Challenges and Opportunities in Communicating Weather and Climate Information to Rural Farming Communities in Central Zimbabwe
Sustainability of rain-fed agriculture in semiarid regions is being threatened by climate variability and change. Weather and climate information (WCI) can be used to reduce the effects of this threat on agricultural production. WCI may be available, but is it readily accessible and communicated/dis...
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American Meteorological Society (AMS)
2023
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| Online Access: | https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5394 https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-22-0016.1 |
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| author | Veronica Makuvaro Tavengwa Chitata Emmanuel Tanyanyiwa Solomon Zirebwa |
| author2 | Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe |
| author_facet | Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe Veronica Makuvaro Tavengwa Chitata Emmanuel Tanyanyiwa Solomon Zirebwa |
| author_sort | Veronica Makuvaro |
| collection | DSpace |
| description | Sustainability of rain-fed agriculture in semiarid regions is being threatened by climate variability and change. Weather and climate information (WCI) can be used to reduce the effects of this threat on agricultural production. WCI may be available, but is it readily accessible and communicated/disseminated efficiently to intended end users? Are stakeholders able to interpret the information to correctly inform decision-making? To answer these questions, in view of intermediate stakeholders (service providers to farmers), a study was carried out in two districts of the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe to identify the type and sources of WCI received by these stakeholders as well as constraints and opportunities to access, interpretation, and use of WCI. The study sample was drawn from the Midlands Provincial Drought Relief Committee, a link between the sources of WCI and the smallholder farmers. A questionnaire pretested for clarity and checked for internal consistency of themes using the standardized Cronbach’s alpha was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were generated using SPSS (version 20.0). Findings were that WCI was sometimes not readily available or was received late. Approximately 36% of the intermediate stakeholders (service providers) passed on WCI to farmers in its original form, from the main source the Meteorological Services Department. It was also unfortunate to discover that 36% of the respondents had challenges interpreting WCI. Impediments to the use of WCI by farmers included scientific information not aligning with indigenous information, which is better understood by farmers, and lack of trust in WCI. It is imperative to improve access to WCI and to train stakeholders on interpretation and dissemination of WCI. |
| format | research article |
| id | ir-11408-5394 |
| institution | My University |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | American Meteorological Society (AMS) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ir-11408-53942023-03-14T11:36:27Z Challenges and Opportunities in Communicating Weather and Climate Information to Rural Farming Communities in Central Zimbabwe Veronica Makuvaro Tavengwa Chitata Emmanuel Tanyanyiwa Solomon Zirebwa Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe Department of Land and Water Resources, Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe; Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom CARE International in Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe Department of Land and Water Resources, Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe Weather and Climate Information Rural Farming Communities Rain-fed agriculture Climate variability Sustainability of rain-fed agriculture in semiarid regions is being threatened by climate variability and change. Weather and climate information (WCI) can be used to reduce the effects of this threat on agricultural production. WCI may be available, but is it readily accessible and communicated/disseminated efficiently to intended end users? Are stakeholders able to interpret the information to correctly inform decision-making? To answer these questions, in view of intermediate stakeholders (service providers to farmers), a study was carried out in two districts of the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe to identify the type and sources of WCI received by these stakeholders as well as constraints and opportunities to access, interpretation, and use of WCI. The study sample was drawn from the Midlands Provincial Drought Relief Committee, a link between the sources of WCI and the smallholder farmers. A questionnaire pretested for clarity and checked for internal consistency of themes using the standardized Cronbach’s alpha was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were generated using SPSS (version 20.0). Findings were that WCI was sometimes not readily available or was received late. Approximately 36% of the intermediate stakeholders (service providers) passed on WCI to farmers in its original form, from the main source the Meteorological Services Department. It was also unfortunate to discover that 36% of the respondents had challenges interpreting WCI. Impediments to the use of WCI by farmers included scientific information not aligning with indigenous information, which is better understood by farmers, and lack of trust in WCI. It is imperative to improve access to WCI and to train stakeholders on interpretation and dissemination of WCI. 15 1 109 119 2023-03-14T11:36:26Z 2023-03-14T11:36:26Z 2023-02-14 research article https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5394 https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-22-0016.1 en Weather, Climate, and Society (WCAS) 1948-8335 open American Meteorological Society (AMS) |
| spellingShingle | Weather and Climate Information Rural Farming Communities Rain-fed agriculture Climate variability Veronica Makuvaro Tavengwa Chitata Emmanuel Tanyanyiwa Solomon Zirebwa Challenges and Opportunities in Communicating Weather and Climate Information to Rural Farming Communities in Central Zimbabwe |
| title | Challenges and Opportunities in Communicating Weather and Climate Information to Rural Farming Communities in Central Zimbabwe |
| title_full | Challenges and Opportunities in Communicating Weather and Climate Information to Rural Farming Communities in Central Zimbabwe |
| title_fullStr | Challenges and Opportunities in Communicating Weather and Climate Information to Rural Farming Communities in Central Zimbabwe |
| title_full_unstemmed | Challenges and Opportunities in Communicating Weather and Climate Information to Rural Farming Communities in Central Zimbabwe |
| title_short | Challenges and Opportunities in Communicating Weather and Climate Information to Rural Farming Communities in Central Zimbabwe |
| title_sort | challenges and opportunities in communicating weather and climate information to rural farming communities in central zimbabwe |
| topic | Weather and Climate Information Rural Farming Communities Rain-fed agriculture Climate variability |
| url | https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5394 https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-22-0016.1 |
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