The South Asian nation of Nepal might be best known for being home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains. However, the country’s geography is actually incredibly diverse, with elevations starting below 100 metres and eight distinct climate zones, featuring everything from snow-capped peaks to tropical forests.
However, Nepal’s landscape is as vulnerable as it is diverse. The country is extremely prone to rapid weather shifts. A shift in weather above can spell disaster for an agricultural plane below. If it rains too much, too little or too late, natural disasters can, and regularly do, sweep away entire villages and harvests that took months to prepare.
Agriculture is the economic backbone of the country, supporting two-thirds of the population. The industry bears the brunt of this instability. For farmers, the difference between a prosperous year and a devastating one often hangs on weather they simply cannot predict. And as climate change advances, the risks are projected to nearly double by 2030.
“Just recently, the very day we planted, the flood came and carried it all off. […] The next day, we had to go back and plant again,” says farmer Chiranjivi Acharya.
The data gap
The problem is not necessarily caused by a lack of data. The Nepali Department of Hydrology and Meteorology does generate forecasts. The problem is that this information often can’t keep up with the weather events. These forecasts are often too general for Nepal’s microclimates, where conditions vary wildly from one hillside to the next. The data is also inaccessible to the rural communities with limited internet access that need it most. Even when it is up to date and with full internet access, the information remains siloed within government agencies or on technical websites.
What this means is that planting becomes a gamble. Farmers now describe “wagering” every season: sowing too early, fertilising just before a downpour or harvesting too late. Considering that Nepal’s population of 30 million relies on successful harvests, the risk is simply too high.
To make this gamble a safer bet, Nepal—supported by the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) and technical partners RMSI and The Small Earth Nepal—have developed a Customized Weather and Climate Information System in the communities of Rainas, Bhojpur and Sarlahi.
“Nepal is full of micro-climatic regions,” explains Shivang Bhatnagar, lead software developer at RMSI. “Why don’t we create a platform where farmers get [advice] at a village level?”
Precision via AI
Using artificial intelligence and over 30 years of local weather data, the system generates three-day and seven-day forecasts alongside seasonal outlooks. It automatically disseminates location-specific, customised weather forecasts to farmers and translates raw data into practical, jargon-free advice. It informs farmers when to irrigate, how to time pest control or when to rush a harvest.
Farmers choose their medium: WhatsApp, email or the most popular choice: SMS. Every three days, these automated updates arrive on basic handsets. The impact has been immediate.
“Everyone gets the message now,” says farmer Sarala Chhetri. “No one’s crops get spoiled anymore. The flood can’t damage it, can’t spoil it, can’t carry it away. It’s very useful, really helpful.”
For Chiranjivi, the app has lightened the mental and physical load of playing Russian Roulette with a changing climate. “Knowing [weather events] ahead of time helps a lot. We can decide when to harvest, when to plant, when to sow the seeds […] Since we got this mobile app, life has become much easier for us farmers.”
Mina Kumari Devkota, a rice farmer and buffalo herder, recalls the trauma of previous seasons: “It flooded over all the rice, covering everything. Mud even entered the house.” Today, she checks her phone before making any major field decisions. “Things have really improved now. Please… you all keep sending the messages, alright?”
Community resilience
The system’s popularity is spreading through the community. A farmer adds their number to the platform, and the network grows organically as neighbours share the service. “It’s not just useful for us; we can also teach others and our neighbours how to use it,” notes Chiranjivi Acharya.
Of the approximately 3.8 million households dependent on agriculture, around 80 percent are classified as marginal and subsistence farmers. This means that if a harvest fails, that family may struggle with food scarcity as well as the financial burden of replacing the failed harvest. A single mistimed decision can lead to a spiral of debt and hunger.
“[The Customized Weather and Climate Information System is] making [communities] more resilient to climate change,” says Basu Dev Regmi. “Nepalese farmers can improve their crop productivity, conserve their natural resources and have good food and nutrition security for the coming generations.”
With agriculture contributing over 20 percent of Nepal’s GDP, timely weather information is climate adaptation at its most practical. Through a simple text message, knowledge is finally travelling as fast as the storm.
A multi-pronged approach to improving chances
The efficacy of this approach was tested in October 2025, when heavy rains triggered severe flooding across Nepal and the neighbouring tea-growing regions of Darjeeling. While the region suffered losses, the response from Nepal’s interim Prime Minister, Sushila Karki, marked a turning point in disaster management.
Experts credited the government’s prompt reaction to meteorological alerts, which allowed for early warnings, road closures and the halting of traffic on major highways before the waters rose.
Tanuja Pandey, a 24-year-old climate activist, told Al Jazeera: “Rarely have forecasts been taken this seriously with public advisories, riverside community relocations, highway closures and even a two-day public holiday declared for safety. Support hotlines and rescue teams were placed on high alert, which did help minimise what could have been far greater losses.”
