Climate change poses significant challenges to agriculture, particularly in low-income countries where smallholder farmers are most vulnerable. Information about past, present, and future weather, or Weather and Climate Services (WCS), can help farmers know what’s coming, plan ahead, and manage their operations accordingly.
Public meteorological services maintain critical observation and forecasting systems upon which the aviation sector, disaster preparedness and response systems, and agriculture extension systems often rely. Meanwhile, private climate tech and ag tech companies are rapidly expanding their abilities to leverage advances in weather forecasting, generate tailored content, and utilize digital dissemination channels to meet the needs of farmers as well as companies in agricultural supply chains.
Mercy Corps’ initiative, AgriFin, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to strengthen public-private engagement in Kenya and Senegal to deliver tailored climate services, ensuring farmers receive accurate, timely information that improves decision-making, boosts productivity, and increases resilience to climate variability. A critical component of this approach is the collaboration between public meteorological services, private sector providers, and development organizations to leverage their respective strengths to improve the quality and reach of services.
Mercy Corps AgriFin facilitates the implementation of Public-Private Engagements (PPEs) by acting as a bridge between public institutions and private sector partners. Through its expertise in digital innovation, climate smart initiatives, and agricultural programing, AgriFin has provided program management and technical assistance to streamline the development of PPEs and to co-design solutions for small-scale producers in each of the respective countries. Additionally, AgriFin will support capacity-building initiatives, facilitate data-sharing agreements, and promote the development of sustainable business models to ensure long-term scalability and impact of the WCS ecosystem. Through these efforts, Mercy Corps AgriFin will play a critical role in aligning stakeholder objectives, reducing operational gaps, and enhancing the delivery of actionable climate information to from public sector to private sector actor and ultimately to small-scale farmers.
As part of the research conducted by Mercy Corps for Kenya, key gaps in Kenya’s Weather and Climate Services (WCS) value chain include inadequate observation networks, lack of harmonized data collection, poor infrastructure for processing and dissemination, and weak coordination among stakeholders. These issues limit the accessibility, quality, and relevance of climate information for end users like farmers. We have identified a critical need for improved climate services in the country’s agriculture sector, which is highly dependent on rain-fed farming. Improved climate services are essential for Kenya’s agriculture sector, as farmers face increasing risks from climate variability, including droughts, floods, and shifting growing seasons. Reliable and timely weather and climate information enables farmers to make informed decisions on crop selection, planting, irrigation, and pest control, ultimately enhancing productivity and resilience.
The Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) plays a central role in providing Weather and Climate Services (WCS) but faces significant challenges, including insufficient technical capacity, outdated equipment, and funding constraints, limiting its ability to meet the growing demand for localized, user-specific climate information. Other providers, such as private entities, struggle with poor coordination, low public awareness, and inadequate frameworks to ensure data quality and relevance. Additionally, trust and reach to rural users remain challenging.
A growing body of evidence, including from the WMO, the World Bank, UNDP and others, summarized in Mercy Corps’ white paper “Exploring the Potential of Public-Private Partnerships for Climate Services in Sub-Saharan Africa”, recognizes the vital role of public-private engagement in addressing gaps and supporting effective WCS. Thus, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) can potentially address the gaps and enhance WCS delivery by leveraging the strengths of both sectors—government for standardized data and regulations, and private entities for innovation, tailored solutions, and scalability. PPPs address underfunding, inefficiencies, and infrastructural gaps by sharing resources and risks.
In Kenya, private sector actors such as TomorrowNow, CoAmana, Apollo, and Mshamba have played a pivotal in offering innovative dissemination channels, including mobile-based weather alerts and advisory services, to enhance the delivery of Weather and WCS. Similarly, in Senegal, private companies like Jokolante, MLOUMA, My Agro, and Tolbi have been leveraging technology to provide tailored climate information to farmers and other stakeholders. These actors have played a crucial role in bridging the gap between data providers and end users, ensuring that localized, actionable weather information reaches those who need it most in a timely and efficient manner.
In Senegal, our research underscored the country’s vulnerability to climate change, particularly in its arid northern regions where droughts and desertification are widespread. The National Agency for Civil Aviation and Meteorology (ANACIM) has made significant strides in improving climate services, including the dissemination of early warnings and climate advisories through SMS, radio, and community outreach. However, data limitations, particularly in rural areas, remain a challenge.
Significant potential lies in partnerships where the meteorological agency, ANACIM, manages data production, and private sector actors aid in translating and packaging WCS for end-users. Such partnerships, particularly with private companies looking to integrate WCS into their services, could expand reach and revenue-sharing options through bundling or distributor models.
The project team also conducted an in-depth assessment of the value chain for weather and climate information services in Kenya. The findings highlighted the critical need for stronger collaboration between public and private sector partners to improve the availability, quality and relevance of weather information. Our findings recommend forging collaboration between KMD and private sector organizations that specialize in data collection, processing, and dissemination, such as mobile network operators (MNOs), NGOS, Agritechs, and agricultural advisory firms.
In addition, our findings have also highlighted the need for policy and regulatory reforms to enable a more conducive environment for public-private partnerships and engagements. In Senegal, limited opportunities exist for private actors who currently rely on international data sources and face restrictions on producing or monetizing WCIS independently. Without ANACIM’s approval, they are unable to develop paid services, suggesting regulatory adjustments would be necessary to unlock broader private sector involvement in WCIS delivery. This would not only improve the delivery of weather information but also create opportunities for the private sector to generate value-added services, such as weather-based insurance and tailored agricultural advisories. By improving the overall WCS ecosystem, the assessment concludes that farmers in Senegal can significantly enhance their resilience to climate-related risks.
In the coming months, the project team will collaborate with steering committees in the two countries (Kenya and Senegal) to finalize the proposed pilot designs and begin implementation. Findings will be shared to ensure transparency and knowledge-sharing at the country level. Additionally, insights generated through this initiative will be disseminated across a broader network of regional counterparts, partners, and donor communities to ensure that the lessons learned can be applied on a larger scale. Stay tuned as we work to strengthen climate resilience through innovative public-private partnerships.
This program, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s support, is part of Mercy Corps’ Climate: Possible initiative, which helps communities around the world move farther and faster towards lasting climate resilience. To learn more, please visit Climate: Possible.
