Assessment of use of meteorological information among farmers: A case study in Indonesia

Using so-called KATAM, a crop calendar being promoted by the Indonesian government for agricultural risk management, as a case study, the present paper aims to identify factors that affect the extent of use among farmers of meteorological information. To this end, it employed structured interviews with farmers (n = 422) in three different regencies in Java. It also conducted follow-up surveys in two villages during the recent drought to understand how meteorological information was used at the farmer level. This study finds that the importance of meteorological information, as viewed by farmers relative to other factors that also influence farming decisions, differs by location. It is therefore important to understand the contexts of agricultural decision-making in order to exploit the potential benefits of meteorological information. While this study finds a decreasing significance of local knowledge of weather forecasts, it points to the importance of the role of extension workers to help farmers in understanding the implications of meteorological information on their agricultural production and livelihoods. This study also finds that education is the most significant factor for differentiating the use of KATAM, which indicates that the tool may have uneven effects, potentially exacerbating existing inequalities.