MTN Ghana in partnership with Ignitia Ghana Ltd is introducing the world's first highly accurate tropical weather forecast.
The forecast, known as ISKA Weather, enables farmers to make informed decisions on when to carry out weather dependent activities, such as planting, fertilizing, chemical spraying, and harvesting.
The forecasts are specific to their farm location, which means two neighbouring farmers might receive different forecasts.
'In practice this is how tropical weather also works; it might rain on one side of the village but not the other,” a statement from MTN said.
Subscribers to the ISKA weather service will receive 5 text messages per week during the rainy season after dialing *455# to activate the service. Each SMS costs 8p.
The accuracy rate of ISKA Weather is up to 84% compared to other weather services, which average about 40% in the West African region.
The Chief Marketing Officer of MTN Rahul De indicated that MTN as the leading telecoms service provider with the widest coverage in the country is focused on using mobile technology to offer services that creates convenience for its customers.
“The ISKA weather service provides MTN an opportunity to support agricultural development in the country, especially because local farming activities are highly dependent on the weather condition on a particular day,” Rahul De said.
He noted that with the ISKA weather service, farmers could undertake activities such as sowing, using fertilizers, and spraying pesticides without the risk of having it all washed off by heavy rain.
That, he said, would ultimately contribute to increased yields by a significant margins, help in crop loss prevention and also effectively save cost on inputs as farmers will be able to plan well ahead of time.
The service is also targeted at the general public who need highly accurate information about the weather to plan their daily activities. It will also help business people to improve in planning their activities and events.
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