisions (Nyadzi et al, 2018;Orlove et al, 2010;Roudier et al, 2014). Studies have also shown that IK can serve as a basis for developing adaptation and natural resource management strategies and for understanding the potential for certain cost-effective, participatory and sustainable adaptation strategies (Nakashima et al, 2012;Parry et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We focus on rainfall because most communal areas in Northern Ghana practice rain-fed subsistence agriculture (Manyanhaire & Chitura, 2015), and their hydroclimatic information needs are largely focused on rainfall (Nyadzi et al, 2019). We also selected Northern Ghana because climate variability and change is greatest in this area of Ghana making the communities more vulnerable with consistent crop failures (Gbetibouo et al, 2017;Nyadzi et al, 2018). The intention for this study is not to discredit the forecasting skills of farmers or GMet but rather to elaborate on the value of IF and contribute to the argument that it is possible to quantitatively collect and analyse the accuracy of IF in order to integrate it with scientific forecast for improved weather and climate information services.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Techniques and skills of indigenous weather and seasonal climate forecast in Northern Ghana

Nyadzi

Werners

Biesbroek

et al. 2020

Climate and Development

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The benefits and negative impacts of citizen science applications to water as experienced by participants and communities

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Citizen science is proliferating in the water sciences with increasing public involvement in monitoring water resources, climate variables, water quality, and in mapping and modeling exercises. In addition to the well-reported scientific benefits of such projects, in particular solving data scarcity issues, it is common to extol the benefits for participants, for example, increased knowledge and empowerment. We reviewed 549 publications concerning citizen science applications in the water sciences to examine personal benefits and motivations, and wider community benefits. The potential benefits of involvement were often simply listed without explanation or investigation. Studies that investigated whether or not participants and communities actually benefitted from involvement, or experienced negative impacts, were uncommon, especially in the Global South. Assuming certain benefits will be experienced can be fallacious as in some cases the intended benefits were either not achieved or in fact had negative impacts. Identified benefits are described and we reveal that more consideration should be given to how these benefits interrelate and how they build community capitals to foster their realization in citizen science water projects. Additionally, we describe identified negative impacts showing they were seldom considered though they may not be uncommon and should be borne in mind when implementing citizen science. Given the time and effort commitment made by citizen scientists for the benefit of research, there is a need for further study of participants and communities involved in citizen science applications to water, particularly in low-income regions, to ensure both researchers and communities are benefitting.

show abstract

Diagnosing the potential of hydro-climatic information services to support rice farming in northern Ghana

Cited by 46 publications

References 56 publications

Coproducing Weather Forecast Information with and for Smallholder Farmers in Ghana: Evaluation and Design Principles

Coproducing Weather Forecast Information with and for Smallholder Farmers in Ghana: Evaluation and Design Principles

Techniques and skills of indigenous weather and seasonal climate forecast in Northern Ghana

The benefits and negative impacts of citizen science applications to water as experienced by participants and communities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About