Launch of the Ethiopian Digital AgroClimate Advisory Platform (EDACaP) Progress Report on EDACaP Development and Hosting Jemal Seid, Kindie Tesfaye, Pierre C. Sibiry Traore DECEMBER 2019 Key messages n EDACaP aims to build farmers resilience through digital agro-climate advisories n EDACaP combines advanced seasonal climate forecasting, crop modeling and digital dissemination platforms n Scaling is underway to reach 10 million smallholders in the coming years. This brief outlines progress achieved with the establishment of the Ethiopian Digital AgroClimate Advisory Platform (EDACaP) under the CCAFS project # P263 (Regional and national engagement, synthesis and strategic research) with support from P1605 (Capacitating African Stakeholders with Climate Advisories and Insurance Development). EDACaP aims to build farmers resilience through agro-climate advisories that digitally integrate climate, soil, crop and agronomic data and are delivered through SMS, IVRS and radio to development agents and farmers in local languages. It builds on a partnership between the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the National Meteorological Agency, CIAT, ILRI, CIMMYT with additional support from ICRISAT, IRI and University of Florida. Introduction Ethiopia is heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture coupled with low adaptive capacity, and thus high vulnerability to climate change. Agriculture contributes about 47% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). About 85% of the population in Ethiopia (more than 70 million people) depend on agriculture directly or indirectly for their livelihoods. Therefore, climate variability and change effects on agriculture will significantly affect the Ethiopian economy. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Ethiopian Institution of Agricultural Research (EIAR) have been working for the past ten years with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) to strengthen agro- meteorological services in Ethiopia. These collaborative efforts believe in demand-driven approaches for a climate service to be successful. The developed system, named “Ethiopian Digital AgroClimate Advisory Platform (EDACaP),” formalizes the understanding of demand, then builds information chains and corresponding systems for processing of climate and crop information that include modules for quality control, forecasting, and tailoring to crop-specific decision-making processes. The platform aims to improve seasonal climate prediction and advisory by integrating crop-climate modeling with the national AgData infrastructure to deliver agro-advisories to individual farmers, extension officers, researchers, and policymakers through mobile phones and a web platform (Figure 1): n EDACaP is expected to reach 86 targeted woredas under the Agricultural Growth Program (AGP), covering 8 regional states, and 25 agricultural research centers (17 federal and 8 regional); n EDACaP has the potential to reach the entire MoA extension service, with about 60,000 agricultural agents serving almost 16 million farmers; n Direct dissemination will be done by SMS, IVRS and will support extension agents’ direct interactions with farmers assisting with up-to-date information for enhanced decision making.