In a news report released by PR Newswire, Salient Predictions, a leading pioneer in weather forecasting analytics, has been awarded a USD 2.9 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support smallholder farmers in East Africa. The grant will strengthen Salient Predictions’ partnerships with local technology and weather organisations in the region. 

Furthermore, Salient will intensify its collaborative efforts to efficiently advance the development of sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) weather forecasts to boost agricultural productivity and food security in East Africa, particularly in the face of the ever-changing and unpredictable climate conditions.

“Supporting smallholder farmers in East Africa is well aligned with Salient’s mission of enabling climate resiliency and responding to the challenges of our changing climate,” commented Matt Stein, co-founder and CEO of Salient. “We look forward to providing better S2S forecasts for organisations striving to bolster regional food stability by integrating data from ground-based weather stations.”

The investment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is expected to contribute to the delivery of climate-informed decision support tools to help farmers adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. In addition, executing choices like selecting which crop to cultivate before the onset of the growing season will empower governments, agribusinesses, and smallholder farmers to engage in a more advanced level of planning. This planning will be driven by predictions of seasonal weather patterns rather than relying on historical trends for extrapolation.

According to Georgina Campbell Flatter, Executive Director at TomorrowNow, “We are thrilled to leverage Salient’s expertise and unlock the transformative potential of their next-generation sub-seasonal to seasonal weather forecasting in East Africa. Together with our partners, we endeavour to impact the lives of millions of small-scale farmers profoundly.” 

“Farmers play a pivotal role in ensuring food security and prosperity. Our weather forecasts in East Africa only extend up to 14 days ahead. We are excited about the availability of Salient’s S2S forecasting solution, which will enable us to provide more extended lead-time forecasts, better supporting millions of farmers in the region in deciding what crops and seed varieties to plant.” commented Alex Sananka, Data Science Manager at One Acre Fund.

Click here to learn more about Salient’s revolutionary S2S forecasting solution.