Expert Calls For Sensitization Of Rural Farmers On Climate Change

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By: Mayen Etim

KADUNA, North-West, Nigeria – The Grand Patron of African Climate Reporters, Dr Yusuf Nadabo, has stressed the need for rural farmers to be sensitized on climate change, desertification, and ecological challenges.

He made the call during a chat with Journalists in Kaduna on Thursday.

According to him, Climate change is real, and is one of the global issues which Nigeria must necessarily tackled for survival of plants, animals, living organisms and mankind in general.

While calling on extension workers to organize series of campaigns for rural farmers on issues related to climate change; Dr Nadabo tasked stakeholders in the agric sector and research institutes to take the campaign to farmers through their various groups in rural areas.

He noted that global warming is also part of the major problems of food insecurity in the country; “Most of our rural farmers are not aware of climate change or the term ‘Global Warming’ due to lack of information, hence, there is need for relevant government agencies and organizations to embark on massive campaigns to educate them.

“Indeed our farmers are backward in terms of accessing information related to climate change, weather forecast, new improved seedlings and advancement in farming techniques.

“Majority of them is still operating subsistence farming due to lack of capital and support from relevant government agencies, very few of them practice mechanized farming in the northern part of the country,” he said.

The African Climate Reporters’ Patron also said that large arable land in northern Nigeria are fast turning into Sahara desert due to deforestation, environmental degradation, extraction of natural resources, bush-burning, continuous felling of trees due to high demand for firewood.

“Forest destructions and over-grazing of animals has really turned a lot of Nigeria’s farmlands into deserts. Many farming communities that are sorely dependent on rainfall are now faced with severe droughts, erosions, landslides; among others.

“Our rural farmers need to be acquainted with new techniques in adapting to ecological challenges to combat climate change,” he emphasized.

Dr Nadabo further glamour for annual climate change adaptation summits with all relevant organizations and government agencies in regions in rural areas to ensure, farmers are well educated, equipped, and able to network with one another to effectively adapt.

“Some of the practices typically associated with sustainable agriculture can also help increase the resilience of the sector to impact of climate change, and this could be in form of; diversifying crop rotations, integrating livestock with crop production systems, improving soil quality, minimizing off-farm flows of nutrients and pesticides.”

Speaking also, a climatologist, Nurudeen Bello, said while providing climate change information, extension services, and creating access to markets are crucial, he drew the attention of farmers to the importance of listening to weather forecast on radio as this will enable them plan for the farming seasons.

He tasked media houses to give more airtime for agricultural programmes than political news, and also called on agric research institutes to collaborate with relevant stakeholders toward educating rural farmers on related issues to new farming technology.

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