Baba Mohammadu Jamaldeen is going to collect soil moisture information in Tamale

Baba Mohammadu Jamaldeen is an MSc student at the University for Development Studies in Tamale, Ghana working on the role of soil moisture in farmers’ agricultural decision-making within the Wagrinnova project (https://wagrinnova.csic.es/). Soil moisture is one of the important variables for plants to grow beside the weather variables, such as rainfall, temperature, and radiation. There is a strong relationship between soil and climate on agriculture production. Soil moisture depends on the amount of precipitation, the intensity of water consumption by plants, and temperature, among other factors. Ample moisture levels are of high importance to yields, thus, plants will not grow and develop with inadequate soil moisture.

In his thesis, Baba Mohammadu Jamaldeen will answer three research questions, which are:

• What is the role of soil moisture information in agricultural decision-making among rice farmers?
• What indicators do the smallholder farmers use to start sowing/planting in the district?
• What actions do the farmers themselves undertake to obtain soil moisture information?

He already prepares his questionnaire to be distributed in the Kumbungu and Savulugu districts, with a total of six targeted communities. His goal is to collect the data as soon as possible before the rainy season ends in Ghana. We hope a lot of success for him and looking forward to his results in the next coming months.