6 January 2016: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has reported some of the main outcomes from the four-year METAGRI Operational Project. During this second iteration of the Project, which ran from 2012-2015 in 17 West African countries, over 10,600 farmers took part in 260 roving seminars aimed at helping them access and use meteorological tools and information. WMO also announced that over 4,500 rain gauges were distributed, along with training on basic weather principles and observation.

According to WMO, in collaboration with National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), the Project helped foster partnerships and collaboration with government ministries, and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and farmers’ groups.

In addition, a Final Technical Workshop of the Project, held from 23-25 November 2015 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, examined successes, challenges, and lessons learnt, including through a pilot study conducted in 2015 to see the effects of providing weather and climate information to farmers. The study showed that access to such information as seasonal forecasts had a positive influence on farmer decision making in terms of, for instance, seed and variety selection.

The workshop also considered gender balance in the roving seminars, which averaged 13% female participation across the 17 countries. Participants considered ways of engaging women, such as conducting seminars targeted at women specifically or reaching out to NGOs focused on women’s issues.

The 2012-2015 period of the Project follows on from its inception and implementation in 2008-2011, when 146 roving seminars were conducted in 15 West African countries. [WMO Press Release] [MetAgri Operational Project Webpage] [IISD RS Story on Outcomes of First Iteration of the Project]