Farmers at Aba Aremu and its suburb in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State could not hide their joy as their capacity was built on different measures to be adopted to cope with the threats posed by climate change and climate-related disasters.
The farmers expressed this through a speech by their leader, Rev. Theophilus Adewuyi, at a one-day capacity building organised by Climate and Sustainable Development Network (CSDevNet), a group championing efforts to ensure climate justice and sustainable development across all communities in Nigeria, and hosted by Kazeem Olubunmi Isolagbenla Foundation (KOI Foundation) – a member of the Network.
The event was organised in the South West Zone to kick-start this year’s Global Climate Change Week of Action which the Network is hosting across the six geo-political zones as one of her Pre-COP28 activities to create awareness among community members on the threats climate change poses, and to mobilise efforts to find lasting solution to the impacts associated with climate change on agricultural production.
At the capacity building event, Mr. Kolawole Amusat, the South West Zonal Coordinator of the Network, in his presentation, underlined the need to build farmers adaptive capacity to ensure they adjust accordingly to series of threats posed by climate change.
He said: “The best we can do for farmers is to build their adaptive capacity to be able to make use of weather predictions, imbibe the culture of climate smart agriculture, and proper resource management. All these will make them resilient to climate change impacts.”
In another presentation by Dr. Adeniyi Amusat of IAR&T, the Researcher and Agric. Communicator highlighted different farming systems that can ensure farmers adaptation to climate change. He noted that the training brought to the farmers was the best that can happen to farmers’ group anywhere in the world so as to ensure farmers output as a component of food security is not threatened by climate change impacts.
He, therefore, urged governments at all levels to make agricultural adaptation a priority as they set out to participate in COP28 holding at Dubai soon.
Other presentations at the capacity building event include “Agricultural Adaptation and Insurance”, which encourages farmers to look at taking insurance policies to secure their farms in case of any eventuality.
Also, an Early Warning Reporting platform FEWRep (Farmers Early Warning Report) was launched to cater for farmers’ response to weather information and other issues related to Early Warning Early Response in Agricultural Adaptation.
