The Federal Government and Self Help Africa, an NGO, have initiated moves to reduce black carbon emissions by 83 per cent and methane emissions by 61 per cent by 2030.
Carbon and methane are climate pollutants.
Mr Temitope Fashedemi, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, disclosed this at a workshop on the Abatement of Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs) in the Nigerian Agricultural Sector project on Thursday, March 28, 2024, in Abuja.
The inception workshop was organised by the ministry in collaboration with Self Help Africa, and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).
Fashedemi said that Nigeria was one of the few countries to highlight its commitment to reduce SLCP.
The permanent secretary, who was represented by Mr Osadiya Olanipekun, the Director, Agricultural Lands and Climate Change Management Services, said it was part of the efforts to mitigate the effect of Climate Change in the country.
“The project (SLCP) is to help reduce short lived carbon emission from agricultural waste.
“This will help to increase the adaptive capacity of farmers with the replacement of open field burning of agricultural waste with clean alternatives like conservation agriculture, and briquette making among others,’’ he said.
Earlier, Mrs Joy Aderele, the Country Director, Self Help Africa, Nigeria, said SLCPs was an 18-month pilot programme to work with 500 farmers to reduce open burning.
Aderele said that Gboko Local Government Area in Benue State would be used as a pilot to demonstrate successful approaches to reducing open field burning.
She explained that the 500 farmers would be formed into 20 groups of 25 farmers each, selected from communities in Gboko Local Government Area.
Aderele said that other participants in the project included 45 agricultural extension officers across the geo-political zones in the country.
She said that the projects would facilitate strategic stakeholders’ engagement and capacity building of government agricultural extension officers and farmers.
Aderele said it was to enable the farmers and the extension agents use best practices approaches to reduce the alternatives to open field burning while promoting Climate Smart Agriculture.
She said that one of the objectives of the SLCPs was to contribute towards Nigeria’s goals of Low Carbon Development and emissions reduction promote as set out in Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) document.
“The project will contribute to achieving the goals of Nigeria’s 2019 National Action Plan to Reduce SLCPs.
“This aims to reduce black carbon emissions by 83 per cent and methane emissions by 61 per cent by 2030,” Aderele said.
By Doris Esa
