The role of soil moisture information in developing robust climate services for smallholder farmers: evidence from Ghana

In Ghana, most of the farmers are engaged in small-scale rainfed farming where the success is influenced by how the farmers are able to march their decisions to the prevailing weather conditions. Climate information services (CIS), which includes weather forecasts, can help farmers to reduce their vulnerability to climate extremes and allow them to maximize agricultural productivity. Current services in Ghana and elsewhere in the world, however, only provides information on the recent and forecasted meteorological variables, primarily precipitation and temperature. Having access to other practical knowledge, such as soil moisture content would help farmers further in the decision-making process. Soil moisture is a key component for better farm management practices, because the plant establishment and growth are directly impacted by the soil moisture content. Therefore, this study aims to assess the importance of soil moisture information in farmers’ agricultural decision-making and to understand how this information is being perceived, assessed, and applied. An exploratory research, combined with field visits, farmer interviews, including questionnaires, and focus group discussions was carried out in three local farming communities i.e. Gbulung, Napakzoo, and Yapalsi in the outskirts of Tamale, northern Ghana. Results show that farmers clearly understand the importance of soil moisture for agriculture decision-making in every farming stages. Many farmers expressed that soil moisture information is highly important for fertilizer application and sowing. This information, however, is not well received by the farmers, causing farmers to rely on their indigenous knowledge to monitor the soil moisture conditions. Soil moisture forecast is ranked as the second critical information for farmers after precipitation. Capacity building and frequent interactions at farmer field schools and trainings could increase the farmer’s understanding and awareness of the role of soil moisture in agricultural decision-making. Moreover, farmers show an interest in a CIS embedded with a soil moisture forecast advisory module (CIS-SM) that could help them to increase the water-use efficiency and in the end, reduce the pressure on available water resources for agriculture.