Anita Perera and Geethika
Maddumage
As
a developing country that still depends heavily on agriculture for rural
livelihoods, Sri Lanka faces many challenges due to climatic changes. Without
reliable climate-related information, farmers are unable to make accurate farming
decisions. In the past, farmers were able to rely on
their traditional knowledge to make precise weather predictions. They were
well-versed on local weather patterns and the specific climatic requirements for
crops, thanks to long-term experience and knowledge passed through
generations.
A
farmer from Kotawehera, Kurunegala district explains, “we used to start cultivating after observing
signs in the local environment and using them to predict the weather. We did
not listen to weather forecasts on the radio or TV; most of the time it is not as
trustworthy as our traditional weather forecasting.”
However,
with drastic changes in global climate patterns and local environments, familiar
signs that provided clues about weather changes have become less reliable.
Therefore, farmers find it difficult to adjust to agronomic practices, according
to the rapidly changing climatic patterns.
“In the past, we could identify and predict weather changes
in advance by observing animal behaviour and changes in our local environment,
but now, some animals are hardly seen, and climate has become unpredictable,” complains a farmer
from Anda Ulpotha, Badulla district.
As
such, farmers are gradually losing trust in their traditional climatic
knowledge. Thus, it is
important to identify farmers’ climatic information needs correctly and fill
the information gaps created due to declining reliability of traditional
climate knowledge. As a solution, they should be provided with timely, scientific
weather forecasts to better predict and prepare for imminent changes.
To
address this climate information gap, the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri
Lanka (IPS) teamed up with Department
of Meteorology of Sri Lanka (DOM), and Janathakshan Gte. Ltd to pilot test an
Integrated Climate Information Management System (ICIMS), with selected farmers
from Padaviya (Anuradhapura district), Wakare (Batticaloa district), Anda
Ulpotha (Badulla district), Bundala (Hambanthota
district), Kotawehera (Kurunegala district), and Opanayake (Rathnapura district).
A key feature of the ICIMS model is that it attempts to harness and integrate the
strengths of both scientific weather forecasting products and farmers’ local
experience and knowledge to the decision-making processes. The study is funded by the Opportunity Fund of the
Think Tank Initiative (TTI), International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
of Canada. The South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE)
supports the project by sharing regional experiences.
Climatic
Information Needs of Farmers
Climate
information plays a significant role in daily management decisions, as well as
in the long-term development of climate-smart technologies. Providing timely information
on weather trends helps farmers make accurate decisions in terms of planning
seasons (Kanna salasuma) and other agronomic practices. An Irrigation Officer from Padaviya explains, “when planning a season we want a
wide range of climatic information for the short term, medium term, and long
term. In major
irrigation schemes, we use the previous years’ data and the environmental
signals for the planning. Padaviya is an area covered by a major irrigation
scheme. If we can get this information for the whole area, then we can apply it
when making decisions.”
Meanwhile, a farmer from Padaviya explains, “if we
get information about the rain early, we can adjust practices accordingly.
If it starts to rain in the harvesting and post harvesting time, it destroys
our harvest.”
“It is helpful to have information
when applying fertiliser and starting to harvest,” notes a farmer from Opanayaka.
Farmers also emphasised the importance
of providing correct information in a timely manner. A farmer from
Kotawehera says, “if we can get the information about rain before the season starts, then
we can discuss in the farmer organisations and come to a decision."
A farmer from Opanayaka mentions that it would be ideal if
they can get updates every five to ten days, highlighting the importance of
continuous climatic information.
In critical climatic
conditions, farmers make adjustments to farming activities and need continuous, seasonal forecasts to make their decisions. The
President of the Farmer Organisation of Opanayake, elaborating, says, “Opanayaka-Dandeniya
is a rain fed agricultural area. Because rain is scarce, only 25 farmers can
farm during this season. We use the traditional variety of “Hatada vee” (a
variety maturing in 60 days). As rain-fed farmers, continuous and seasonal
climatic information is valuable for us.”
Even though farmers
still depend on their traditional knowledge for climate predictions to a
certain degree, they recognise the limitations of local predictions under
changing climatic conditions and the need for bridging the resultant
information gap through scientific climate information products. They highlight the limitations of currently available
low-resolution forecasts, which cover entire districts, rather than specific
local areas. Farmers’ climate information needs are specific and time-bound.
They need information to make decisions at specific stages in crop cultivation,
and to make adjustments to practices according to prevailing and anticipated climate
conditions.
Demand for Climate Information
The
demand for climate information originates from farmers’ perceptions about climate
risks. A survey to assess farmers’ perceptions of
climate risks and the demand for climate information, based on interviews with 900
farmers from six areas (150 each from a district), showed that, 558 (62
%) rank climate change under the high risk category. Moreover, 481(53%) of respondents
recognise that water supply risk can hamper their farming activities in respective
areas. Comparatively, fewer farmers rank pest and diseases, price shocks, and
animal attacks under the high risk category. While respondents come from
locations selected for high vulnerability to climate change and therefore these
rankings cannot be generalised to all farmers in Sri Lanka, it suggests however,
that the majority of vulnerable farmers recognise the threat of climate change
and the associated risk of water supply as major risks.
The farmers were asked
about their information requirements for three time horizons— short-term,
medium-term, and long-term -- as well as climate information requirements with
respect to different agronomic practices from land preparation to post
harvesting stage.
For all time horizons,
rainfall is the most critical climatic parameter, demanded by approximately 70% of respondents. Onset of rainfall is the most important climatic
information needed for almost all agronomic practices in all three time horizons,
followed by the duration of rainfall. As the rainfall has a significant
impact on planning seasons and other agronomic practices, the survey proves
that the farmers’ main concern is having accurate dates and the duration of
rainfall, to prepare themselves effectively.
A significant share of respondents also indicate the importance of
daily temperature readings for harvesting, post harvesting, and crop
management. As they have correctly indicated, temperature-related information
is important to reduce unwanted losses in post-harvest practices.
Conclusion
Farmers in
vulnerable localities recognise climate change and the associated risk of water
supply as the most critical risks among other threats. Declining trust over
local climate predictions and the rising risk of climate change create a demand
for scientific climate information products. To fulfill this demand, it is
necessary to identify farmers’ climate information needs correctly. Farmers’
feedback gathered in Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRA) and a survey indicate
that attention should be focused on three major dimensions; namely, time of
information availability, weather parameters for which information is necessary,
and agronomic practices for which information is necessary. Information needs
in terms of different weather parameters are interconnected with different
agronomic practices. Onsets of rain and rainfall duration are the parameters
that are in highest demand by farmers when making decisions on all agronomic
practices. When developing scientific climate information products to fill the
emerging void created by declining reliability of local climate knowledge, due
consideration should be given to address the above aspects of climate
information needs.
(Anita Perera and Geethika Maddumage are
Project Officers at the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS).
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