Accurate and Timely weather forecast for Quick Developments: Siaya County.
By Erick O. Osong
Published: December 10, 2018
Located in former Nyanza province and bordered by Busia County to the north, Kakamega County and Vihiga County's to the northeast and Kisumu County to the southeast, Siaya is one of the Kenyan counties with its unique weather/ climatic description. The county is perceived as a sleeping giant and many of its development’s hindrances are tied closely to it weather conditions.
My research took one week in this area and I noted weather is a critical element affecting the daily lives of county residents of Siaya. On grounds are farmers with substantial land parcels for cereal crops mainly maize, sorghum and beans and are in dire need of weather information for the betterment of their farm investment. Also, there are constructors, both of roads and buildings indeed of weather information but do not receive it in quality.
On the other hand, there are project coordinators, such as of health and environment which utilizes the weather information in reaching out to people during certain times of the year to address some of their concerns. These include organization such as USAID which funds some farm projects in the area.
Having talked to these stakeholders, I see the primary challenge here is the unpredictability of weather. The assumption method is no longer working as there is an element of climate change encroaching. Another problem would be that the present body supplying the weather information in the area do not have/ provide data for all the weather parameters useful to different person/ institutions.
A better and a recommendable way to solve all these is to have more stations installed, those that measure all the elements and can relay accurate and timely information.
