Rapport d'atelier de diffusion et de partage de la prévision saisonnière des précipitations de 2023

Le Mardi 09 mai 2023, s’est tenu à l’hôtel ONOMO de Dakar, l’atelier de présentation des résultats de la prévision saisonnière des précipitations et des écoulements des cours d’eau au Sénégal pour l’hivernage 2023. Cet atelier, organisé par le Cadre National des Service Climatologiques (CNSC), piloté par l’Agence nationale de l’Aviation civile et de la Météorologie (ANACIM), a vu la participation des membres des différents sectoriels du CNSC, de la presse et des organisations faîtières

Catalyzing the use of climate information in agriculture decision making through datahubs

This infonote describes the importance of digital data ifrastructure like data hubs in enhacing the use of climate and weather data in agriculture policy making, extension as well as farm level decision making. Taking Senegal as a case study, the infonote use a value chain framing to map out the key actors in the Climate Information Services (CIS) data value chain and the importance of the proposed AgDataHu

Training on ANACIM Data and Maproom Tools Relevant to AICCRA

This report summarizes a workshop, which was held in Dakar on 10 November 2021, that introduced AICCRA-Senegal partners to Climate Maprooms, data, and other relevant tools and platforms that are available through ANACIM. Presentations covered ANACIM products and strategy for agriculture and related sectors, the ENACTS approach to strengthening national capacity to provide locally actionable climate information, and analyses of the quality of ANACIM’s gridded historical data that serve as a foundation for localized climate information products. Participants gained experience navigating and interpreting ANACIM’s existing suite of climate Maproom tools, and Next Generation seasonal forecast products that are expected to be launched for the 2022 rainfed growing season. Because the GTP includes the key national institutions that are involved in climate, agriculture and food security, the GTP portal hosted by ANACIM already has the endorsement of those institutions. Participants agreed that any online digital tools that the AICCRA project develops should be driven by demand, should build on and complement existing tools, and should be embedded in the GTP portal

Curriculum co-development to strengthen climate risk management capacity of Senegal’s agricultural extension

Strengthening the capacity of next users – particularly the amalgam of actors who comprise Senegal’s pluralistic agricultural extension system – is a crucial part of the AICCRA strategy for benefitting millions of farmers with climate information services (CIS) and climate-smart agriculture (CSA). This brief describes an ongoing process to design, develop and implement a short curriculum to strengthen the capacity of Senegal’s extension and advisory service providers to incorporate CIS into their work with farmers and agropastoralists. By strengthening human and institutional capacity to understand, communicate and apply climate information at critical points within the agricultural system, this process aims to catalyze agricultural system transformation, enhance the welfare and resilience of Senegal’s farming population, and sustain the impacts of AICCRA intervention

Community of Practice (CoP) on climate informed advisory services for livestock farmers: The process of co-development and dissemination in Senegal

Livestock is an important source of income for millions of smallholder farmers, including women, in Senegal (Habanabakize, Ba, et al., 2022; Habanabakize, Diasse, et al., 2022). But drought, heat waves and extreme wet events, exacerbated by climate change, threaten food security, animal health and the livelihoods of many pastoral communities in the country. With the increased variability of the growing season, natural pasture and water availability, undernourished cattle must travel longer and longer distances.1 In order to reduce uncertainty and to protect their livelihoods and assets, herders utilise various adaptation strategies, including: (1) destocking by selling livestock at often low prices prior to and during to drought; (2) transhumance, which entails a higher risk of animal loss; (3) purchase of feeds which can be costly; (4) utilisation of residues from croplands which may lead to conflict with farmers. In this context, extension services, developed on knowledge and innovations sourced from local- national-international research, can play a vital role in building the capacity of livestock farmers to improve their productivity and profit (Pousga et al., 2022)

Using co-production to improve the appropriate use of sub-seasonal forecasts in Africa

Forecasts on sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) timescales have huge potential to aid preparedness and disaster risk reduction planning decisions in a variety of sectors. However, realising this potential depends on the provision of reliable information that can be appropriately applied in the decision-making context of users. This study describes the African SWIFT (Science for Weather Information and Forecasting Techniques) forecasting testbed which brings together researchers, forecast producers and users from a range of African and UK institutions. The forecasting testbed is piloting the provision of real-time, bespoke S2S forecast products to decision-makers in Africa. Drawing on data from the kick-off workshop and initial case study examples, this study critically reflects on the co-production process. Specifically, having direct access to real-time data has allowed user-guided iterations to the spatial scale, timing, visualisation and communication of forecast products to make them more actionable for users. Some key lessons for effective co-production are emerging. First, it is critical to ensure there is sufficient resource to support co-production, especially in the early co-exploration of needs. Second, all the groups in the co-production process require capacity building to effectively work in new knowledge systems. Third, evaluation should be ongoing and combine meteorological verification with decision-makers feedback. Ensuring the sustainability of project-initiated services within the testbed hinges on integrating the knowledge-exchanges between individuals in the co-production process into shaping sustainable pathways for improved operational S2S forecasting within African institutions

Senegal Capacity Development Priorities for Climate Services

The Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) project works to make climate information services and climate-smart agriculture more accessible to millions of smallholder farmers in Senegal and five other target countries). The AICCRA strategy to achieve this goal includes building the capacity of next users to use climate services and support implementation of climate-smart agriculture. Although Senegal has a strong foundation for climate services, the benefits that farming and agropastoral populations obtain from climate services could potentially be limited by insufficient capacity to understand, communicate and apply climate information within these populations and at critical points within the agricultural system, for example, the network of organizations (ANCAR, NGOs, producer organizations) that provide extension and advisory services, local GTPs, university agriculture programs, and rural communities themselves. AICCRA-Senegal held a workshop in Dakar on 9 May 2022 to inform its capacity development strategy. The workshop convened a set of stakeholders representing government, academia and NGOs to identify priority capacity gaps, and opportunities for training and curriculum to address these gaps

Capacity Building Opportunities for Climate Risk Management in Senegal

Capacity development is an important part of the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) strategy to make climate services and climate-smart agriculture more accessible to millions of smallholder farmers across Africa. To inform planning towards AICCRA-Senegal capacity development objectives, this paper reviews capacity gaps that currently limit the farm-level benefits of climate services in Senegal, and presents opportunities for competency-based curriculum and training to strengthen capacity to incorporate climate knowledge into agricultural decision making from farm to national scales. Although Senegal has a strong foundation for agricultural climate services, current delivery strategies leave a gap in farmers’ capacity to use probabilistic information at a climate variability time scale. A gender plan that incorporates the channels that rural women use can help ensure that agricultural climate services reduce existing gender-based inequalities. Short-term training for the network of organizations (ANCAR, NGOs, producer organizations) that provide extension and advisory services provides a promising opportunity to improve the use of climate services at the farm level. Other promising targets for building capacity to utilise climate information include university agriculture programs and local level multi-stakeholder engagement platforms. Ongoing curriculum development activities in Ethiopia offer useful lessons, and an agricultural extension short course curriculum that offers a potential starting point for efforts in Senegal

Exploiting sub-seasonal forecast predictability in Africa: a key to sustainable development

New real-time sub-seasonal forecast information is aiding preparedness and disaster risk reduction decisions in key flood- and drought-vulnerable sectors across Africa and enabling significant progress in sub-Saharan Africa towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. These services are demonstrating the potential for wider development of sub-seasonal user-focussed services at scale across Africa. We make key recommendations to achieve this vision