Ursula Owusu-Ekuful
The recruitment of 249 staff for the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) and their subsequent deployment across the country is good news.
Coming at a time when the agency has suffered a decline in its staff strength, the supply of modern equipment as promised by the Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, is the best development to happen to the agency in recent times for which government deserves commendation.
As an agency about which little or nothing is heard about by especially the non-educated members of society, its critical roles in various spheres of our lives cannot be overemphasised.
In the developed world and places where weather phenomena play out daily in the lives of residents, weather information and forecasts from their meteorological departments are religiously followed.
With climate change day in and day out playing out in our lives, the need to have an effective meteorological agency should be a matter of exigency.
If we lived our lives decades ago without caring whether or not our meteorological agency existed, today we can no longer do so.
Climate change is today a reality; it has expectedly attracted major international conferences to determine an effective response by global governments. In this global crusade, no member of the international community is being left out since after all climate change knows no border limitations.
Meteorological services delivery are needed today more than ever before in especially agriculture, to ensure returns to investments and food security.
A situation where farmers till the land, plant seeds with the expectation that the rains will follow their natural timing, only to discover a variation of the pattern, can lead to loss of investment and food insecurity.
In all parts of the world, weather predictions have become challenging as a result of the creeping climate change. While there are excessive downpours in some parts of the world, biting droughts have led to devastating outcomes in others.
The rains are about to set in and farmers and others engaged in related disciplines must be assured about the frequency and timings. No longer is the business as usual module workable in the matters of the weather, therein lies the importance of accurate weather predictions.
With our infrastructure not yet up to the expected standards especially in the nation’s capital, scientific forecasts, near accurate, are needed for planning and to obviate the loss of properties occasioned by floods. Under the circumstances, which better agency to give us accurate information on the weather than a well-resourced GMet.
It is our expectation that government will make good the promise of augmenting the range of equipment for the GMet. Improved equipment are now available to ensure near accurate forecasts.
GMet, on their part, should embark on a public education especially among peasant farmers about their importance and relevance in our modern world in which climate change is a reality.
With FM radio stations strewn across the country today, the GMet can reach out to farmers and relevant institutions requiring the services of the agency.
Forecasts should not be limited to online portals but radio stations and newspapers. Deliberate efforts should be made to encourage Ghanaians to glue themselves to such forecasts.
We did not for instance know that this year was going to be this hot. Will the rains start early? Are there going to be floods?