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Ignitia has taken one other prudent step by introducing the New Weather Tool for the Agriculture sector in Ghana and different components of West Africa.
This types a part of efforts to assist handle challenges hampering the Agriculture sectors within the nation;
Ignitia, a Tropical Weather Forecasting based mostly know-how firm is the world’s first and most correct tropical weather forecasting firm and has over 84% reliability.
The forecasts are delivered to West African farmers by way of SMS in partnership with cellular community operators.
The product is a 48hour forecast message, delivered every day by way of SMS, on to the subscriber’s cellphone.
The forecasts additionally function month-to-month and seasonal predictions and element the chance, timing and depth of the weather.
He was talking at a day’s Open House convention held in Tamale dubbed ‘From Thunderstorm Predictions to Brainstorming Climate Smart Agriculture Solutions’ for stakeholders and agribusiness actors throughout the agriculture worth chain.
They are taught how one can use the New Weather Tool and its benefits to the actors, Regional Director Africa, Ignitia, Kwabena Frimpong defined that since 2015, they’ve been working carefully with small-scale farmers in Ghana and throughout West Africa to supply them with dependable forecasts to scale back danger and loss.
“Originally based in Ghana, we have expanded into Burkina Faso, Mali, and Nigeria. Because our weather model is dependent on satellites, our ability to expand is not hindered by the high costs of creating on-ground infrastructure in every location; this means that expansion to new tropical areas is easier and remains relatively inexpensive.
“We have plans to continue our expansion into Africa and other tropical climates in the coming years.
“This Open House conference extended an invitation to potential customers, farmer-based organisations, input dealers, aggregators, food and beverage industries and other value chain actors in the agriculture industry.
“We are very excited about this flagship project and we thank our partners especially the Water & Energy for Food (WE4F) project by the GIZ for their great support and show of interest in our tool for agribusiness actors” he talked about.
Chief Science Officer, Ignitia, Andreas Vallgren mentioned farmers in Africa are sometimes portrayed as unintelligent, however that’s not the case.
“What farmers need is reliable information, and access to technology in order to make more informed decisions.
“Farmers know how to farm, we’re simply giving them a tool to improve their farming practices.
“Our simplistic text format has been tested and refined for optimal understanding, even in low-literacy areas and has an accuracy of 84%, our forecasts are more than twice as accurate as global producers.
“Weather affects industries across the globe. Each year, billions of dollars are lost due to weather variability” he revealed.
Director of Agricultural Extension Service on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Paul Siameh mentioned farmers in Ghana are grappling with low crop yield owing to unpredictable weather patterns.
“The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has begun a pilot programme to support smallholder farmers with information on weather patterns in the five northern regions of Ghana.
“We are targeting about 1.7 million smallholder farmers to register them for his exercise; our aim is to help them boost their agronomic and technology expertise in the Agriculture Value Chain and be able to withstand the vagaries of climate change,” he mentioned.
Team chief, Private Sector EU – GIZ Dr Andrew Harberd mentioned Agriculture companies are experiencing first-hand the results of our altering local weather.
“Having a more accurate, long-term weather Tool that goes far beyond what’s possible today gives farmers a critical advantage for resource planning and preparedness in the face of increasing climate disruptions; and we are excited Ignitia has introduced this tool.
“This helps agribusinesses better anticipate the needs of their customers and proactively place the right products at the right time to maximize the benefits realised,” he mentioned.
A farmer within the Eastern Region of Ghana the place the tool was piloted revealed that Ignitia’s tool has helped him to higher plan when to plant, apply fertilizer, spray pesticide and harvest.
“I see up to 80% increase in my income, due to decreased risk and loss.
“No smartphone required; their service delivering is via SMS on any mobile phone and it’s easy to reach us even in the forest” he added.
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