Nationalism may emerge as a constraint to efficient 

 regional analysis. Countries are very sensitive about 

 controlling what information goes out, especially in 

 such areas as food stocks. 



The mutuality of interests that could be served by 

 the World Climate Program presently being developed by 

 the WMO, in cooperation with other U.N. agencies and 

 nongovernmental organizations, may be a means of 

 reducing these constraints. This program is designed 

 to provide climate information and data and to 

 undertake research on the impact of climatic changes on 

 various sectors of national economies. It could lead 

 to near-term improvement of agricultural weather 

 services. 



Proposed Initiatives 



We suggest that the United states offer to 

 collaborate on international programs to plan and 

 implement improved agricultural weather services and 

 undertake crop/weather studies. First, we propose that 

 interdisciplinary symposia or workshops be organized 

 through the appropriate U.N. agencies or under national 

 sponsorship to identify deficiencies in various weather 

 services. The actions needed to correct such 

 deficiencies will vary from country to country. They 

 may include installation of agricultural weather 

 observation networks, data processing and communication 

 systems, education and training facilities, or 

 crop/weather model research. 



It is worth noting that very simple but extremely 

 useful observations can be provided on a continuing 

 basis with little maintenance and at low cost. For 

 example, as little as a thermometer, a rain gauge, and 

 basic instruments for measuring soil moisture and solar 

 radiation may be needed. Observations with these 

 instruments could be made by villagers after brief 

 training, thus providing a source of supplementary 

 rural employment. In other cases, it may be necessary 

 to provide extensive educational and training 

 opportunities. Whatever the activity, crop/weather 

 information must reach the farmer in a form helpful to 

 him or her in making day-to-day decisions. For 

 example, farmers can be provided with information on 

 soil temperatures indicating optimum time for planting, 

 prospects for weather favorable for harvest, and early 

 warning of a delayed rainy season. 



Research and development are also needed on the 

 relationships between weather variability and crops. 

 Specific suggestions for a typical program are: (1) 

 identify weather indicators that are easily measured 

 and useful for predicting yields; (2) develop and test 



127 



