WaPOR allows providing advisory services to farmers
Advisory services to farmers are critical to mitigate the impact of climate change. Smartphone applications, such as FAO FAMEWS, PlantVillage, LARI App or IRWI App are being developed by FAO and third-parties, that use WaPOR data to provide farmers with information on local conditions on water and vegetation, in addition to artificial intelligence tools that recognize plants pests and diseases. Farmers in the field can make informed decisions based on intuitive alert messages and advice provided by mobile apps.
The collaboration between WaPOR and PlantVillage is now bringing enhanced information to farmers in West Kenya like in this example. They are now able to monitor plants pests and diseases in conjunction with WaPOR-sourced information on vegetation trends and water stress.
The maps (250 m ground resolution) show daily precipitation during the first days of April 2018 (left) and April 2019 (right). Knowing precipitation trends is important for farmers and government agencies to make informed decisions, particularly in rainfed agriculture areas, which depend entirely on precipitation.
The comparison of the maps highlights a decrease of precipitation in 2019, at the beginning of the crop growing season. This year's poor rainfall in March and April is compromising the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in many parts of East Africa.
This chart represents the precipitation amount in millimetres for the first two months of the growing season in the location indicated on the map.