AgClimate: Digital Climate Information Service for Farmers in Ghana
developers SyeComp
syecomp.com | Crop Field Aerial Image in Rwanda
Climate change is threatening agriculture globally, and small-scale farmers in low- and middle-income countries are particularly vulnerable. Weather forecasts can be used to reduce risks faced by farmers and agricultural enterprises but simply delivering better climate information to these end users is not sufficient. Localised weather and climate information only has value when there is a clearly defined adaptive response and a benefit once the content of the information is considered in the decision-making process. To strengthen their resilience, Syecomp is doubling down on its digital climate information advisory services for farmers and agribusinesses in Ghana via its product, agClimate.
Agriculture in Africa is a weather-driven sector that is facing increased incidence of crop failure due to increased weather variability, shifting rainfall patterns and reduced investments in inputs by farmers due to increased risk of crop failure. We must recognize the gender gap and intentionally design crop advisory services that are accessible to women, men and youth through diverse digital platforms.
Climate-smart agriculture aims to increase productivity, adapt crops and livestock to changing climates and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. A variety of climate-smart farming practices and technologies exist; however, their adoption by farmers is believed to be low, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. “Barriers to smallholder farmer adoption of climate-smart agriculture include poor access, limited knowledge, inability to take risks, weak financing mechanisms and lack of rapidly attractive value propositions.
Syecomp will deepen its partnership with farm input companies like seed producers, fertilizer companies and agrochemical input companies to better prioritize and tailor service provision according to agro-ecological zones in Ghana and farm management plans.
“Syecomp as a purpose-driven company aims to improve smallholder farmers ability to adapt to climate change on farming activities,” says Elorm Allavi, the company’s Co-founder and Tech Lead. He further indicated that the company offers low cost subscription localised weather and climate information delivery for various category of actors in Ghana’s ag value chain: farmers, Outgrower operators, seed producers, agri-lenders, non-profit projects, et al. AgClimate is an exciting opportunity to further our work on resilience for those most impacted by increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather.”