To reduce the vulnerability of small scale farmers, especially to
floods and droughts, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr.
Akinwumi Adesina, has disclosed that the Federal Government has launched
a Planting with Peace Programme where 15 million farmers would get
access to crop insurance.
The minister said it had been planned that 2.5 million farmers would
be covered by crop insurance in the country, starting from 2015.
Adesina stated this in a keynote address recently in New York during
the first CGIAR Development Dialogues, organised by the Consultative
Group on International Agricultural Research at Columbia University, New
York, where the minister called on global leaders in agricultural
research to ensure that the vulnerabilities of poor farmers are
considered and the farmers protected from the vagaries of climate
change.
He said governments should increase investments in the development of
agrometereological stations to allow for more accurate seasonal
rainfall forecasts.
According to him, greater focus would also be placed on improving
water management, especially rainwater harvesting, water storage and
conservation and improved water use efficiency, saying this is why
Nigeria developed a national agricultural resilience framework to
mainstream climate change adaptation into the planning and
implementation of all activities in the agriculture sector.
He recalled that “in the last three years, over 14 million
smallholder farmers received seeds and fertilizers from private sector
input suppliers using their e-wallets. This allowed national food
production to rise by an additional 21 million MT of food within three
years, while improving the food security of over 50 million people.”
Going forward, for Africa, he reasoned, “governments must also
increase support for investments in research into the development and
dissemination of heat, drought and flood tolerant crop varieties to
farmers.”
He argued that there was no doubt that investment in agricultural
research has one of the highest rates of returns, adding that greater
investments are needed to support agricultural research at global,
regional and national levels, with sharper focus on global public goods
and local adaptations.
Adesina acknowledged that the work of CGIAR has helped to change the
lives and livelihoods of farmers, calling for greater support for its
work and its partners to help broaden options for farmers, as they adapt
to climate change.
He observed: “While climate change is global, its effects are local.
We must not abandon farmers to climate change. The poor farmers in
developing countries cannot on their own be expected to adapt to climate
change.
“Unless serious actions are taken, they will suffer
disproportionately from climate change. It is therefore imperative that
specific actions be taken to address the challenges of farmers,
especially smallholder and women farmers, to enable them to build more
resilient livelihoods.”
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