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World Meteorological Organization CAgM-XV/INF. 15 COMMISSION FOR AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY Original Language: Secretary-General 9.VI.2010 English Agenda Item: 7.1 Submitted by: Date: FIFTEENTH SESSION Belo Horizonte, Brazil 15 to 21 July 2010 WMO ACTIVITIES ON TRAINING IN AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY SUMMARY REFERENCES: 1. 2. CAgM Management Group meeting, February 2010, Geneva, Switzerland – Doc. 6 CAgM Management Group meeting, June 2008, Obninsk, Russian Federation – Doc. 6 CONTENT OF DOCUMENT: This document is only for information on the progress of WMO Activities on Training in Agricultural Meteorology and no decisions are based on the material provided herein. Observations/suggestions coming out of its presentation would be recorded under Doc. 7. CAgM-XV/INF. 15, APPENDIX WMO ACTIVITIES ON TRAINING IN AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY 1. Overview 1.1 The following training activities were organized, managed, or funded by WMO. The major activities included the various Roving Seminars funded by WMO in India, Ethiopia, and Sri Lanka and the METAGRI project in West Africa funded by the State Meteorological Agency of Spain (AEMET) and managed by WMO. The goal of these activities was to improve the capacity of agrometeorological services and increase the interaction and feedback between NMHS and the agricultural community. 2. Capacity Building Workshop for Downscaling Climate Prediction Products for Agriculture and Food Security in Nairobi, Kenya 2.1 A Capacity Building Workshop for Downscaling Climate Prediction Products for Agriculture and Food Security was held at the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) in Nairobi, Kenya, from 21 August to 1 September 2006. The participants were drawn from ICPAC member countries and these were personnel working in Agriculture, Livestock and Food Security Sectors. The workshop programme covered the theoretical concepts of downscaling methodologies. The participants made some efforts to develop some simple rainfall-crop yield models that were used to forecast seasonal crop yields by holding other factors constant. The rainfall forecasts used in the models were generated from seasonal probabilistic rainfall outlook forecasts. 3. Roving Seminars on Weather, Climate and Farmers in Andhra Pradesh, India 3.1 Nine Roving Seminars on Weather, Climate and Farmers were organized during October–December 2007 in nine villages in Andhra Pradesh, India. The host institution Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University provided the infrastructure facilities at its District Agricultural Advisory and Transfer of Technology Centres. The staff of Government Departments of agriculture have also participated and were involved at every stage in these seminars. The number of farmers attending each seminar ranged from 70 to 95. The seminars were intended to sensitize the farmers about the weather and climate information and their application in operational farm management. 4. Roving Seminar on Weather, Climate and Farmers in Mekelle, Ethiopia 4.1 The Agrometeorological Roving Seminar on the Application of Agrometeorology for increasing agricultural production was held from 16 to 17 May 2007 in Mekelle, Ethiopia. This seminar was the result of collaboration between the WMO and the National Meteorological Agency of Ethiopia (NMA) in how to deliver practical uses and knowledge of agrometeorological applications to increase agricultural production, and to training agricultural extension agents and agricultural experts in providing better agrometeorological services to farmers. 4.2 The majority of the seminar participants were agricultural extension agents from the Tigray Regional State Agricultural and Rural Development Bureau. Other participants included staff from the Mekelle Meteorological Branch Office of the NMA, from the NMA Headquarters in Addis Ababa and from the ten other meteorological branch NMA offices in the country. There were 34 participants from the agricultural extension services, 11 farmers, and 18 regional representatives. 4.3 The main objective of the seminar was to show how farmers can benefit from the agrometeorological advisories from the start of sowing activities to the time of harvest. The first day was spent on learning the experiences from Mali, based on four training presentations given by Mr Diarra. The training presentations by Mr Diarra included an overview of the Agrometeorological Extension service in Mali; basics of agrometeorological observation principles and important CAgM-XV/INF. 15, APPENDIX, p. 2 components of agrometeorological service; and the role of the farmers in agrometeorology observation and agrometeorological advisories. 5. METAGRI Project - Roving Seminars in West Africa 5.1 The Roving Seminars on Weather, Climate and Farmers started as a WMO pilot project in Ethiopia and India in 2007. In October 2007, WMO organized a Conference of Directors of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services of West Africa in Las Palmas, Spain. From this meeting, an action plan was developed with the objective to reinforce the NMHSs of the region. Based on this meeting and subsequent discussions, WMO organized an Expert Meeting on Agrometeorology in the Service of West African Agriculture in Niamey, Niger in April 2008. The meeting was co-sponsored by the State Meteorological Agency of Spain (AEMET). Twenty experts from Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Spain and Switzerland and from AGRHYMET and the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) participated in the meeting. 5.2 During this meeting, the METAGRI project was developed to organize Roving Seminars for Weather, Climate, and Farmers whose aim is to increase the interaction between the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and rural farmers. AEMET is the funding agency and WMO provides technical coordination. These seminars strive to secure rural farmers’ self reliance in West Africa by raising their awareness about effective weather and climate risk management and the sustainable use of natural resources for agricultural production. The seminars also provide crucial feedback from rural agricultural community to the NMHSs. 