The Department of Water Resources, with funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Saturday organised a day-long capacity building training for almost 50 farmers drawn from the three districts in the Upper River Region, namely Jimara, Kantora and Tumana respectively on climate change, weather and forecasting, among others. The sensitisation training was held at the Regional Pest Monitoring Office in URR.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the deputy governor of URR, Momodou S. Jallow, dilated on the importance of the training, saying it willgo a long way in preparing farmers and also complement their efforts in their quest to attain good farming season this year. He urged the participants to listen carefully and disseminate the information gained from the training to the grassroots level.

For his part, Peter Gibba, senior meteorologist at the Department of Water Resources, underscored the significance of the training, noting that it will help farmers to improve on their crop yields. He pointed out that climate influences weather directly, and therefore spreading information to farmers is sometimes challenging.

He opined that the primary objectives of the training are to build the capacities of farmers in the area of climate change so as to enable them increase their agricultural production. He expressed optimism that at the end of the one-day interactive session, participants should be able to have knowledge on the topic of discussion in the training.

He explained that the causes of climate variability and change are sometimes natural variability and manmade, and therefore urges the communities to the mindful about it, and to plant more trees to avoid climate change.

Lamin Touray, principal meteorologist at the Water Resources Department, also joined other speakers in urging participants to make best use of the training and to spread the information gained to others. Hedescribed the session as timely and in the right direction, as knowledge on climate change is very crucial in enabling and preparing for a good farming season.

The URR Agricultural Director, Mbemba Dahaba also expressed similar sentiment.