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 8 / 20 • Potential of Digital Services and Value Chains: The reports also highlighted the digital services and value chains with the greatest potential for growth and scalability. This analysis was based on factors such as market demand, institutional readiness, and the ability to integrate digital solutions into existing agricultural practices. Step 4. Report synthesis and recommendations: Finally, the individual country reports were synthesized to provide a broader understanding of the regional landscape. The synthesis identified common trends, key barriers, and cross- country opportunities for collaboration and scaling digital services. Based on these findings, a set of recommendations was developed for stakeholders, including government institutions, the private sector, and development partners, to enhance the adoption and effectiveness of climate and agronomic digital advisory services. 3. Results 3.1. Projected climate change, agricultural impacts, and vulnerability Global warming is expected to increase climate variability, with more hot days, higher temperatures, and intense rainfall. Some areas may experience shifts in rainfall timing. Changes in extreme temperature and precipitation indices in the study area are depicted in Fig 3. Climate projections by the end of the century indicate higher flooding risks in Rwanda, Ghana, and Nigeria during the rainy season. Nigeria’s monthly rainfall will increase year-round, peaking in August to Octo-

ber (32 − 38% increase). Ghana will see more rainfall from September to January and less in other months. Ivory coast is expected to have a significant decrease in rainfall from February to May, possibly causing water shortages during these months. Rwanda will experience both an increase and a decrease, with a 20 − 32% rise between December to February. Overall, these changes will negatively impact the water balance across these countries. Given these projected changes, the agricultural sector—dominated by smallholder, rainfed farming—will face significant challenges. Prolonged heatwaves and dry spells will likely lower water levels, reducing crop and livestock productivity and increasing mortality. Crop responses to changing climate vary. Maize yields are expected to decrease in Burundi, DRC, Ghana, and Ivory coast, but increase in Rwanda and Nigeria. Rice yields may increase in the DRC but decrease in Ivory coast, Rwanda, and Nigeria (IPCC, 2007). Areas with more rainfall could face pest and disease issues. Cassava, suited for hot and dry conditions, may suffer from waterlogging or reduced water availability. Livestock production is also at risk due to heatwaves and desertification. Due to the ongoing and expected climate change, most of these countries were identified as highly vulnerable to cli- mate change and least ready to combat its ill-effects ( [14], Fig 4). In the ND-GAIN ranking, the DRC followed by Burundi ranked higher in terms of vulnerability (where a higher rank means higher vulnerability), whereas the two countries along

with Nigeria ranked lower in terms of readiness as well as adaptive capacity (a lower rank indicates poor adaptive capac- ity). Among the six African countries examined, Ghana exhibits relatively higher exposure to climate change; however, its relatively strong adaptive capacity as well as readiness makes it the least vulnerable. 3.2. Existing climate and agronomic digital solutions 3.2.1. Overall status of digital agricultural solutions (DAGs). Each of the six study countries has developed diverse solutions to provide climate and agronomic advice to farmers. Many of these services rely on mobile-based platforms, such as SMS and USSD, to disseminate weather forecasts, agronomic advice, and information about the market. Fig 5 shows major DAGs available in the study area’s six countries. DAGs focused on agronomic practices, market information and climate services together hold a major share (~80%) of the initiatives in the study area. In agronomic services, advisory and extension services seem to be a priority (Fig 5). Pest and Disease (P&D) identification services were reported in greater numbers from Ghana, Nigeria, and Rwanda, and relatively fewer in other countries. In terms of market information, a greater emphasis was placed on output-related information (58%), particularly off- taker contacts and output prices, with relatively less focus on inputs such as seeds. Digital solutions addressing climate