Climate Services for Agriculture: Empowering Farmers to Manage Risk and Adapt to a Changing Climate in Rwanda

Project activities strengthened the delivery of climate services through radio, and the integration of radio and Twigire Muhinzi channels via Radio Listener Clubs. The 2019 Season B (March-May) seasonal forecast was delivered to implementation partners and PASP cooperative representatives, to share with their networks of farmers. Collaborative activities with the WISER-Rwanda project trained and deepened engagement with district agricultural professionals, and elicited their input into the design of a Summary Maproom to support local government – to be implemented over the coming two quarters. This training also introduced an ICT-based "5Q" tool, which uses a sequence of 5 simple yes/no or multiple-choice questions, within a decision tree structure, to capture and record feedback from farmers or other stakeholders. The 5Q tool, with its simple mobile phone interface and automated process, is a step towards overcoming the practical challenge of efficiently bringing diverse users' voice into the co-production of climate services at a national scale. Another highlight was the purchase of a soil nutrient scanner, linked to a mobile phone advisory platform to help inform farmers about the nutrients in their soil. The soil information will be recorded and transmitted to farmer's cell phones to help them make better-informed decisions. Participatory Integrated Climate Services (PICSA) training was conducted for intermediaries, including Farmer Promoters (FPs), Farmer Field School Facilitators (FFs), Socio-Economic Development Officers (SEDOs), and District/Sector Agronomists from the three districts of Gasabo, Kicukiro, and Nyarugenge of Kigali city. Training workshops (28 January to 15 February) trained 211 intermediaries (29% females, 33% youth (<35 years)) to understand and manage climate risk, and to facilitate the PICSA process with the farmers they serve. Topics included the PICSA process, field practice, knowledge sharing, planning for trainings to smallholder farmers, and use of seasonal forecasts. PICSA trainings for the mentioned three districts concluded the PICSA trainings in Rwanda. These training activities marked the milestone of implementing climate services for farmers into all 30 of Rwanda's districts, through the Twigire Muhinzi agricultural extension system and the PICSA process. Trained intermediaries from the Gasabo District had the opportunity to visit the Rwanda Meteorology Agency (Meteo-Rwanda) to learn how climate information is produced. They visited the forecasting room where the weather forecast is produced and the Park Meteo where they saw different ground stations that gather climate data, including the automatic weather station. Meteo-Rwanda staff explained the process used to produce climate information and how the information is disseminated to users. In partnership with Meteo-Rwanda and RAB, a one-day workshop was organized in February 2019 to communicate the March-May 2019 seasonal forecast to local project partners and PASP cooperative representatives. The previous seasonal forecast (September-December 2018) was reviewed before Meteo-Rwanda shared local forecasts for the March-May 2019 period that included seasonal onset and cessation, total rainfall, and temperature. The workshop aimed to enhance the capacity of local partners to communicate climate information to farmers and other stakeholders. The project also organized a one-day workshop with Meteo-Rwanda and RAB to communicate the March-May seasonal forecasts with project partners and PASP cooperative representatives from Gatsibo, Ngoma, Nyanza, and Rubavu districts. Outcome 1: Climate Services for Farmers was advanced through the training of 211 intermediaries from the three districts of Kigali. The training marked the milestone of implementing climate services for farmers into all 30 of Rwanda's districts, through the Twigire Muhinzi agricultural extension system and the PICSA process. Outcome 2: Climate Services for Government and Institutions was advanced through collaborative activities with the WISER-Rwanda project, which trained and deepened engagement with district agricultural professionals, and elicited their input into the design of a Summary Maproom to support local government. Outcome 3: Climate Information Provision was advanced through the refinement of Meteo-Rwanda Maproom graphs formatted for PICSA activities, prototyping and discussion of a Sector-based "Summary" Maproom for local governments to visualize local conditions, and updating the seasonal forecast maproom to include the September-December 2018 season. Outcome 4: Climate Services Governance was advanced through collaboration with the WISER-Rwanda project, including contributing to the development and testing of an ICT-based tool to efficiently capture user's feedback and contribute to co-production, and leveraging an Impact-Based Early Warning Service (IBEWS) workshop