FAO.org

Over the 2019 rice season, the Laos Climate Services for Agriculture (LaCSA) system has been used in five pilot provinces to inform farmers at village level the condition of the next week for rice paddy every week. After the end of the season, it was necessary to gather information about the functionality of the system and the use of LaCSA by FAO.

For this, the SAMIS project collaborated with the project “Applying seasonal climate forecasting and innovative insurance solutions to climate risk management in the agriculture sector in SE Asia”, otherwise known as De-RISK SE Asia. The CIAT team within that project prepared a questionnaire that integrated questions related to the functionality of LaCSA, the use of questionnaires, and the linking of the information to the activities of farmers. After that, the CIAT inserted the questionnaire in a kobo tool so that it could be completed online by villagers.

During the month of December, a mission by the SAMIS project visited the twenty villages in Luang Namtha, Savannakhet, Saravan, Champasak and Vientiane Province were the use of loudspeakers has been tested. The questionnaire was submitted to 343 respondents and the replies were received by CIAT directly only.

The CIAT immediately developed some statistical analysis to elaborate the main findings. First, more than 67 percent of respondents find favor with the initiative.  The majority of the farmers listened at the loudspeaker every week. The weather and seasonal forecast are the two data that are received with more interested by the farmers, followed by the crop calendar. The main changes in farm management that the farmers envisage include use of improved varieties, water management, change of fertilized and shift of planting date

The data collected by SAMIS and De-RISK are now been integrated in a publication and will be used to improve the LaCSA awareness rising during the next piloting next season.