Production and dissemination of agromet advisories in Chitwan District

About the workshop

In collaboration with the Agriculture Knowledge Centre (AKC) in Chitwan, Nepal, we are organising a two-day workshop to share key lessons and learning from implementing our pilot project on climate services for agriculture in Chitwan (see ‘Background’ for more details).

We will organise an orientation training for members of cooperatives, local agriculture office staff, and lead farmers on using the Crop Care mobile app to collect and share field data. A hands-on session with the technical advisory committee (TAC) will update the package of practices (PoPs) for major crops in Chitwan.

Objectives

The workshop’s overall objective is to share the lessons and learning from implementing the pilot. More specifically, the workshop aims to:

• Share the implementation process of the pilot
• Capture lessons from the field and experiences of the professionals generating agromet advisories at the national level
• Consult key stakeholders for the next steps in sustaining the agromet advisory process
• Orient relevant farmers and professionals on using the Crop Care mobile app
• Update the PoPs in the agromet advisory dashboard to include additional crops

Target participants

The knowledge-sharing workshop will bring together project steering committee members – mayors from the pilot municipalities and representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), Bagmati province; Agriculture and Forestry University; Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project; Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC); Department of Hydrology and Meteorology – and relevant stakeholders.

The orientation training will bring together members of the TAC and representatives from the municipal agriculture section, cooperatives, and selected lead farmers.

Background

ICIMOD’s Climate Services Initiative is implementing a pilot project to localise climate services in Chitwan, Nepal, primarily focusing on agriculture and tourism. The pilot aims to improve livelihoods and enhance people’s resilience in the agriculture and tourism sectors through reduced risks and vulnerabilities using climate information services. Supported by the British Embassy in Nepal, the pilot is being implemented over two years ending in December 2022.

In collaboration with AKC Chitwan and FORWARD Nepal, we have been implementing the pilot in four municipalities – Madi, Kalika, Khaireni, and Ratnanagar – in Chitwan to improve the capacity of local institutions, extension workers, and farmers in integrating climate information services in their decision making. Building on earlier efforts to strengthen agromet advisories in Nepal, our pilot focuses on further enriching agromet advisories at the local level to make them more relevant to farmers’ needs and ensure their timely delivery.

Our pilot has already established an agromet advisory system with support from the local municipal government, NARC in Chitwan, Agriculture and Forestry University, and central MoALD. As part of the institutional collaboration mechanism set up under the pilot, a TAC, comprising subject matter specialists from local institutions, generates a bimonthly agromet advisory using the information on in-field crop conditions and climate and weather information from Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology and other climate information platforms.

Tentative agenda