Empowering farmers with digital El Niño advisories: Insights from Malawi and Zambia

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cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Institute of Tropical Agriculture
cg.contributor.affiliationCenter for International Forestry Research
cg.contributor.donorUnited States Agency for International Development
cg.contributor.initiativeExcellence in Agronomy
cg.coverage.countryMalawi
cg.coverage.countryZambia
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2MW
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2ZM
cg.coverage.regionSouthern Africa
cg.creator.identifierMazvita Chiduwa: 0000-0003-1539-3698
cg.creator.identifierHambulo Ngoma: 0000-0002-7050-9625
cg.creator.identifierIsaiah Nyagumbo: 0000-0003-0180-234X
cg.howPublishedGrey Literature
cg.identifier.urlhttps://hdl.handle.net/10883/35637
cg.reviewStatusInternal Review
dc.contributor.authorChiduwa, Mazvita S.
dc.contributor.authorOmondi, John Okoth
dc.contributor.authorMasikati, Patricia
dc.contributor.authorNgoma, Hambulo
dc.contributor.authorNyagumbo, Isaiah
dc.date.accessioned2025-05-30T22:42:30Z
dc.date.available2025-05-30T22:42:30Z
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/174894
dc.titleEmpowering farmers with digital El Niño advisories: Insights from Malawi and Zambia
dcterms.abstractClimate extremes, including droughts, floods, and cyclones, are becoming increasingly frequent, severe, and geographically extensive in Southern Africa, with devastating effects on populations heavily reliant on rain-fed agriculture and broader economies. Farmers urgently need guidance and support to build resilience against climate-related disasters. However, the national extension systems in the region lack adequate funding and the capacity to respond promptly and effectively during emergencies. This report analyzes a digital advisory campaign aimed at disseminating awareness and advisory messages to farmers during an El Niño event across Malawi and Zambia, leveraging Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology accessible via basic, non-smart mobile phones. The campaign was rolled out in December 2023, prior to the start of the 2023/24 season. Our report builds on farmer feedback, particularly on how useful they found the campaign, their livelihood outcomes in the aftermath of the El Niño, and other notable trends in the data. The campaign reached over 1 million farmers in the two countries, with more than 90% of respondents finding the messages useful for awareness and preparedness. Both in Malawi and Zambia, radio emerged as the most popular channel for receiving extension messages. Moreover, results also confirmed that meteorological forecasts played a critical role in influencing farmers’ choices of crop and planting dates. For instance, dry spells of more than 21 days led to maize yield losses of 70-90%. Results further indicate that conservation agriculture and the adoption of drought tolerant crops were the most popular mitigation measures employed by farmers. The findings suggest that governments need access to appropriate information about the circumstances of their population to make informed decisions about how to efficiently extend support. Digital advisories provide an opportunity to gather real-time data on farmer conditions and can be used to deploy support. Additionally, post-event analysis provides valuable evidence that can be used to enhance the design of future response interventions and reduce donor dependence.
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.bibliographicCitationChiduwa, M. S., Omondi, J. O., Masikati, P., Ngoma, H., & Nyagumbo, I. (2025). Empowering farmers with digital El Niño advisories: Insights from Malawi and Zambia. CIMMYT. https://hdl.handle.net/10883/35637
dcterms.issued2025
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseOther
dcterms.publisherCIMMYT
dcterms.subjectagrifood systems
dcterms.subjectmaize
dcterms.subjectdrylands
dcterms.subjectcrops
dcterms.subjectclimate resilience
dcterms.subjectel nino
dcterms.subjectsustainable agriculture
dcterms.subjectdigital technology
dcterms.subjectdigital innovation
dcterms.typeReport

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