Leading agriculture and climate change experts met in Abuja to discuss the role of mobile technology and media in achieving climate-resilient agriculture and inclusive climate action.
This comes amid the devastating impacts of extreme weather events (floods, droughts) on food production, women and people living with disabilities (PWDs) in the country.
The experts were speaking at the “High Level Dialogue on Advocacy/Launch of the Report on the Impact of Floods” organised by the HEDA Resource Centre in Abuja on Wednesday.
Participants in the call for dialogue
The event, themed “Protecting Smallholder Farmers and Vulnerable Communities from Climate-Related Shocks: Implementing Early Warning Systems for Food Security and Livelihood Resilience in Nigeria”, brought together a number of relevant experts on agriculture and climate change from the private and public sectors, farmers and academia.
In his remarks, HEDA Resource Centre Executive Secretary Sulaimon Arigbabu noted that the topic could not be more timely as climate risks continue to heighten the need for robust and culturally relevant early warning systems (EWS).
“Today’s event is part of the activities to disseminate our work on climate justice, within the framework of the African Activists for Climate Justice Project, a five-year pan-African funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” she said.
Mr. Arigbabu while delivering his speech
The early warning system (EWS) is explained as the set of capabilities necessary to generate and disseminate timely and meaningful climate warning information to enable people, communities and organizations threatened by hazards to take the necessary proactive measures and act quickly to reduce the possibility of damage or loss.
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On Wednesday, Mr. Arigbabu explained that early warning systems are vital to provide useful information that can empower farmers and communities to anticipate, prepare for and mitigate the impacts of climate-induced disasters such as floods and droughts.
He stressed that the objective of the event is to highlight the current early warning system in Nigeria, identify gaps in coverage, accessibility and effectiveness, particularly for smallholder farmers.
“Our mission is to change the narrative of communicating condolences to our vulnerable communities after every climate-induced disaster, and instead communicate warnings and knowledge that help build resilience in these communities,” he said.
The role of technology and mobile media in climate-resilient agriculture
During the first panel discussion of the event, moderated by James Jayeoba, Professor of Sustainable Agriculture at Nasarawa State University, panellists discussed the topic “Harnessing Mobile Technology for Climate Resilient Agriculture in Nigeria.”
Participants in the first round table
One of the participants, Abdulwarees Solanke, a media professional, said that to improve the delivery of climate services to smallholder farmers, there is a need for the media to profile those in farming communities and identify the amount of media technology in the possession of farmers.
In this way, he said, the media will be able to disseminate information among rural farmers effectively, along with adequate involvement of relevant researchers in the country.
“Using radio to broadcast messages on agriculture is very important. Almost all radio stations in the country have programmes on environmental and agricultural issues,” Solanke said.
He urged key players in the agricultural sector to investigate available free radio programmes that they can leverage to disseminate vital information to farmers.
Rahmah Aderinoye, CEO of Rashak Farms Agri-Allied Limited, said cultural barriers and lack of inclusion prevent women farmers from smoothly assessing information on climate risks.
“Cultural barriers prevent women from participating in training courses. That is why we give preference to women and people with disabilities in our outreach activities,” she said.
She explained that it is necessary to encourage women farmers by providing them with the necessary resources and support because the sector is dominated by men.
Ms. Aderinoye said one of the ways to support women farmers is to ensure that weather forecast information is conveyed through mobile devices to women farmers in a timely manner.
Speaking at the event, Adetoro Akindele, Commercial Vice President of Thrive Agric, said there is a need to leverage social media to disseminate relevant climate-related information to farmers in the country.
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“Short video message clips help a lot in spreading information and are not gender biased,” she said.
She noted that in some tribes in the country, women are not allowed to look men in the face and as such are deprived of their rights.
Based on this, the expert said that it is necessary to empower women and encourage them by providing them with reliable and timely information.
Mr Akindele said there is a need to involve telecommunications companies to help convey relevant information on climate risks to farmers across the country.
Speaking quickly, Yusuf Kelani, President Bola Tinubu's aide on climate change, said the government is working to build a climate alert system to catch everyone within Nigerian territory.
“The government is considering sending early warning system information to everyone in the country through their mobile phones,” he said.