Mapping the climate and agronomic digital advisory services landscape in West and Central Africa: A step towards making food systems productive and climate resilient

PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0338010 December 3, 2025 10 / 20 change were mainly offered as Climate Information Services (CIS) and Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices. CIS typically provide information on rainfall, wind, pests, and seasonal forecasts, while CSA solutions covered cropping sys- tems, fertilizers, seeds, ploughing, water management, and other adaptation measures combined. Overall, most climate- related innovations (57%) focus on CSA, with 43% targeting CIS (Fig 5). Relatively fewer DAGs were reported with respect to Finance, Agriculture Service Providers (ASPs), and risk management, indicating notable service gaps in the study area. The country-wise distribution of the types of DAGs, however, shows that these figures varied significantly between the countries (S1 Fig). Ghana leads in agronomic services across advisory, extension, and P&D identification, followed by Rwanda and Nigeria, while Burundi and the DRC report the fewest (S2 Fig). Climate services also reflect contrasting pri- orities: Nigeria, Ghana, and Rwanda place greater emphasis on CSA, whereas Burundi, Ivory coast, and the DRC focus more on CIS (S3 Fig). Innovations in Ghana, Nigeria, and Rwanda often provide comprehensive CSA packages, while those in the other three countries typically address individual CSA components. For example, Burundi devotes 25% of its activity to water management, Ivory coast emphasizes cropping systems and seeds, and the DRC focuses more on seed

and fertilizer solutions (Table 3). CIS innovations are widespread, with Ghana, Nigeria, and Rwanda prioritizing seasonal forecasts, while the DRC leans more on rainfall and wind information. Pest forecasts, however, are available across all six countries. About 93% of services were available throughout the crop growing period, 5% seasonally, and the rest annually. Market information services also showed uneven distribution. Nigeria, Ivory coast, and Ghana together accounted for around 60% of such innovations (S4 Fig), while innovations related to credit, ASPs, and risk management were much fewer across all countries (S5–S7 Figs). This gap is particularly concerning for Ghana, the DRC, and Rwanda, given their strong agricultural growth potential. Overall, Ivory coast, Ghana, and Nigeria contributed about 20% each of total inno- vations, whereas Burundi, Rwanda, and especially the DRC had fewer. In Rwanda and Burundi, this is partly due to their small size and challenging topography, while in the DRC, the limited number highlights a need for greater investment and development. The review also found out that most innovations were launched only in the past decade (result not pre- sented). The private sector has played a dominant role, accounting for more than 82% of services, while the public sector contributed only about 4%, underscoring both the rapid expansion of market-driven solutions and the limited public sector engagement in scaling DAGs. Fig 4. Climate vulnerability ranking of countries by notre dame-global adaptation index (nd-gain 2023) [14].

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0338010.g004