‘Climate-Smart agric, Nigeria's path to sustainable food security’

‘Climate-Smart agric, Nigeria’s path to sustainable food security’

By : Adewale Momoh (Akure) and Moyosore Salami (Ibadan)

Date: 27 November 2023 4:50am WAT

Godwin Teremun, a rice farmer, fumigates his farm after relocating from his large rice farm to a smaller one in Otukpo, Benue State, Nigeria, on August 11, 2021, due to attacks on farmers in Nigeria. - Threatened by insecurity, farmers in Nigeria's farm belt are increasingly abandoning their land, leading to supply problems and adding to the already high cost of food in Africa's most populous country. Nigeria's Middle Belt and northwestern states have for years been caught in violence between normadic herdsman and farmers as climate change intensifies rivalries over water and land. But that violence has spiralled into security crisis tit-for-tat attacks and expanded into widespread kidnapping, cattle theft and criminal banditary. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP)

Experts want transformation in agricultural sector

Climate-Smart agriculture has been identified as the way to go if Nigeria must achieve sustainable food security and sufficiency within the framework of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to President Bola Tinubu on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, stated this in her address titled “Meeting the Challenges of Food Security of the UN SDG in Nigeria” during the maiden conference of the School of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources, Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH), Okitipupa, Ondo State.

Orelope-Adefulire, who was represented by Dr. Ifeanyiwa Nnamchi-Nwangu at the three-day conference, expressed the determination of her office to support and partner with OAUSTECH for its commitment to advancing knowledge in the crucial area of food security in the country.

Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Temi Ologunorisa, said: “I want other schools to wake up and organise educational programmes of this nature. We’re for developmental research, not teaching alone, as research makes the university.”

RELATEDLY, experts have stressed the need for agricultural transformation through value-chain integration for sustainable development. They disclosed this at the socio-economic summit held at the Civic Centre, Agodi, Ibadan.

The experts said the critical role of agriculture was not only in ensuring nutrition and food security but also serving as a cornerstone for industrialisation and economic development.

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, who was represented at the event by his Executive Adviser on Agribusiness Matters, Dr. Debo Akande, said the state would adopt a distinct approach to agriculture, departing from traditional practices that have been in place for many years.