NiMet, LIFE-ND sensitise Abia farmers on 2024 weather forecast

The Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise for Niger Delta (LIFE-ND), in collaboration with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), has trained 100 farmers on the 2024 Seasonal Climate Prediction in Abia.

The one-day training, which held in Umuahia on Thursday, had participants drawn from Abia, Delta and Cross River, with the intent to enhance agricultural production.

The Abia Coordinator of LIFE-ND, Dr Uchenna Onyeizu, said the objective of the event was to guide farmers on the possible climatic conditions, which might take place during the year.

Onyeizu, who said that most farmers operate without the clear knowledge of weather and climatic conditions, said the advice would help farmers make informed decisions.

He said: “This is a high level interactive session for our beneficiaries, where we have representatives in different communities that LIFE-ND is very active.

“Our experts from the Federal Ministry of Environment have been able to bring out the map of Abia and show the different climatic conditions in terms of total rainfall and how it is distributed across the various local government areas and communities.”

The General Manager, Agro- meteorology, NiMet, Dr Haruna Zakari, said the agency had collaborated with LIFE-ND in the past three years in sensitising clusters of farmers across six states in the application of weather and climate information.

Zakari, who is also the Technical Assistant to NiMet Director-General, Prof. Charles Anosike, said that the farmers were expected to use the information to reduce the risk in their farming chain activities as well as improve their productivity.

“We do this seasonal climate condition as an early warning tool giving out to all other sectors in the country, especially agriculture, which is one of the focal points of the government.

“It is actually for people to plan, given a foresight of what is going to be the outlook of the season from January to December, to increase food security,” Anosike said.

LIFE-ND National Officer for Environment and Climate Change, Bemigho Wategire, said the training involved cropping calendar and for livestock.

Wategire said the participants were expected to go back to their various communities and step down what they learnt to other farmers.

Abia LIFE-ND Environment and Climate Change Specialist, Mr Chidozie Kanu, said it was a train-the-trainers technical support for the participants.

Kanu said that the agency had also put in place a monitoring mechanism to ensure that its efforts were not in vain.

“Beyond this, we support our beneficiaries with gadgets, like weather station, to help them see the temperature reading for the day and know if it will rain or not,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that LIFE-ND is sponsored by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, in collaboration with the Federal Government, to boost agricultural production in the Niger Delta.