San Francisco, USA – At the world’s premier social impact event SOCAP Global 2024, agri-startups and climate tech social enterprises were reminded of a critical insight: weather matters deeply to their impact work.
Smallholder farmers in Africa face staggering financial risks due to adverse weather. Reports project that extreme weather and climate shocks could cost Africa’s agricultural sector up to $50 billion annually by 2030. This is not just a statistic; it is a pressing reality for millions who rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.
Droughts, floods, and shifting weather patterns wreak havoc on crop yields, causing losses of 30% to 80% for some crops. Droughts alone threaten millions of farmers, endangering food security across the continent. Beyond the direct losses, extreme weather forces farmers to bear additional costs for irrigation, pest control, and recovery efforts, further straining already limited resources.
Such challenges underscore the urgent need for climate adaptation strategies. Yet, while solutions like climate-smart agriculture exist, a critical gap persists: ensuring these innovations reach the last mile. Bridging this gap is where technology, partnerships, and systems thinking become transformational.
Localized Weather Insights: A Game-Changer
At TomorrowNow, we are bridging this divide by delivering localized agroweather advisories to smallholder farmers in Kenya . Through our SMS service enabled by our partnership with Tomorrow.io & the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), we equip farmers with timely, actionable insights that empower them to make informed decisions.
One Kenyan farmer shared this impact while speaking to NPR’s All Things Considered:
“I have just received an alert that it’s going to rain tomorrow. Since joining this agroweather advisory programme, I can farm confidently and generate more income to secure my children’s future through education.”
This is the power of weather-informed agriculture.
Our Audacious North Star
TomorrowNow has already reached 5 million farmers with localized weather services. Yet, our mission is far from over. By 2030, we aim to empower 100 million farmers with weather data and tools to build resilience against climate change.
While attending SOCAP 2024 in San Francisco, Our Executive Director Georgina Campbell Flatter spent time connecting with fellow changemakers and amplified our ambitious goal that’s rooted in the belief that weather and climate innovation must be operationalized to deliver tangible benefits.
Localized weather services act as a force multiplier, driving impact for food security and climate resilience.
The Power of Innovation in a Changing Climate
The variability of weather and the rising frequency of extreme events demand innovative solutions. For instance:
- Pests and diseases: Warmer temperatures are accelerating pest life cycles, while shifting rainfall patterns create fertile ground for diseases. Predictive models can provide early warnings, enabling timely interventions.
- Climate-resilient crops: By studying weather patterns, we can develop drought-tolerant and flood-resistant seed varieties that safeguard harvests.
TomorrowNow’s flagship Global Access Platform delivers high-quality, analysis-ready weather and climate data to organizations serving smallholder farmers. This initiative enables the development of sustainable practices, better seeds, and effective adaptation strategies, ultimately boosting agricultural productivity and increasing farmer profits.
Join Us
At TomorrowNow.org, we’re working on what we believe is one of the most overlooked and highest ROI opportunities in climate resilience: #weathertech. By empowering farmers with proactive, data-driven insights, we can help them adapt to weather variability and climate extremes—something critical for securing food systems.
While we’ve made significant strides, achieving our vision for climate-resilient agriculture requires collective action. TomorrowNow invites partnerships from across sectors to ensure weather tech reaches the last mile and transforms agriculture in Africa and beyond.
Together, we can turn weather from a challenge into a critical enabler of sustainable, resilient farming.
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