The Kenya Meteorological Service in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture has started a pilot project of distributing rain gauges to selected farmers in ten counties.
Speaking during a farmers training centre at Kiamunyi estate in Nakuru, the county director of meteorological services, Peter Njuguna, said the 100 rain gauges will be bought in partnership with the World Meteorological Organisation and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.
‘’The weather is central to people’s lives and its significance and effects can no longer be underestimated,” said Njuguna.
“There is the need for each individual to have the capacity to predict the weather patterns,’’ he added.
Njuguna said the world has realised that weather issues are too important to be left to experts alone and everybody needs the basic knowledge on weather patterns.
The predictions are supposed to assist farmers understand the rainfall levels and plant crops which can perform well under those conditions. The officer urged farmers to own and make an effort to learn how to predict the weather patterns since it affects their lives, animals and crops.
Njuguna added that relying on meteorological officers and blaming them when rains fail is not a solution. He added that proper use of meteorological information could easily alert people about excessive rains.
During the training, farmers were trained on how to measure rainfall using the gauges.