A Decade of Capacity Building Through Roving Seminars on Agro-Meteorology/-Climatology in Africa, Asia and Latin America: From Agrometeorological Services via Climate Change to Agroforestry and Other Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices

Abstract

Climate change hits agricultural production areas hard. There is no knowledge base to counter its effects and this makes education and other capacity building in adapting to climate change imperative.

In the course of the last quarter of the twentieth century, applied agrometeorology/agroclimatology started to focus on traditional knowledge and agrometeorological services in agriculture. Since 2005, “Agromet Vision” offers Roving Seminars (RSs) of 2–5 days for university staff, professional agrometeorologists and extension intermediaries. They are particularly useful for training of extension trainers. To date, 37 RSs have been successfully delivered in 13 countries.

The first RSs offered were “Agrometeorological Services: Theory and Practice” and “Agrometeorology and Sustainable Development”, followed from 2011 by “Reaching Farmers in a Changing Climate”. In 2013 “What Climate Change Means for Farmers in Africa” was added, while in 2015 “Agroforestry and Climate Change” was included. This paper wants to review the need for and the contents of these RSs and reports on local evaluation by the institutes involved. Applied agrometeorology should not start with agrometeorology but with the conditions of where it should be applied, the livelihood of farmers. In the development of such RSs elsewhere, our experience could be of much value.