(c)RIMES

Kandy - Sri Lanka was one of the first countries in the world to obtain technical assistance from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to develop a National E-agriculture Strategy.

The Department of Agriculture (DoA) together with the Ministry of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure, and the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), developed the national E-agriculture Strategy for Sri Lanka in 2016 based on the framework developed by FAO and ITU.

This strategy has guided the identification, development and mainstreaming of key ICT for agriculture services and solutions in the country. Agro-meteorology deals with all the weather-sensitive elements of the agriculture value chain, from production to consumption. Thereby assisting farmers and food producers in decision making in the face of climate uncertainties.

The Specialized Expert System for Agro-Meteorological Early Warning (SESAME), an agricultural advisory system for early warning and day-to-day crop management was launched in Sri Lanka under the E-agriculture strategy. SESAME is a web portal for mapping crop sensitivity to a predicted weather condition, generating crop advisories and disseminating multi-timescale weather/climate risk and guidance information by email, SMS, fax, social media, and mobile application with capability of receiving user feedback.

The availability of customized agro-advisories through SESAME for Mahailuppallama in the Anuradhapura district for rice based advisories, and in Bathalegoda in Kurunegala district for vegetable cultivation was launched at the Department of Agriculture in Peradiniya, Kandy. A training of trainers (ToT) for staff from the DoA, Department of Meteorology and the National Resources Management Center (NRMC) was conducted by FAO in partnership with the Regional Integrated Multi-hazard Early warning System (RIMES).

The training focused on key aspects. Collecting and feeding data such as weather/climate forecasts and agronomic information into the SESAME system, analyzing the advisories produced by the system to take necessary action, and application of climate information to agriculture operations. It focused on sensitizing and propagating the use of advisories among farmers through Farmer Field Schools, particularly on how to interpret and apply the agro-met information. The customized advisories for specific crops will help farmers plan the cropping cycle and adjust planting or harvesting windows to avoid unfavorable weather conditions. The advisories also provide early warning for pests and disease control, and guidance on agronomic practices such as controlled fertilizer application, and irrigation to suit the climatic conditions. 

Further capacity strengthening was conducted by FAO and RIMES in identified locations with DoA staff and farmers to strengthen their understanding of climatic variabilities and to be able to understand and utilize the agro-advisory provided through a mobile application. This is being implemented through the FAO funded project on “strengthening the e-agriculture environment and developing ICT-mediated agricultural solutions for Sri Lanka.”