Challenges

Climate change has made climate conditions around the world more extreme and highly unpredictable. For farmers, especially those in the global South who are heavily impacted by climate change, the inability to predict weather conditions can lead to crop loss and poor productivity. Farmers need to know how to adapt to climate variability so they can sustain their crops and livelihoods.

The challenge is how to translate technical climate terms and adaptability models into accessible language and training that farmers can understand and implement. Strong partnerships are needed among countries with similar issues to support farmers in this shifting situation in order to support the achievement of sustainable development.

Toward a Solution

Indonesia and the Colombo Plan have established strong partnerships to address development challenges faced by Colombo Plan member countries through South-South and Triangular cooperation (SSTC). The partners work together to resolve issues related to climate change and address women’s empowerment and family planning.

In the field of climate change, Indonesia has been conducting a Training of Trainers on Climate Field School programme. The programme is managed by Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) in close collaboration with extension workers of the Ministry of Agriculture and farmers. The programme strives to bridge the gap between the technical nature of climatology and farmers’ ability to use climate information to improve and protect crop production. Through Training of Trainers, agricultural sector professionals from countries around the region gain the skills needed to help farmers in their home countries interpret climate information and apply the information in everyday use.

To date, 58 participants from nine countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Viet Nam) have taken the course. The training has been conducted twice, in 2019 and 2021, and more training is planned for the future. Through this collaboration, Indonesia supports the achievement of SDG 2 (zero hunger) and SDG 17 (partnership for development goals).

The training involves in-class sessions, during which resource persons deliver lectures on various topics related to climate and agriculture. Participants also have the opportunity to observe and use the tools to measure climate and weather and learn how to use that information for crop production. At the end of the programme, participants create an action plan for addressing climate and agriculture issues in their countries. Through implementation of the action plans, the knowledge learned is transferred to farmers in countries across the region, ensuring the sustainability of the programme.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and with tight restrictions on international travel to Indonesia, the 2021 course was conducted online. Despite the suspension of the hands-on training portion of the course, participants were still enthusiastic. The hands-on experience was replaced with active learning for participants. Nevertheless, implementing the programme offline is more effective as participants are more engaged and able to practice what they learn during their training in Indonesia.

To assess the effectiveness of the programme, participants provide feedback and suggestions for  improvements in the future. Communications are maintained with programme alumni to follow up on the progress of their action plan implementation and to measure the impact of the programme in beneficiary countries. The programme has been successful in improving the capacity of farmers, particularly on three indicators, namely: (i) the ability to disseminate to other farmers; (ii) the ability to access weather information; and (iii) the ability to apply their knowledge in managing rice fields. Under each indicator, farmers have become able to conduct various activities, such as disseminating their knowledge through personal or group discussions, accessing weather information via android smartphones and applying newly learned farming techniques for better crop production.

This programme highlights the importance of upgrading the skills and knowledge of agricultural trainers and extension workers so that they can disseminate valuable climate information and agricultural techniques to farmers, helping the latter adapt to climate change.