Nigerian farmers are beginning to learn to overcome the crisis of climate change. The development will not only increase food production and better economic management, it will also reduce the avoidable losses of lives and resources in the farms every year. Among the latest farmers who are learning to adopt climate-smart agriculture are the 5,119 rice farmers in Nasarawa State. They adopted climate-smart technologies and good agronomic practices to improve their yields. The farmers were trained by Sasakawa Africa Association, Nigeria, under its Policy and Human Resource Development Grant project.
The project’s country director, Dr. Godwin Atser, represented by Idris Garko, noted that the beneficiaries were drawn from three local government areas in the state. The project aims to promote regenerative agricultural practices, increase food and nutrition security, crop productivity, and household incomes.
The farmers were given inputs such as improved rice and maize seeds, fertilizer, insecticides, herbicides, and biochar. According to Dr. Atser, “The project is expected to last for three years, and we planned to reach 5,000 direct beneficiaries. We’ve exceeded our target, reaching 5,119 farmers so far.”
The rice farmers were filled with joy at the opportunity granted them. One of them, Abdullahi Ibrahim, expressed gratitude to the NGO for empowering them with necessary skills to improve their farming activities despite climate change challenges. He noted that their yields have massively increased since adopting the new technologies.
This was corroborated by the Technical Coordinator, Regenerative Agriculture of SAA, Dr. Bello Shehu. The coordinator, who said the intervention is yielding desired results, pledged that the NGO will continue to support the farmers.
