Abstract
Climate information services are expected to improve the capacity for rural households’ preparedness and response plans to weather shocks. Uncertainty remains about time scales that meet farmers’ needs and how much they are valued in the rural agricultural sector. This study analyzes economic value and emerging market of weather information in the derived savannah area of Central Southern Nigeria. Farm-level cross-sectional data reveals that 75.5% were willing to pay for improved weather information and early warnings in taking climate smart decisions in the northern agricultural zone. Within farmers showed positive responses, 86% would pay for 10-day Sub-Seasonal to Seasonal (S2S) weather information while 38% would pay for medium range and short range time-scales respectively. The economic value of extended range of 30-day weather information was estimated at N1573 per year per capita with total aggregated value of N1.3 billion yearly for the derived savannah area. Predictive total market value of N17.43billion would be obtained from improved weather information in Nigeria. Sensitivity analysis of 5% increase in positive responses if weather information was delivered through mobile phones with robust farmers’ oriented features will generate additional N1.15 billion market each year to service providers. Large farm size, good farm-income, mobile phone channels, and location-specific information were drivers of farmers’ decisions to buy weather information to enhance their resilience. There is a huge emerging market for improved weather services, and should be developed into a public-private market partnership to efficiently facilitate uptake in Nigeria.
Presenters
David Olufemi AwolalaSenior Lecturer and Researcher, Agricultural and Resource Economics, Federal University of Technology Akure; and West African Science Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL), Ondo, Nigeria
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Human Impacts and Responsibility
KEYWORDS
Drought shock, Weather information, Economic value, Potential market, Derived savannah