5.3 The roving seminars ranged from one to two days and brought together farmers from a group of villages to a centralized location in any given region. The National Meteorological Service of Mali supplied 200 raingages to each country for distribution to the farmers at each of the ten seminars (20 per seminar) that were to be organized. In Phase I of the METAGRI project, 8 to 10 roving seminars were organized in each of these countries: Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal (Sep 2008 to Jan 2009). 5.4 A Coordination and Training Meeting on the METARGI project was held in Bamako, Mali from 9-11 September 2008. This meeting brought together representatives from Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Spain, WMO, and AEMET to discuss the organization of the seminars and to provide hands-on experience. Representatives from Mali took the lead in providing lectures to the focal points from the other 4 countries and in leading a two-day seminar with 40 rural farmers from the Koulikoro region (50 kilometres from Bamako). 5.5 An Evaluation and Planning Meeting on the Roving Seminars on Weather and Climate for Farmers in West Africa was held in Bamako, Mali from 18-20 March 2009. This meeting evaluated the outcome of Phase I of the project and developed the plan for Phase II which included the organization of 10 roving seminars in Benin, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guineé, GuineéBissau, and Togo. Some of the difficulties encountered included: transport of rural farmers to the seminars, managing uninvited participants, and timing the seminar in the winter season. Benefits of the seminar included good partnerships with local organizations, better understanding of the needs of the rural farmers by the NMHS’s, and better perception of climate change by the rural farmers. Some of the recommendations included creating a regional network to exchange ideas and explore using seasonal climate forecasts from the Regional Climate Outlook Forums. 5.6 The Phase II of the METAGRI project was developed to organize an additional three roving seminars in the Phase I countries and 8 to 10 roving seminars in Benin, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guineé, Guineé-Bissau, and Togo from June to September 2009. 5.7 In February 2010, the Banjul action plan was approved by the Conference of the Directors of Western Africa NMHSs which included Phase III of the METAGRI. The activities of Phase III include extending the Roving Seminars to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d´Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria. Also two to three Roving Seminars will be held in the 11 Phase I and II countries. CAgM-XV/INF. 15, APPENDIX, p. 3 6. ANADIA-MALI Project 6.1 A meeting to launch the project on “Assessment of the Impacts of Floods and Droughts on Agriculture in Mali” (a Project in the framework of the “Assessment of Natural Disaster Impacts on Agriculture (ANADIA)”, was held in Bamako, Mali on 16 and 17 March 2009. Fourteen participants from different agencies in Mali including the National Meteorological Service, the Institute of Agricultural Research, the National Hydrological Services and the National Agricultural Service, WMO and IBIMET (Italy) attended the meeting. Plans for training workshops on the different aspects of assessment of impacts of floods and droughts in Mali were discussed. 6.2 A Drought Monitor Training Workshop organized by WMO and the National Meteorological Service of Mali was held in Bamako, Mali from 14 to17 September 2009. There were 27 participants overall with 22 participants from Mali, 4 lecturers from the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, and a representative from the WMO Secretariat. The workshop was funded by Italian Cooperation and was part the ANADIA-MALI (Assessment of Natural Disasters in Agriculture) project. There was an exercise on how the US Drought Monitor is created each week and a brief presentation on how the Drought Monitor process could be applied to Mali. 6.3 Some participants seemed not to understand the concept of analyzing drought in a historical concept. Following discussions with workshop participants, the next steps in the project were agreed upon and these included: building/improving a reliable historical climate database; creating a WMO ANADIA-MALI Website; provision by Mali of a detailed process of the production of an agrometeorological bulletin; assistance from NMDC to Mali with SPI; and preparation of a quality climate dataset by DMN. 7. Roving Seminars on Weather, Climate and Farmers in Sri Lanka 7.1 Two roving seminars were organized in Sri Lanka during December, 2009. Both seminars – held in the local sinhalese language - discussed the following topics: introduction to weather and terminologies used in weather/climate forecasting; climate/weather and rice crop production; use of short-term weather forecasting in agricultural operations; clouds, weather map and to seasonal climate patterns; climate risk in production and drought alerts in different crops; and introduction to better risk management. The first seminar was organized on 22 December 2009 at Mathugama village in Kalutara District and involved 87 farmers. The seminar was presided over by Mr Mahinda Samarasinghe, Hon’ble Minister for Disaster Management and Human Rights of the Government of Sri Lanka. The second seminar was organized on 24 December 2009 at Agalawatta Village in the same Kalutara District and was presided over by a highly respected Buddhist Monk. Sixty-one farmers participated in the seminar. 8. Other training activities 8.1 The following activities were those training events organized or managed by other institutions in which WMO was represented at or funded lecturers or participants: (a) Workshop on Linking Regional Climate Model with Crop Growth Model to Analyze Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture, held from May 7 to 9 2007 in Viçosa, Brazil; (b) Mediterranean Training Programme for the Harmonization of Early Warning Systems and operational instruments for Monitoring Climate Change and Desertification, held from 24 to 26 September 2007 in Florence, Italy; (c) First Workshop on Climate Change and Agriculture: Setting the Scene held from 24 to 25 July 2009 in Rome, Italy; and (d) International Training Course on Agrometeorology, held from 16 November to 4 December 2009 in Nanjing, China.