Climate Exchange

consists of 16 groups) and they actively disseminate what

they have learned from CFS to the group, the series of

CFS from level one to level three can reach more than

2,500 farmers in West Nusa Tenggara Province.

Tackling challenges with new knowledge

Although CFS has proven that it can directly and

significantly improve farmers’ ability to adapt to climate

variability, extending the activity may pose a challenge.

Several issues that may become a hindrance for CFS are:

• Lack of coordination between Government agencies

at the regional level due to changes in Government

systems such as decentralization

• Difficulties in finding an effective method to scale

up the projects as part of national policy to address

climate change

The challenges can be dealt with by findingways of combin-

ing the traditional way of farming based on local wisdom

with new knowledge based on application of climate infor-

mation services. In addition, extension of the activities

beyond the agricultural sectors to fisheries, health and other

climate-sensitive development sectors is likely to yield posi-

tive results. Through these means, CFS has the potential to

achieve many further successes in future projects.

[

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griculture

Improved climate knowledge has led to better crop management

Image: BMKG Indonesia

Source: BMKG Indonesia

Examples of training materials

coming up with the action steps as to gain new perspectives on how to

use the climate information on their farming activities and to dissemi-

nate this knowledge to other farmers as a continuous process.

One simple lesson conducted in CFS showed farmers how to

measure the amount of rainfall using an easy and simple technol-

ogy. By using a cheap and easily obtained milk can as a rain gauge,

they learned to measure the volume of rainfall by converting the

captured water in the can into millimetre units.

Participants also learned from real experience in the field that weather

and climate conditions do not only affect plant growth, but also influ-

ence the development of pests and plant diseases. As part of climate

information application modules, an increase was seen in participants’

understanding marked by the number of production plants during the

process of CFS.

In general, CFS activities were successfully carried out in in Lombok,

NTB and Kupang NTT. The participants followed the full series of

lectures diligently and actively. At the beginning and end of the CFS

classes in phases one and two, the participants took part in pre- and

post-testing, through which the achievement of the programme was

evaluated. Results indicated that the understanding of CFS participants

on average increased by up to 75 per cent, indicating that the objective

of CFS had been accomplished. The participating extension workers

were expected to share their knowledge with others. Furthermore, the

farmers who participated in the third phase of CFS were able to take

advantage of climate information services and apply the information in

their farming activities.

The improvement in knowledge of climate information and its rela-

tion to agricultural activities is indicated by the fact that farmers in

Kupang reported up to fourfold crop

increases.In

the third phase we

also calculated how many tons farmers could achieve if we converted

their plantations to one hectare of land. According to this method of

calculation, production in Kupang was 19 tons per hectare of maize,

whereas in Lombok (NTB) the production reached 21 tons per hectare.

Activities during CFS

Throughout this CFS event in Eastern Indonesia we were able to

reach many farmers in the field. As an illustration, CFS level two in

Lombok produced 10 farmer group leaders, since if one group has 25

members, CFS can reach 250 farmers. Extension workers from ten

districts were also involved at this level, so if one district consists of at

least of ten farmer groups (for example, the Narmada regency, which