THE small holder farmer in Africa has always depended on instinct, a bit of observation, and knowledge passed on from his forefathers. Using instinct a farmer would predict the rainy season and dry season. Today, the same farmer can neither predict the rainy nor the dry season.
When a farmer thinks it is dry, it rains for hours or even days, flooding his tilled land.
If he had already planted, the crops will be washed away. Livestock farmers in the cattle corridor have been selling their animals at a giveaway price of sh30,000 to ensure they do not completely lose out when cows die because of drought — thanks to climate change.
This scenario should be on the minds of African negotiators at the December climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark. African farmers need a deal that will help them adapt to the changing climate. The farmers need information on how they can change their lives to suit the current times. That information should be part of an adaptation programme that the continent needs today, if our farmers and economies are to survive.
This means that if a deal is reached in Copenhagen, it must include adaptation. This will enable our farmers to know which crops to plant and when to plant them, thereby stopping their dependency on the colour of the clouds.
The key idea is to make sure that information is available and reaches these farmers who may not be in possession of irrigation systems and other high technologies that defy weather patterns. This is not going to be cheap and countries should have a national fund to contribute to this.
The World Bank estimates that poor countries will need between $70b (sh140 trillion) to $90b (sh180 trillion) annually for adaptation. African climate change negotiators are talking of compensation, after all Africa has contributed little to the causes of climate change, but we should be mindful that this may take years to happen.
By the time their money comes, millions will be dead and misplaced. We need strategies that are affordable to help deliver information to these farmers. One such mechanism is the utilisation of mobile phones.
The mobile phone can be used to share information among farmers. Farmers can also use them to receive the latest news on climate change and adaptation. If farmers learnt adaptive approaches, we would deal climate change a blow.
