Hydro-climate information services for smallholder farmers: FarmerSupport app principles, implementation, and evaluation

Rainfed agriculture constitutes the backbone of the economy in many regions of the Global South. Historically, smallholder farmers used their local knowledge to forecast the weather. However, with the increase in climatic variability, they can no longer solely rely on their experience to accurately forecast the weather. FarmerSupport app (FSapp) is a hydro-climate information service developed through a co-production approach to address the weather and climate information needs of farmers. The app gathers weather forecast from both local farmers and scientific sources, and presents this information to users to enable them to make informed decisions regarding agriculture. To test its proof-of-concept, the FSapp was implemented in two rice communities in northern Ghana during the 2020 crop season. The app was introduced to farmers, who received training on it use, as well as built their capacity on weather and climate-related phenomena and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Following the end of the cropping season, farmers evaluated the app and the results revealed that co-production of information played a crucial role to its adoption in relation to other similar platforms. Farmers consider the app as a relatively accurate and reliable source of information for planning agricultural activities. They additionally demonstrated a significant level of knowledge about weather phenomena as a result to their engagement and capacity building. Further implementation of the app in other farming communities is needed to address smallholder farmers weather and climate information needs and unlock their agriculture potential.