Automated weather station launched, To serve local farmers, schools
An automated weather station aimed at providing innovative weather sensoring and information services to local farmers and for climate change education in schools has been launched in Accra.
Known as the Trans African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO) project, the initiative is also designed to build a network of hydro-meteorological monitoring stations in Ghana.
More than 10,000 cocoa farmers are to benefit from the initiative which was funded by The Netherlands at a cost of £250,000.
The project was spearheaded by the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in collaboration with Farmerline Limited, Oregon State University (OSU) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Accuracy in climate data
At the launch in Accra, the Board Chairman of Country Water Partnership, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Nii Boi Ayibotele, said access to accurate climate data was essential for the sustainable development of agriculture, weather forecasting and climate change in Ghana.
Presently, African observation networks were very limited, Nii Ayibotele said, adding that the government and regional planners lacked adequate data to make decisions on investment in water resource infrastructure.
According to him, approximately 60 per cent of Ghana’s workforce was currently involved in agriculture hence the development of infrastructure to monitor, collect and store both historical and future climate data and interpret them in a simplified language for the Ghanaian farmer.
Automated Weather Stations
Professor Nick van de Giesen, Chairman, Water Resource Management at TU Delft, said the project was aimed at establishing 40 new automated weather stations in senior high schools.
Additionally, Professor Giesen stated that the project would be done with the support of Farmerline’s innovative mobile technology, which would send voice and SMS messages in local languages to large numbers of small-scale farmers.
The Secretary of the Netherlands Embassy, Mr Thierry van Helden, said the Kingdom of The Netherlands funded the project as part of its efforts to contribute to the modernisation of agriculture in Ghana.
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An initiative aimed at providing innovative weather sensoring and information services for local farmers and for climate change education in schools has been launched in Accra.
