By Grace Samuel
In a concerted effort to enhance agricultural practices and improve the well-being of farming communities, the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) has teamed up with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and Oxfam.
Through the African Activists for Climate Justice (AACJ) project, these organisations have launched an extensive workshop series to equip Nigerian farmers with essential climate-related knowledge.
Over 500 small-scale farmers, extension workers, and staff from Agricultural Development Programmes (ADP) across 10 states benefited from the training.
The workshops, held in Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, Benue, Adamawa, Plateau, Nasarawa, Niger, Ekiti, and Osun states, focused on climate predictions and crop weather calendars to prepare participants for the upcoming farming season.
The training emphasised the utilisation of downscaled Seasonal Climate Predictions (SCP) and Crop Weather Calendars. Sulaimon Arigbabu, Executive Secretary of HEDA, highlighted the initiative’s goals: “By providing access to climate predictions and crop weather calendars, we hope to improve agricultural practices and enhance the well-being of farming communities across the country.”
The workshops also revealed the predicted growing seasons for each state, ranging from 180 days in Kwara to 249 days in Ogun.
This initiative aims to strengthen the agricultural sector by offering farmers improved climate prediction and planning resources, thereby supporting their resilience and productivity.
The collaboration between HEDA, NiMet, and Oxfam underscores a longstanding partnership committed to ensuring farmers access valuable climate information.
This joint effort is a significant step towards empowering Nigerian farmers to adapt to climate change and secure their livelihoods.