Agro-climatic Digitally Integrated Solutions

Project description

The climate-smart agriculture (CSA) strategy for the Central American Integration System (SICA) contains three major areas of work around climate risk management:

generation and exchange of agro-climatic information at a regional scale;
timely generation and communication of climate risk management information; and
promotion of methods and tools to assess risks and losses in the agricultural sector, also at a regional scale.

A few initiatives have taken place to implement the SICA's CSA strategy in order to have a more active role in the climate risk management component. These initiatives include the strengthening of capacities in National Meteorological Services; initial steps toward the establishment of an Central America Climate Outlook Forum (CACOF); the establishment of 10 Local Technical Agro-climatic Committees (LTACs); and the adoption of a food security decision support system by the Guatemalan Secretariat of Food and Nutritional Security (SESAN).

This project seeks to advance towards the development of a user-centered, digitally integrated and scalable system to support information generation, use and exchange among decision-makers within the SICA system. System design will follow from the synthesis of case studies and co-development with stakeholders from the regional level (Climate Outlook Forum - COF) through to the meso (LTACs) and local levels (extension services, farmers).

The system will seek to improve agro-advisory systems and food security management in Central America, strengthening institutional capacities at various levels, and ultimately increasing the resilience and food security of 300,000 farmers in the region.

Activities

Conduct research on how to combine food security monitoring data with climate information (historical, and forecasts) at regional (COF) and national (Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanología, Meteorología e Hidrología—INSIVUMEH) scale, using a modeling approach in order to identify trigger points for early warning.
Evaluate existing approaches (seasonal, sub-seasonal), information products and information needs of women, youth and other actors, centered on mid-summer drought forecasts, and enhance their use in agricultural decision making at the local level through the 10 existing LTACs. Support the inclusion of women’s organizations in LTACs.
Collaborate with Flagship on Climate-Smart Technologies and Practices project on digital CSA transformation to integrate seasonal and sub-seasonal forecasts into the scaling out of digital agricultural advisory services.
Synthesize case studies with a focus on developing a system integrating different scales (regional through to local) to facilitate the generation, translation, transfer and use of agro-climatic information for decision making.

Outputs

Journal articles

Journal article on “Systematic approach to regional integration of climate services across sectors and scales in Central America”.

Journal article on each of the case studies:

A case study on improving the predictability of the mid-summer drought in relation to the needs of specific sectors (agriculture, food security, and humanitarian assistance) and groups (women, youth).
The relationship between food security and seasonal and sub-seasonal forecasts to improve early warning triggers for early, forecast-based action.
Connecting seasonal forecasts to agricultural advisory services (in collaboration with Flagship on Climate-Smart Technologies and Practices and Digital Climate-Smart Agriculture Transformation project).

Tools

Tool to identify and prioritize entry points for targeted interventions and improvements in information provision.
Climate data integration toolkit/information system for SICA (CACOF, and Centro Clima) that supports the integration, exchange, generation and use of agro-climatic and food security information between different scales and sectors.
Tool for enhanced prediction of mid-summer drought in Central America in connection to agricultural decision making.
Food security and agricultural advisory toolkit supporting the translation of agro-climatic and food security forecasts into forecast-based actions (e.g. in terms of dietary recommendations), and into agronomic advice (e.g. crop/farm management).

Expected outcomes

300,000 farmers in Central America increase their resilience and food security by using digitally integrated agro-climatic and food security information for crop management and early warning. At the same time, digitally integrated climate information increases the benefits of existing agro-climatic advisory services for 50,000 women in Central America.
10 public and private organizations contribute to digitally integrating agro-climatic advisory services for farmers to reduce climate risk and increase food security based on CCAFS science and tools.
4 women-focused farmer organizations provide digitally integrated and gender-sensitive climate services to their farmers. These women-focused farmer organizations would be recruited by 4 agro-climatic committees to be part of the co-production, translation, transfer, and use of climate services for agriculture and food security.
At least 3 policy decisions by organizations of the SICA and/or the national ministries of agriculture in Central America are partly influenced by our work on digitally integrated solutions for climate risk and food security management.