Climate change: Govt to put weather stations in 69 districts to help farmers

In a bid to combat effects of climate change and its associated risks such as poor timing of planting seasons due to unpredictable weather, Nebbi District is earmarked for installation of a weather forecast station, authorities have said.

A senior meteorologist at the Ministry of Water and Environment, James Bataze, revealed that “Nebbi is among the 69 districts where weather stations will be installed to allow and access data and monitor the atmospheric behaviors of weather patterns.”

According to the Ministry of Water and Environment, the station will be for monitoring weather or climate and updating farmers on which crops to plant in particular seasons.

The weather station is part of a project being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries (MAAIF) funded by the World Bank.

It is in partnership with the Ministry of Water and Environment under Uganda Climate Smart Agricultural Transformation Project (UCSATP), a transformative initiative aimed at integrating climate-smart agricultural approaches.

“MAAIF is procuring super computers that will be used in processing, analyzing and generating products of Agri-Climate information,” Bataze noted before saying that rain gauges will also be installed in several sub-counties of the district.    

Nebbi District Agricultural officer Joyce Piwa said weather forecasting was crucial for food security.

“As we continue to deal with the devastating effect of climate change on food production, weather forecasting must be put into consideration if we are to implement smart agriculture such that farmers don’t just assume the weather,” Piwa told Monitor on Tuesday.   

The LC3 Chairperson Thatha Division in Nebbi Municipality, Jacklyn Opar, decried farmers who have abandoned faring in the area due to unpredicatable weather patterns.

“Our farmers need to be guided on the rain patterns, the type of seeds and the type of pesticides to be applied such that farmers don’t risk planting in the season which might be affected by dry spell,” Opar added.

Weather changes

The district production officer, Laverus Nyakuni, said Nebbi literally has one planting season now.  

“In the early 90s, we used to receive the first rains around February 15 where farmers would plant their crops in the first season, but now when you plant your crops in the first season, you hardly harvest,” he said.

According to information on the weather and climate site, Nebbi typically receives about 100.81 millimeters (3.97 inches) of precipitation and has 194.38 rainy days (53.25% of the time) annually.