Climate Exchange

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griculture

efficiency of irrigation systems, provide risk levels of pests and

diseases, simulate the growth and development of some impor-

tant regional crops (mainly used to estimate climate change

impacts), and facilitate statistical analyses of climatic data. More

needs to be done, but CAMI has gone a long way in facilitating

regional capacity needs in weather and climate information for

agriculture in the Caribbean, and breaking the collaborative and

dialogue barriers between meteorologist, agriculture extension

and farmer.

Climate observations and monitoring

CIMH has, in recent years, intensified climate observation and

monitoring. Through many initiatives that enhance the network

of instruments (including the Caribbean Water Initiative, the

CARICOM/Brazil/Food and Agriculture Organization Cooperation

on Disaster Risk Reduction, Enhancing Resilience to Reduce

Vulnerability in the Caribbean, Caribbean Disaster Management)

and through the Caribbean Drought and Precipitation Monitoring

Network (CDPMN), CIMH acts as a regional mechanism for

observing, monitoring, and to some extent predicting rainfall

and its extremes. It also assists governments of its member states

in establishing their own observation and monitoring systems

through training workshops and programmes, and providing

tools. Some of these tools include software for calculating rain-

fall indices such as the Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) and

Deciles.

The focus now is the regional observation and monitoring

of temperature, which also is very important in the development

and severity of droughts. Farmers and extension services offic-

ers have been exposed to the use and interpretation of these and

other products through the CAMI farmers’ forums. Agricultural

and hydrological drought monitoring are emerging aspects of the

programme, using instruments provided through a cooperative

agreement between CARICOM and the Government of Brazil for

three of the countries as pilots. CIMH has also developed an online

web portal for reporting signs of drought and water stress, which

is about to become active, and would allow communities including

those actively involved in farming to become a part of the monitor-

ing network. These aspects are being presented in the 2012 version

of the forums.

Research, modelling and predictions

CIMH, in collaboration with regional and international partners

of CariCOF, produces a regional seasonal rainfall outlook that

projects three to six months into the future. This process, which

has existed for more than a decade, had been solely performed

by CIMH but is now greatly enhanced through the

collaborative forum established in February 2012. It

uses regional data to provide probabilistic tercile rain-

fall forecasts using the Climate Predictability Tool.

These forecasts are compared with output from global

climate centres. Outlooks on temperatures, both

ambient and sea surface, are also provided for three

to six months using outputs from the global centres.

CAMI has collaborated on two major CariCOF work-

shops, one in 2010 and the other in 2012, and has been

utilizing this product to provide information to the

farming and the wider agricultural community in the

Caribbean. The use and interpretation of this product

have been introduced at the project’s farmers’ forums,

where the outlooks were introduced in conjunction

with the indices from the CDPMN to show how they

were used together during the 2009-2010 Caribbean

drought to inform and advise government. The farmers

and extension officers were then shown how the same

products were used during the following year when

there was excessive rainfall.

In collaboration with other research institutions in

the region, in particular the University of the West

Indies and the Institute for Meteorology of Cuba,

climate variability and change research is ongoing

and expanding. The regional human resource, though

relatively small, is extremely dedicated and has been

producing some cutting-edge research in this area,

which will enhance predictability in the region.

The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre

(CCCCC) coordinates and seeks funding for much

of the research into climate change adaptation and

mainstreaming in Caribbean agriculture. It works

with CIMH and other relevant regional and national

agencies for this cause and is one of the stakeholders

of CAMI.

CAMI has also, through its activities on pests and

diseases and crop simulation modelling, made an

important step towards forecasting pest and disease

outbreaks and the projection of potential yields due to

climate change. Much more work needs to be done on

this, as many gaps in biological and soil data in partic-

ular, have been identified. Stronger agronomic, crop

protection and soil research programmes in the region

are necessities.

The banner used in the CAMI regional monthly bulletin

Image: CIMH