As Africa continues to deal with the devastating effects of climate change on food production, weather forecasting must be put into consideration. Weather forecasting is the prediction of atmospheric conditions of a given place at a given time to confirm whether it is suitable for agricultural production or not.
Farming is a complex yet very vital process that is practiced more so in villages. When farming, farmers need to put into consideration several factors such as soil, irrigation methods, farming tools and methods etc. however, most of them tend to ignore weather forecasting which plays a very important role in farming.
To harvest healthy crops, farmers need to be aware of the oncoming weather conditions and climate changes because the entire output of any crop depends on the weather conditions. Losses are normally incurred due to inaccurate weather forecasts. Farmers are now able to get updates on their phones, thanks to ignitia’s advanced technology.
Farmers in Africa can make use of ignitia’s technology to predict weather and make informed decisions regarding their farm practices. Initially, farmers relied on their past experiences, observation, and intuition to predict weather. With this poor judgment, they incurred very high losses. In addition, the inaccuracy of these methods has further been affected by the current regular and unpredictable weather changes.
The good news is that ignitia adds finesse to current agricultural practices through simple weather prediction mechanisms for smallholder farmers and provides updated weather reports.
Ignitia’s weather forecast models
1. Ignitia API
Ignitia API allows farmers to generate more value for their customers by incorporating very accurate forecasts of temperature, rain, wind, humidity, among other parameters on any application or website without a hassle. It is easy and fast to integrate. In addition, this technology helps farmers to build trust and sincerity by giving out timely and fitted advice and thoughts for important agricultural activities.
2. Ignitia Enterprise
Ignitia Enterprise fastens innovation and agricultural productivity by allowing farmers to create value for their customers. This works in such a way that it transforms high-precision forecasts of rain, wind, humidity, temperature forecasts into intelligence for decision-making.
The significance of ignitia Enterprise
- Optimizes farming activities through good timings with weather conditions.
- Reduces post-harvest losses by managing exposure of your product to moisture and improving seed quality through reduced contaminants.
- Maximizes economic impact through efficient and effective use of inputs resulting in less wastage, which in turn saves costs and increases yields.
3. Ignitia Smart
Ignitia Smart provides more value to farmers and their customers with high-quality precision forecasts. This technology is very effective when making decisions with targeted information concerning temperature, rain, wind, humidity, and other parameters. This will enable you to know when to plant, apply fertilizer, and when to harvest.
It is easy to configure alerts according to your farm’s preferences and view suggestions through dashboards that are easy to navigate.
Features of ignitia Smart
- Predicting weather forecasts for the next 7days.
- Providing rain forecasts that are 84% accurate.
- Providing maps specific weather conditions of your farm.
- Providing rain forecasts for the next 4 weeks and next 6 months.
- Intelligence to prevent occurrence of diseases.
- Knowledge of the best time to carry out phytosanitation.
The importance of ignitia’s weather forecasting on farmers in Africa
- It enables farmers to plan well for their farm operations like irrigation, planting, weeding, pruning, fertilizer application etc. this in turn will increase yields and profits. Accurate weather forecasts can help farmers to determine the workability of their fields.
- Weather forecasting helps predict when pests might attack the crop and the best time to make use of pest control practices for best results. Information in this area helps to determine when pesticides should be applied. For instance, crop dusters must only be used when the wind will not make the sprayed chemicals miss their target.
- It gives farmers knowledge of any given area’s climatic conditions before they happen.
- Weather forecasting guides farmers on when to work on the farm and when not to. For instance, grounds that are sufficient with moisture are easy to work on whereas dry and coarse soils are difficult to work on especially on hot days.
- Weather forecasting helps farmers to determine when they can apply fertilizers, the type of fertilizers to apply, and the rate of application. Wrong timing when applying fertilizers has a negative impact on plant growth. The field should be dry when applying fertilizers so that they do not get washed away.
- Irrigation (artificial application of water to land) and weather forecasting go hand in hand. It promotes farming and agricultural production, which are weather-driven. Weather forecasts play a very important role in irrigation in a way that prolonged periods of dry weather have a significant impact on the system of irrigation.
Summary
In agriculture, weather forecasting is not just about delays in rain or rainfall prediction. It helps farmers plan accordingly and know when to do what. Ignitia, as mentioned above, has tons of information regarding the importance of its weather forecasts to farmers in Africa.
Learn more about ignitia’s weather forecasts and their importance here.
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