Farmers, assembly members and chiefs in the Garu Tempane District in the Upper West region have held a meeting to discuss various strategies to mitigate the effects of the coming rains.The two day meeting which ended on Friday 12th April, was held to discuss the difficulties and challenges that could occur should there be long dry spells, floods or strong winds.The two-day meeting dubbed "Participatory Scenario Planning" was organised by the Adaptation Learning Programme (ALP) of Care International and participants included farmers, assembly members and chiefs from surrounding communities.Participants at the meeting deliberated on Ghana Meteorological Service’s seasonal forecast for the year and shared their knowledge on their weather predictions using indigenous knowledge and beliefs.Based on such beliefs, some participants said there could be heavy rains and strong winds for the season due to the strength of whirlwinds in the past dry season, existing high temperatures, the unusual croaking of toads and the high yields of the Shea nut tree.The participants, based on their conclusions, agreed to acquire early maturing maize seeds for sowing as the dry spells could begin August.Mr Charles Yorke, Director of Research, Ghana Meteorological Service, agreed with the participants that there would be moderate to heavy rains in the area with dry spells from May to August adding that the rains could cease by October.Participants at the event also discussed important livelihood activities in their communities like crop farming, dry season farming, poultry, livestock rearing, water and sanitation, health facilities, educational infrastructure among others, and reached various conclusions on how to address any challenge that would occur should the weather affect them.Mr Romanus Gyang, Manager of ALP, said the programme had for past three years been working with the communities in the area to strengthen their capacity and empower them to stay alert and prepared for any weather condition.He called on the districts and municipal assemblies to include the effects of climate change in their budgets and development plans.Mr David Adakudugu, District Chief Executive of the Garu-Tempane, said the assembly was committed to ensuring the sustainability of ALP activities and would assist the people in their effort to meet the challenges of climate change.He commended ALP for its good work saying “it’s impact is being felt in the district”.