Communicating seasonal forecasts to farmers in Kaffrine, Senegal for better agricultural management

Sahel is a place where climate is highly variable across many timescales. For example, the 1950s were very wet and farmers easily lived off their harvest. But a dry period followed in the 1970s, reaching its extreme in 1984. This affected most farmers, especially those living in Senegal’s ‘peanut basin’. Now we are experiencing a return to a wetter period but with new challenges: extreme wet and dry spells within seasons. In the Sahel region, more than 80 per cent of the population live off agriculture and pastoralism — and both of these depend on rainfall. This dependency affects food security, particularly when resources are scarce. And as climate change brings less predictable rainfall patterns, so it is more difficult for farmers’ practices and knowledge systems to keep up with the rapid changes.