Smart Farming with Weather and Climate Information: Empowering Rwandan Farmers to Beat the Climate Crisis

In November 2024, the ECREA project hosted a high-level donor review visit, providing a crucial platform to showcase progress, impact and future aspirations. The visit included a detailed presentation highlighting key achievements, challenges and opportunities for scaling climate adaptation interventions. Stakeholders shared compelling narratives of transformation, emphasizing how the initiative has directly empowered farming communities. A field visit to farmers farms was also conducted.

In Rwanda, where agriculture is the backbone of the economy, farmers face increasing challenges from climate change. Unpredictable weather patterns and extreme climate events threaten crop yields, livelihoods, and food security. To help farmers adapt and thrive, innovative projects like the East Africa Climate Resilience Enhancement (ECREA) are stepping in with transformative solutions.

The ECREA project is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) through the UK Met Office and is implemented by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. The project is focusing on four East African countries— Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. It sets out to improve coping and adaptive capacities of the farming communities by strengthening both the supply and demand sides of the WCIS equation. With a keen emphasis on partnership and collaboration, the project leverages the expertise of National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) and strategic alliances with organizations—IGAD Climate Prediction Applications Center (ICPAC), Shamba Shapeup and iShamba and community radios such as Radio Huguka in Rwanda and FADECO Radio in Tanzania—to foster inclusive and accessible climate resilience strategies.