Scaling climate information services to reach over 100,000 farmers in Colombia
Climate variability can have tremendous negative effects on farmers. It is therefore crucial for farmers to properly predict the weather so that crop losses can be minimized. That is why CCAFS established Local Technical Agroclimatic Committees (LTACs). More than 190 institutions in Latin America have now adopted the LTAC approach, which allows for outreach to diverse groups of stakeholders in a participatory manner, including scientists, technicians, farmers, and the public and private sectors. Through the committees, discussion is fostered around climatic and agroclimatic information provided to all committee members by researchers and scientists. For example, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) makes available information on productivity factors for specific crops based on soil type and current weather patterns. This kind of information was shown to have increased productivity for about 100,000 farmers.
Formerly, five committees had been active in Latin America. In 2017 these existing five were strengthened while an additional 13 committees were set up. Strengthening the committees included training that benefited around 100 technicians. The training emphasized the inclusion of marginalized groups, including women and youth. Committee set-up and maintenance were made possible through regional South-South exchanges, continuous scientific development, technical-backstopping and support from CCAFS and CIAT. The CGIAR Platform on Big Data for Agriculture (BigData) also supports the committees through information gathering.
Further reading
- Blog: Bridging the gap between climate science and farmers in Colombia
- Blog: USAID case study highlights CIAT's data-driven agronomy work
- Journal article: Bridging the gap between climate science and farmers in Colombia
- Book: Big Data for Resilience Storybook
- Book: Big data innovation challenge. Pioneering approaches to data-driven development
- Book: Reflecting the Past, Shaping the Future: Making AI Work for International Development
- Case study: Putting data at the service of agriculture. A case study of CIAT
- Journal article: Facilitating Change for Climate-Smart Agriculture through Science-Policy Engagement
Project partners
CIAT, BigData, FAO, Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo (CIMMYT), Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM), Federación Nacional de Cultivadores de Cereales y Leguminosas (FENALCE), Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC), Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria (CORPOICA), Federación nacional de arroceros (FEDEARROZ), Ministerio de Comunicaciones, Infraestructura y Vivienda (Guatemala) (CIV), Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural (Colombia) (MADR), Comisión Permanente de Contingencias (COPECO), Secretaría de Agricultura y Ganadería (Honduras) (SAG), Fondo Latinoamericano para Arroz de Riego (FLAR), Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA)
