KUKUA Weather Data and forecasting services for local farmers in Africa
We can’t influence the weather ... but we can boost access to reliable, accurate weather data and agronomic information ... which is crucial to making informed decisions about when and how to plant and tend crops in order to improve yields.
Did you know that ... Africa has over 30 million small farms producing around 90% of the continent’s agricultural output, and that farmers rely on traditional weather knowledge to know when and where to plant crops? (* ) |
Climate change is increasing the unpredictability of weather patterns resulting in problems for many people globally...
To cope with climate change challenges rendering traditional weather knowledge obsolete, KUKUA weather data and forecasting services has developed low-cost, internet-connected, and solar-powered weather stations providing real-time weather data online.
To date, KUKUA has over 80 reliable and securely connected weather stations [considered to be at the forefront of the “Internet of Things” technology] operating across six African countries.
“KUKUA weather stations have been designed to use the latest technology, big data, and smart partnerships to collect accurate weather data. In partnership with a forecasting company, KUKUA generates precise weather predictions, which are shared with farmers via SMS message. The information provided by KUKUA increases farmers’ resilience to climate change”, - London Business School News. |
Using Internet and frugal innovation suited to the African environment, KUKUA’s weather stations uploade accurate weather data to the “cloud” every 15 minutes.
Thus, KUKUA's network weather stations provide all interested parties (small holder farmers, commercial farmers and otherstakeholders) throughout Africa with actionable insights and forecasts based on whether data.
KUKUA produces and distributes forecasts with different partners, and works with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on roll out and impact.
Watch this short video on Kukua Weather Services |
Take a look at: |
(*) More facts about “Enduring farms: climate change, smallholders and traditional farming communities” (FAO, 2017)
Stay abreast of trends in #WeatherData Management :
- The Importance of Open Weather Data (VAISALA)
- FAOSTAT provides free access to food and agriculture-related data for over 245 countries and territories
- Gap analysis and recommendations on weather data standards (GODAN, 2017)
- Recorded GODAN Action Webinar : Facilitating the use of Standards and steps to achieving impact with Open Data
- Join the GODAN Action Trainers Network
- IGAD Data Experts shared their Knowledge & Expertise at the RDA-IGAD Pre-Meeting in Montreal. Get inspired !
- aWhere collects and analyses over a billion points of data from around the globe each day to create unprecedented visibility and insight known as Agricultural Intelligence
- DATA.GOV : The home of the U.S. Government’s open data
- EUROPEAN DATA PORTAL
- openAFRICA : the largest independent repository of open data on the African continent
P.S. “Good data management enables the location, sharing, and reuse of data, and reduces the redundancy of data … Data management tools and best practices can also help to meet the open data requirements of making data more accessible and discoverable”, - USGS : Science for a changing world. "the Internet of Things (IoT), in which all manner of products automatically exchange data with one another, is going to become ubiquitous before long", - IoT for All. |
