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Kyrgyz women’s groups use phones to improve harvests

15.09.2014

Agency of Development Initiatives (ADI), a network of women self-help groups in Kyrgyzstan, is actively introducing an early warning weather system among its members. This initiative is implemented as part of the World Bank’s Agricultural Production Support Project, where the Agribusiness Competitiveness Center (ABCC) is the implementing agency and ADI is a partner. Under one of the project components, the partners make joint efforts to increase farm production through the establishment of self-help groups (SHG), which are provided with certified vegetable seeds and a wide range of services, including agricultural training, consulting, information and marketing.

Over the two years of the project, which was launched in 2013, a total of 302 self-help groups were created with 2 050 people involved, 90 percent of which are women.

Weather is one of the key agricultural factors, as crop productivity depends greatly on rainfall, warmth and sunlight. This is the reason why ABCC, in partnership with the Kyrgyz Hydro-meteorological Service and Village Consulting Service, provided training titled ‘Weather Information for Farmers’ to all self-help groups. During the training, SHG members learned to understand the structure of weather forecasts in SMS text messages, use weather data efficiently and assess climate risks for agricultural and farming purposes.

According to ADI Coordinator Aida Jamangulova, in a changing climate, weather information resources can also be viewed as an effective adaptation practice, as they enable self-help groups to mitigate potential risks through flexible planning and scheduling of their agricultural activities, especially since today even the most remote corners of the country have access to mobile communications.

This has been confirmed by six self-help groups (36 members) from Lipenka Village in Jety-Oguz District of Issyk-Kul Province, which receive three-day weather forecasts and storm alerts on a regular basis.

“Before we used to buy seeds at the local market and plant them in our fields or vegetable gardens, then do some weeding and watering if there was water in ditches or if we were lucky enough to have rains. And that was it: we just had to wait for our autumn crops as if it were some kind of a lottery”, said Kurosh Rakymbaev from Bereke SHG. “Now we grow crops in accordance with agricultural practices. After completing the weather forecast training in April, we are now much less dependent on the caprices of the weather”.

“This year’s season was very dry. There was not a single rain drop during the whole summer. Our neighbors’ gardens produced almost nothing. We, on the contrary, managed to gather quite a good crop of vegetables thanks to the high quality seeds we received and the skills we acquired during the training”, added Gulshat Kabylbaeva,Yrysky SHG. 

“A monthly subscription for SMS text messages from the Kyrgyz Hydro-meteorological Service costs 60 soms (USD 1.20). You know, in rural areas every cent counts, so we decided that only two members should subscribe and then pass information on to all other SHG members. Crop planting, watering, gathering – we do everything using weather forecasts we receive on our mobile phones”, said Aigul Aidarova from the same SHG.

ADI’s experience demonstrates that regular access to climate data and weather forecasts helps increase the sustainability of agricultural production. With necessary knowledge and skills, farmers are able to adapt more effectively to weather changes by varying planting time or watering regime and by using drought-resistant crop varieties. Such adaptation practices, in combination with the effective use of water resources for irrigation purposes, improve food security in changing climates. 
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Photo: Alma Karsymbek