The Human Environmental Development Agency (HEDA) and the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet), in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) organized a one-day seminar for farmers in Oyo state to sensitize them on seasonal climate prediction.
The Executive Secretary of HEDA Resource Center, Mr. Suliman Arigbabu, at the one-day sensitization program tagged: “Downscale of the 2023 Seasonal Climate Prediction”, noted that the training was organized to enlighten the people on the climate smart agriculture, to ensure food security.
Arigbabu lamented that Oyo state is not producing 20 percent of its capacity, despite being one of the powerful states when it comes to agriculture in Nigeria, adding that the state can feed the whole country if the available resources are well harness.
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He called on government to invest more in the NiMET to make the provision of meteorological advisories more accurate, stressing that lack of adequate funding, absence of enough weather stations and manpower have been major reasons their predictions have not be as accurate as possible.
The Oyo state coordinator of FMARD, Dr. Kakulu Florence, disclosed that the ministry has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NiMet to enable downscaling of yearly weather prediction to farmers, noting that Oyo is one of the pilot states that is benefitting from the program.
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FMARD boss used the opportunity to advise participants to pass knowledge from the training to their different locations for the benefit of other farmers not in attendance so as to encourage smart climate agriculture.
The Chief Meteorologist from NiMet, Mr. James Adamu said that the weather information produces by the agency has been helping farmers to have clue on when rain is going to commence and cease every season, and that the update is relevant for policy formulation, planning and decision-making by operators, stakeholders and individuals in both private and public sectors in Nigeria.
