Salient Predictions, a trailblazer in the field of weather forecasting analytics, has secured a substantial $2.9 million grant courtesy of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This financial backing is poised to be instrumental in advancing their mission to provide more accurate and actionable weather forecasts for smallholder farmers in East Africa. The endeavor will be carried out in close collaboration with regional technology and weather partners, seeking to cost-effectively develop sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) weather predictions. The ultimate aim is to boost agricultural productivity and enhance food security within East Africa, especially in the face of a changing and unpredictable climate.
Matt Stein, co-founder and CEO of Salient, underscored the alignment of this initiative with their overarching mission of promoting climate resiliency. He expressed their commitment to aiding smallholder farmers in East Africa and supplying improved S2S forecasts, made possible through the integration of data from ground-based weather stations. Stein stated, “Supporting smallholder farmers in East Africa is well aligned with Salient’s mission of enabling climate resiliency and responding to the challenges of our changing climate.”
The financial backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is anticipated to be instrumental in delivering climate-informed decision support tools. These tools will enable farmers to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. For instance, farmers will be better equipped to make crucial decisions regarding the choice of crops or varieties to plant ahead of each growing season, relying on forecasts of seasonal weather patterns rather than merely extrapolating from historical trends.
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Georgina Campbell Flatter, the Executive Director at TomorrowNow, a non-profit organization affiliated with Tomorrow.io and an in-region partner of Salient, expressed her enthusiasm for leveraging Salient’s expertise. She highlighted the transformative potential of their next-generation sub-seasonal to seasonal weather forecasting in East Africa, emphasizing the shared commitment to positively impact the lives of countless small-scale farmers. Flatter said, “Together with our partners, we endeavor to make a profound impact on the lives of millions of small-scale farmers.”
Alex Sananka, Data Science Manager at One Acre Fund, underscored the pivotal role played by farmers in ensuring food security and prosperity. He noted that the current weather forecasts in East Africa extend only up to 14 days ahead. However, the availability of Salient’s S2S forecasting solution is poised to be a game-changer, enabling the provision of more extended lead-time forecasts. This, in turn, will better support millions of farmers in the region in making informed decisions about the crops and seed varieties to plant. Sananka expressed his excitement about the possibilities this solution brings to the farming community in East Africa.
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Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
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