Stakeholders in Ghana’s meals system sector say evidence-based information is important to strengthen Ghana’s local weather adaptation and resilience.
At a nationwide stakeholder dissemination workshop on AGRA’s Local weather Vulnerability Evaluation Instrument (ClimVAT) held in Accra, stakeholders expressed confidence that the device will strengthen local weather adaptation and resilience efforts.
Local weather change is more and more impacting agricultural methods throughout Africa by larger temperatures, extra frequent droughts, altering rainfall patterns, and excessive climate occasions.
To reply successfully, governments and improvement companions want dependable proof to determine the place local weather dangers are most extreme and what components drive vulnerability in several areas.
The ClimVAT platform was developed following a local weather evaluation train performed by AGRA throughout Ghana in 2024-2025 and gives proof of this by combining local weather, soil and socio-economic information to supply spatial maps of local weather publicity, agricultural sensitivity and adaptive capability.
These maps permit customers to visualise patterns of local weather vulnerability throughout completely different geographies, agricultural methods, and time scales.
ClimVAT helps nationwide and native governments, improvement companions, non-governmental organizations, extension companies and agribusiness improvement initiatives in making climate-resilient agricultural plans and funding selections.
“This device will assist folks creating initiatives acquire inside info on how local weather change insurance policies are being managed of their districts.
“It’ll assist us map which areas in a specific district are susceptible to the consequences of local weather change, so we are able to develop packages to alleviate such challenges,” stated Bashir Musah, Program Officer at AGRA Ghana.
Local weather coverage advisor Dr. Shaib Baani Azma defined that the device “gives regional and on-the-ground info on vulnerability hotspots. Nationwide and native indicators could be in contrast. Sensitivity and affect to local weather change could be assessed.”
“This device means that you can prioritize your local weather adaptation insurance policies. Easy navigation tells you the place to focus your efforts. You possibly can see which areas are most susceptible and have the fewest adaptation packages, so you’ll be able to focus your efforts there,” he added.
Stakeholders additionally famous that susceptible teams in society would vastly profit from this device, because it gives policymakers with evidence-based information for planning.
“This device permits policymakers to know which districts and communities to shift help to. With out information, it’s troublesome to plan. This device permits us to see the place girls, younger folks and folks with disabilities are struggling, so it helps us make knowledgeable selections to help younger folks and susceptible teams,” stated gender advisor Dr. Paul Yao Anani.
Dr. Kindi Tesfaye-Fantay, Head of Local weather Adaptation and Resilience at AGRA, defined that ClimVAT additionally has a “vulnerability index that reveals completely different sectors and ranges of vulnerability. It helps decision-makers resolve the place to speculate. It has information visualization instruments and makes use of it to assist plan appropriately and concentrate on susceptible crops, sectors, and so on.”
“If we do not tackle local weather change, we won’t tackle poverty. So we have to plan properly for local weather. That is vital for decision-making on local weather change,” he added.
Dr Malawoe Awiti, principal analysis assistant and maize breeder on the West African Crop Enchancment Heart (WACCI) on the College of Ghana, stated the device could be significantly helpful for plant breeders.
“For us as breeders and folks within the agricultural sector, what adaptation measures can we provide you with? This is a crucial device to know what methods we are able to provide you with to make sure we help farmers to mitigate the consequences of local weather change.”
As a part of its subsequent steps, AGRA is working to include ClimVAT into Ghana’s nationwide coverage framework. It will allow businesses such because the Division of Meals and Agriculture and the Environmental Safety Company to make use of ClimVAT in designing numerous nationwide and subnational initiatives.
The nationwide stakeholder domestication workshop in Accra was the second after the earlier one in Tamale.
In the course of the workshop, contributors constructed capability on tips on how to interpret and apply local weather vulnerability information and evaluation high-resolution danger maps.
We additionally thought of how these insights could be translated into sensible, gender-sensitive planning and funding selections, whereas strengthening collaboration between international locations.
AGRA plans to conduct comparable workshops in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
