Uliza-WI Chatbot - A Powerful Platform for the Next Generation of Climate-Smart Agricultural Solutions
February 27, 2025
In regions vulnerable to climate risks, timely and accurate weather information is crucial for enhancing food security and building climate resilience in local communities. As part of the SAFE4ALL project, Weather Impact introduces the Uliza-WI, an innovative Telegram chatbot that provides a range of climate-adaptive services.
In Swahili ‘Uliza’ means ‘ask’, reflecting the chatbot’s ability to allow users to easily request information via their phone at any time. Uliza-WI is much more than a dissemination tool. It is a powerful platform that serves as the central hub for all Weather Impact services conveniently accessible for farmers 24/7.
Comprehensive Climate-Smart Services
Beyond weather updates, Uliza-WI supports climate-smart agricultural solutions by offering tailored advice to farmers on adapting to changing weather conditions. This helps farmers reduce crop losses and improve food security.
The chatbot provides operational farming advice based on a comprehensive range of forecasts, from medium-range weather forecasts to seasonal forecasts. A blended product—incorporating medium-range weather, sub-seasonal, and seasonal forecasts—offers farmers and other users an accurate outlook for the coming days, weeks, and months, enabling them to make climate-smart decisions at the farm level. This blended approach also includes monitoring and prediction capabilities for the onset of the rainy season.
- Weather information
- 7-day weather forecast
- Early warning for extreme rainfall
- (Sub-)seasonal forecasts
- Onset of the rainy season
- Farming advice
- Weather-dependent farming advice (e.g., when to plant, weed, fertilize)
- Tailored to farmers‘ location
- Ability to provide input (e.g., planting date)
- Access to Good Agricultural Practices
A significant advantage of the chatbot is its two-way communication capability, allowing Weather Impact to directly receive field information from farmers. This feedback loop enables continuous refinement and improvement of our advisories.
Additionally, Uliza-WI’s services are crop-specific, location-specific, and available in multiple languages, ensuring accessibility for diverse farming communities.
Advantages of the Uliza-WI Chatbot
- Widely used Telegram application
- Two-way communication for feedback & support
- Supports photos/videos/voice messages
- More cost-effective than SMS-based services
- Accessible 24/7
- Push notifications for critical updates
Chatbot Test Groups & User Involvement
Local users have been involved in Uliza-WI’s design from the beginning, ensuring that the services are practical and easy to use for farmers. Farmer test groups in Zimbabwe and Ghana have already provided valuable feedback, helping refine the chatbot to meet their needs.
To ensure accessibility, Uliza-WI is available in multiple African languages.
Uliza-WI represents Weather Impact’s investment in the future of climate-smart agriculture, equipping farmers with a unique suite of decision-support services—immediately available on their smartphones.
Uliza-WI is more than just a chatbot—it’s a step toward a safer, more sustainable future.
Weather Impact (Netherlands)
delivers digital weather and climate services to strengthen resilience in sub-Saharan Africa. Specializing in agro-meteorology, it provides tailored forecasts, agro-advisories, and extreme weather alerts for farmers and agribusinesses. As a key partner in SAFE4ALL, Weather Impact is developing a chatbot integrating climate services to support farmers in Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. It also leads efforts to ensure the sustainability of SAFE4ALL’s tools through market research, business models, and local capacity-building. By advancing climate resilience and food security, Weather Impact empowers African agriculture for a more sustainable future.