TomorrowNow is on the verge of catalyzing climate adaptation for 20 million farmers across Africa, thanks to an additional $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This infusion of funds is set to elevate TomorrowNow’s flagship program, Osiris, aiming to harness the revolutionary potential of next-generation weather and climate data services tailored for the African continent.
Osiris stands as a pivotal strategic initiative, directed towards augmenting the value, adoption, and long-term sustainability of localized weather forecasts and historical climate datasets specifically designed to empower the Small-Scale Producer (SSP) ecosystem in Africa. Building upon a prior $2 million grant in 2021 from the Gates Foundation, TomorrowNow, in collaboration with its partners, has already assisted one million African farmers in adapting to climate change. This effort underscored the critical importance of improved access to localized weather data for applications in the food system, emphasizing both quality and accuracy.
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Looking forward, TomorrowNow envisions impacting a remarkable 20 million smallholder farmers within the next three years. This ambitious goal entails delivering value-added weather intelligence services across the African continent to a spectrum of stakeholders, including research organizations, NGOs, multilateral bodies, private service providers, farmer cooperatives, and government agencies serving SSPs.
Philip Frost, the Climate Resilience Lead at TomorrowNow, expresses satisfaction, stating, “We are delighted to see donors such as the Gates Foundation place huge value on weather and climate data services in Africa as a key solution to climate change and local prosperity.”
The initiative plans to leverage significantly improved historical datasets, observations, and short-term and seasonal weather forecasts provided by global technology companies like Tomorrow.io, Salient Predictions, and Arable. Working closely with local governments and private/NGO partners, this collaborative effort aims to revolutionize farming practices in the region, democratizing access to next-generation weather and climate information. The goal is to empower frontline organizations serving farmers and scientists innovating for the food system, improving crop simulation for climate-resilient seed breeding and advocating for regenerative farming practices.
Kauê de Sousa from Alliance Bioversity-CIAT (CGIAR) underscores the impact of the Osiris project: “The Osiris project led by TomorrowNow has empowered CGIAR by providing direct access to a comprehensive and localized historical reanalysis dataset for East Africa. This has shown the potential to significantly enhance the outcomes of seed breeding analytics for our trial sites.”
By facilitating access to weather intelligence for frontline farmer-facing organizations and vital research entities such as CGIAR, TomorrowNow, fueled by transformative philanthropy, envisions local farming communities in Africa contributing to next-generation food systems. These systems are anticipated to be sustainable, enhancing crop yields and ensuring a more reliable future for all. TomorrowNow.org, the climate-tech nonprofit spearheading this mission, is dedicated to urgently addressing the systemic gaps preventing the reach of transformative weather technologies, powered by AI and satellites, to the most vulnerable communities impacted by climate change.
TomorrowNow African farmers
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.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard