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 Rain has come unusually early in February, and Efoulan – used to
planting when the rain begins – puts in her maize crop. But then the
rains stop as quickly as they came, putting her young crop in peril.
“My three-weeks-old maize crop all withered,” she complained of this
year’s crop.
Farmers across Central Africa continue to fall prey to changing
climate patterns, leading to the failure of their crops and
devastating drops in income.
One way to help, experts say, is to arm farmers with accurate
information about climate patterns so they can better plan their
planting schedules and adapt to weather disasters.
WEAK FORECASTING
Currently less than 20 percent of the National Meteorological and
Hydrological Services operating in the region are useful for
decision-making and development planning, mainly due to weak
staffing and degraded infrastructure, according to a report by the
African Development Bank (AfDB).
Now authorities have unveiled plans for a new meteorological service
they hope will give a major boost to Central Africa's goals of
climate change resilience.
At a meeting in Yaounde in April, environment and climate experts
announced the creation of the Central African Meteorological Center,
a new hydro-meteorological hub that will capture weather and climate
data and disseminate the information to farmers and other users.
This data, say the experts, is essential to supporting economic
development and helping the region adapt to changing weather
patterns.
Cameroon has offered to host the new center's headquarters in its
economic capital, Douala.
"The creation of a climate change meteorological center in the
Central African region is vital," said Dominique Kuitsouk, head of
Cameroon's Department of Disaster and Emergency Services.
At the same time, the existing meteorological service will be
modernized.
Under the auspices of the recently launched ClimDev-Special Fund,
which focuses on climate-resilient development in Africa, the
African Development Bank and the World Bank are providing $13.4
million to update many of the African Regional Climate Centers
across the continent.
The money will go towards, among other things, installing better
regional transmission systems and weather prediction systems, as
well as developing the capacity of people in the centers.
After the initial investment, the cost of maintaining the updated
National Meteorological and Hydrological Services could run to a
minimum of between $100 million and $150 million per year, according
to a report by the AfDB.
“The setting up of these infrastructures requires huge financial
resources to ensure quality services and reliable results," said
Bernard Edward Gomez, principal meteorologist at Gambia’s Department
of Water Resources.
KEY TO FOOD SECURITY
Convinced that better weather prediction is key to economic
stability, a group of economic blocs – including the Economic
Community of Central African States and the Economic and Monetary
Community of Central Africa – have agreed to foot the bill, with
support from the World Bank and African Development Bank.
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While the new and improved meteorological centers will allow Central
Africa's farmers access to more accurate climate data, the
information is wasted unless farmers know what to do with it,
experts say.
In Cameroon – whose farmers have been severely affected by flooding
and other increasingly unpredictable weather - the Ministry of
Agriculture is working with several non-governmental organizations
to set up a program to inform farmers about changing climate
challenges and train them to adapt.
Agricultural extension agents and NGO workers will community radio
and text messaging, among other methods, to get climate data to
farmers.
Farmers, in turn, are expected to report changing planting practices
and to choose new crops and varieties to plant.
Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ako’ Afan, who
launched the project in March, said the effort aims to improve food
security.
"The highly variable rainfall calendar over the past few years has
made it difficult for farmers to plan, and they make the wrong
decisions on which crop to plant, and when to plant, leading to
disaster for households and families," Afan said.
"This has led to dwindling food crop production, taking away the
county’s proud status as Central Africa's bread basket."
Seventy percent of the workforce of Cameroon – the largest economy
in Central Africa – works in agriculture. The sector provides 42
percent of the country’s GDP, according to government statistics.
But over recent years, the nation's farmers have been struggling.
Harvests of coffee in the 2013-2014 season, for example, fell by
about half compared to previous years, according to the
Inter-professional Cocoa and Coffee Council.
"Natural disasters cannot be avoided," said Hele Pierre, Cameroon's
Minister of Environment.
"But timely and accurate prediction from well-equipped meteorology
infrastructure can help societies, especially vulnerable
communities, prepare for and mitigate disaster and reduce losses
from extreme weather."
(Reporting by Elias Ntungwe Ngalame; editing by Laurie Goering)
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