Developing Climate Information Products (CIPs) for Farmers: Demand-side Challenges and Necessity for an Integrated Approach

Chandrika Kularathna and Lalith Rajapaksha

Janathakshan Ltd. 

Agriculture is a key sector that stands to benefit from well-designed climate information products (CIPs). Prior knowledge about variations of weather parameters can assist in planning and making operational decisions, reducing risks, and maximising returns, while facilitating the process of adapting to climate change. Therefore, CIPs can make a significant contribution to ensure Sri Lanka’s food security in the long run, under conditions of rising climatic uncertainty.  

However, many developing countries, including Sri Lanka, still lag behind in producing and disseminating accurate and reliable CIPs for farmers. As a result, farmers still rely on their traditional knowledge when planning farming activities and making agronomic decisions. They make risky decisions, based on their own expectations about weather patterns such as rainfall. In this context, it is concerning that the reliability of farmers’ traditional knowledge has declined due to unexpected changes in local climate patterns. Thus, farmers struggle to make accurate agronomic decisions. This points to the urgent need to develop and disseminate reliable and timely CIPs to farmers and integrate scientific climate information systems to their decision making processes.

For Whom the Mobile Phones Ring? Future of Climate Information Delivery in Sri Lanka

Nimesha Dissanayaka and Manoj Thibbotuwawa

Most people use weather forecasts to plan their daily activities. However, for those whose livelihoods depend on variations in weather, this information becomes a lifeline. Farmers, as a community, are highly sensitive to weather forecasts, as their agronomic decisions revolve around daily temperatures, rainfall patterns, and wind speeds. Farmers used to be able to observe cloud patterns, behaviour of birds and animals, wind direction, and other natural occurrences to make accurate predictions about the weather. Before technology took over, farmers’ wealth of experience in agronomy helped them make spot-on weather forecasts.

Index-based Insurance and Climate Information in Sri Lanka: Prospects for Community-based Rainfall Stations

Kanchana Wickramasinghe

Climate insurance for farmers has been a hot topic recently owing to recurring floods and droughts in agricultural districts in Sri Lanka. In these instances, interventions are necessary to help farmers adapt to weather and climate changes, using effective risk management strategies. Global experience has shown that insurance serves as an important risk management tool in this regard. However, an IPS study indicated that, in Sri Lanka, climate insurance is not yet considered a popular risk management strategy adopted by farmers due to issues in supply and demand. 

Supply-side issues are related to the indemnity-based crop insurance products offered in Sri Lanka. The study proposed to shift to index-based insurance, to eliminate problems of traditional indemnity-based crop insurance. It further identified the lack of climate data as a main barrier in implementing index-based insurance in Sri Lanka.