Nigeria is leading the way in weather services for farmers, delivering year-long forecasts and detailed agricultural advice across its entire federation. In Kenya, farmers remain without the forecasts on a vacuum in coordinating forecasts across the county system, set up in 2010.
According to the FAO, farmers with access to long-term, detailed weather information increase their net income by 10-20 per cent. This is because they help farmers to manage risks and reduce crop failure by selecting the crop varieties best suited to the expected weather and preparing their farms at the best time to maximise every shilling they use and their profits. Livestock farmers for their part benefit by adjusting their feeding, breeding practices, and schedules to improve the output of their animals.
Despite being a federation that is 1.6 times bigger than Kenya, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has overridden the challenges of local government to provide a single yearly Seasonal Climate Prediction with detailed information on what farmers across all the country’s 36 States should grow across the year and how they should grow it.
As an example, farmers in northeastern Nigerian states such as Kanem Bomu, Adamawa, Bauchi, and Sardauna were advised at the start of the year to avoid planting at the onset of the June to September rains due to a one-week early dry spell. NiMet also counseled farmers to grow crops that can withstand drought using techniques like mulching, water harvesting, tied ridges, organic fertilizer, and supplementary irrigation because of a moderate to severe dry spell.
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In contrast, the Kenya Meteorological Department issued the October to November short rains season forecast this month and has only one published agriculture advisory for Kwale County’s, March to May 2024 long rains season.
Part of the issue is Kenya’s county structure. An official at the Kenya Met Office explained that while individual county meteorological and agricultural officers prepare exhaustive agriculture advisories derived from the countrywide seasonal forecast that advice farmers on what rainfall to expect and its probable onset and end date dates as well as giving the rain distribution in every ward within the county and what crops and crop varieties to grow ahead of every planting season, all these information often requires farmers to reach the county met office to get it.
In contrast to the Kenya Mets seasonal forecast which offers limited advice on livestock and no information on livestock diseases NiMet’s year-long forecast guides livestock farmers on how to prepare throughout the year.
This includes advice to poultry farmers on when to reduce their flock, which months to avoid hatching chicks, how to construct their poultry cages, etc.
Between February and May, NiMet advised poultry keepers in the states of Kebbi, Niger, FCT, Kogi, Nasarawa, Benue, Taraba, and Adamawa to reduce the number of chickens they kept. This is because the temperatures in these states would be the highest in more than three decades at between 37℃ and 40℃ in the daytime.
For most other Nigerian states where the daytime weather was predicted to be between 31℃ and 40℃, farmers were advised to build chicken houses that were well-ventilated as well as provided with water throughout.
Having early warning information on when temperatures are expected to be high is vital in poultry keeping as excess heat leads to death if the poultry population is not reduced or ventilation increased.
Further still, NiMet advised farmers in the county’s six southern states to take extra precautions in keeping chicks warm or to avoid hatching them during the short dry season in August as it comes with cold that can affect young chicks.
Unlike Kenya’s weather forecast which has no mention of aquaculture– an agriculture sub-sector valued at Sh31.1 billion– Nigeria’s weather forecast offers an in-depth breakdown for aquaculturists on fish farming throughout the year. This includes vital information such as when to reduce fish feed in different states and during months when temperatures are predicted to be warmer than usual.
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This is because farmers can reduce their fish feeding rates by up to 30 per cent when temperatures are warm. Higher temperatures increase water temperatures and fish’s rate of converting food into energy.
In their year-long Seasonal Climate Prediction, Nigerian farmers are also advised to build earthen fish ponds one to two months before the predicted rain season and clean their ponds regularly over the February to May high-temperature season. This is because fish get stressed during hot weather because of lower oxygen levels in the water. Cleaning fish ponds helps improve oxygen levels during these hot months.