Empowering Farmers: The Role of Agrometeorological Services in Sustainable Agriculture

Agrometeorological advisory services help farmers make informed decisions on water and fertilizer management, pest and disease control, sowing and harvesting schedules, and other on-farm practices. Included in these advisory services is weather forecasting – from nowcasting to seasonal prediction, which, when combined with monitoring of farm conditions, can help produce and communicate practical farming advice to actors across the agrifood system. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) work together to enhance their Members’ capacities to provide meteorological and related services to agricultural communities, supporting the development of sustainable and economically viable agricultural systems.

Since the 2019 edition of WMO’s annual flagship report, State of Climate Services, which was co-authored by FAO and focused on agriculture and food security, notable work has been done in response to its recommendations. One of the report’s findings is that in order to advance country-level agrometeorological service delivery, fit-for-purpose financial support to operationalize and scale up climate services is necessary. This is one of the reasons that the collaboration between FAO and WMO addresses financial and operational challenges.

How FAO and WMO drive the use of agrometeorological services

At global level, the WMO Standing Committee on Services for Agriculture (SC-AGR), of which FAO is a member, regularly reviews and updates the specific requirements and preferences of the people that use agrometeorological services. This includes everyone from farmers to policymakers, covering all aspects of the agricultural value chain; such as crop management, livestock care, forestry, rangeland management and fisheries.

At regional and national levels, FAO and WMO are developing and implementing projects to strengthen agrometeorological advisory services. For example, FAO is implementing the Green Climate Fund (GCF) projects in Cambodia, which aim to increase the climate resilience of agricultural production in the Northern Tonle Sap Basin by employing three components: climate foresight, market incentives and enabling environment. In the Philippines, FAO and WMO are working on a project to shift the country towards a climate-resilient agricultural system and increase climate resilience in rural areas. In both countries, operationalizing agrometeorological advisory services is a major component.

Another important example is the Agricultural Climate Resilience Enhancement Initiative (ACREI), funded by the Adaptation Fund and implemented by WMO, together with FAO and other partners. In the Greater Horn of Africa, the project has established a framework for downscaled climate forecasts and advisories for farmers to make informed decisions about when, what, where and how to plant and manage land, crops, pastures, water, and preserve food and feed for later use as the season progresses.

A need for quality data from every part of the world

A key finding of WMO’s State of Climate Services report was the need to address the “last mile” barrier. Agrometeorological advisory services tend to be driven by the availability and quality of data, and the capacity of the information producers that analyze the data. Advisories can only make positive impacts on livelihoods and improve food security when the context- and location-specific information reaches the end users (e.g. farmers) in a timely manner, in the right language, and when improved actions are taken based on the advisories, often with the aid of the latest mobile technologies.

FAO’s Global Outlook on Climate Services in Agriculture report highlights the significant gap in investment in climate services for the last mile – reaching out to the small-scale farmers and most marginalized communities. Bridging this is essential if actionable information is to be communicated in an equitable and effective manner to users, making sure no one is left behind.

All of the agrometeorology-related projects that FAO and WMO are currently developing and implementing ensure that the operational agrometeorological advisory services fully engage the most vulnerable agricultural communities.