Climate-smart agriculture: new video released
A smart phone application which provides farmers with an Early Warning System to improve agricultural resilience. The short video, shot in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, illustrates the functioning of an early warning system (EWS), which supports farmers in managing the impacts of climate variability on their activities. This is achieved by sharing meteorological and other useful information with the over 14,000 current subscribers of the service via SMS, smartphone and web-based applications. The Early Warning System, implemented by the Lebanese Agriculture Research Institute (LARI), relies on the collection and analysis of a wide range of agrometeorological data. The interpretation of incoming data is undertaken by dedicated LARI technical staff, who make key decisions according to robust and streamlined protocols. The resulting information, advice and warnings are relayed to farmers and other users on a daily basis or even more frequently in the case of emergencies.
Mobilising international climate finance to enhance the Early Warning System. An ongoing initiative, supported by the ClimaSouth project, aims to improve and extend the system to increase water use efficiency while reducing the wastage of nutrients and energy. The need to confront new issues faced by farmers, such as pests and diseases appearing more aggressively and more widely as a result of a changing climate, is also emphasized in an interview by Ihab Jomaa, Head of the Irrigation and Agrometereology Department at LARI. The proposed upgrade of the EWS would provide registered users with alerts and advice on the most efficient irrigation options as well as a wide range of other dedicated farm services. The upgraded system, which would be made available on a contractual basis, will target 35,000 farms in the Beqaa valley, benefitting around 300,000 inhabitants, as well as farmers’ associations and agricultural extension services. New EWS infrastructure will support the more effective flow of information, based on an improved agrometeorological observation network and procedures to acquire weather forecasts from international providers.
The projected economic impact of climate change on Lebanese agriculture is anticipated to be severe. Due to the changes in climate currently predicted, the value of farm production may fall in Lebanon by about USD 80 million by 2020, hitting the country’s strategic crops, namely cereals, fruit trees, olives, sugar beet, tobacco and potatoes. Over the last years, irrigation practices have intensified and irrigated land is increasing due to need to satisfy the additional food requirements caused by the Syrian refugee crisis. Speaking at a workshop hosted by the European Union Delegation earlier this year, Ms Yara Daou of the Lebanese Ministry of Environment, explained that “this reduction would ripple through the economy, with the manufacturing and services sectors, combined, experiencing a reduction in production of about USD 220 million.”
Resources: Video: Climate-smart agriculture | EWS Needs Assessment | EWS upgrade project proposal | EWS training resources