From Climate Information to Agricultural Decisions: Understanding the Needs of Smallholder Farmers in Bangladesh
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63539/isrn.2026029Keywords:
Climate Information Services, Smallholder Farmers, Agricultural Decision-Making, Digital Agriculture, Climate Adaptation, Bangladesh.Abstract
Climate information can support smallholder farmers in managing increasing weather- and climate-related risks, but access to information alone does not ensure that it can be effectively used in agricultural decision-making. This exploratory qual-itative study examines the climate information needs and digital information expe-riences of 12 smallholder farmers in Sherpur District, rural Bangladesh. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, the study investigates how farmers receive and use cli-mate information, the barriers they encounter with digital delivery mechanisms, and how information needs vary across crops, farming activities, and livelihood strategies. The findings indicate that the usefulness of climate information depends not only on timely delivery but also on its relevance to specific crops, production stages, and agricultural activities. Farmers engaged in diversified livelihoods, in-cluding both crop cultivation and fish farming, face additional information needs that may not be adequately addressed by crop-focused services. Digital channels such as SMS and smartphone applications offer opportunities for rapid information delivery but also present challenges related to information retrieval, digital literacy, and accessibility. The study argues for a shift from information delivery toward con-textualized decision support and proposes a hybrid approach combining concise digital alerts with periodic offline communication and locally relevant guidance. To address these challenges, the study proposes the Bidirectional Participatory Cli-mate-Agro Advisory Framework (BP-CAAF), a conceptual framework that combines climate forecasts, extension support, and farmer feedback. BP-CAAF introduces a two-way information process in which farmers not only receive advisories but also contribute local observations and assessments of advisory usefulness. By connect-ing forecasting institutions, extension systems, and farming communities, the framework aims to improve the relevance, trustworthiness, and actionability of cli-mate information services.
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