SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
There is nothing more important to a farmer than knowing when it's going to rain, and that's incredibly difficult for many farmers in Africa, especially as climate change alters rainfall patterns. Journalist Ari Daniel reports on one effort that is trying to address this.
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ARI DANIEL, BYLINE: It's a hot sunny day in Machakos County in rural Kenya.
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DANIEL: And Stephen Nzioka is out working his farm. It's something he's done nearly all his life, planting and harvesting beans and maize and oranges. But over the last five, six years, it's gotten way harder.
STEPHEN NZIOKA: (Through interpreter) I plant my produce, and then rains don't come as expected.
DANIEL: That's because the weather is less predictable than it once was. And as a result, Nzioka began losing his crops year after year.
NZIOKA: (Through interpreter) I planted blindly and so I kept on guessing and just taking risks.
DANIEL: Like millions of other farmers across Kenya, Nzioka doesn't have a smartphone, so he can't just look up a five-day forecast. And even if he did have one, the internet connectivity is too spotty in most remote rural areas to make much difference. But he does have a basic cellphone that makes and receives calls and texts, and more than a year ago, Nzioka's fortunes changed.
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DANIEL: His phone's just received a message, the kind he now gets weekly.
NZIOKA: (Through interpreter) It explains that tomorrow, there'll be expected rainfall or sun between this time to this time.
DANIEL: Based on the forecast, the message also suggests whether to look for potential pests, irrigate or not, or fertilize or not.
NZIOKA: (Through interpreter) And so that helps me make a choice on whether to plant or not to plant.
DANIEL: The weather information in these texts originates with a nonprofit called TomorrowNow. Kenneth Chepkwony is a regional program coordinator with the group.
KENNETH CHEPKWONY: The way it works is we obtain raw weather data from different sources.
DANIEL: It's a mix of satellite data and weather stations on the ground, and it's super local. Think of the landscape gridded out into squares, 2 1/2 miles on a side, each with its own forecast.
CHEPKWONY: This high-resolution data ensures that farmers can have information that's relevant to their farm rather than for the entire town, for example.
DANIEL: The data on its own is just information. TomorrowNow has partnered with the Kenyan government to turn it into weather intelligence by making specific farming recommendations. Down the road, the messages will suggest when to plant, where to grow what crops and which varieties of those crops will fare best. Already, almost 5 million farmers across Kenya are receiving the weather advisories. On average, TomorrowNow says they're seeing a 7% increase in revenues.
MICHAEL MURIGI: I think they're doing a commendable job, but of course, just like with any other technology, there will always be room for improvement. Yeah.
DANIEL: Michael Murigi is based in Nairobi. He's a farmer and founder of FocusWise, a group that promotes drought-tolerant crop varieties and farming practices.
MURIGI: Disseminating weather forecast messages by themselves may not be very, very useful, especially dealing with small farmers who are information poor and in remote villages.
DANIEL: He suggests they might need more support from a local agricultural advisor, say, to help them interpret the text messages they're receiving and the best way to act on them.
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DANIEL: Stephen Nzioka, the farmer, says his crop yield has improved since he began the program, and he's been able to use a portion of that more dependable income to pay for his two daughters to go to primary school.
NZIOKA: (Through interpreter) The produce I sell at the market assists them to get to higher levels of education.
DANIEL: It's a long-term investment in his children's futures, one made possible by knowing the weather over the next few days. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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