The Permanent Secretary, State House, Abuja, Jalal Arabi

By Paul Efiong

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NiMet, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Fund for Agricultural Development on Climate Change Adaptation and Agri-Business Support Programme, IFAD-CASP.
This is aimed at improving yields, mitigating the vagaries associated with climate change, as well as reducing the risk of crop failure.
Professor Sani Abubakar Mashi, Director-General/CEO, NiMet, disclosed that the key components of the MoU include: Prediction of rainfall establishment, rainfall variability, dry spells and length of raining season for sustainable agriculture, installation of NiMet Applications to CASP smart phones for real-time climate and weather information in the designated programme areas and development of crop calendars in line with the value chain crops adopted by the selected communities.
Others are training of Extension Workers, Climate Change Officers and Community development associations in the analysis and interpretation of the Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP) in selected CASP States.
He also stated that the programmes of IFAD are in tandem with NiMet’s core mandate, which are geared towards poverty reduction, increase in food security and accelerated economic growth on a sustainable basis.
A statement by Muntari Yusuf Ibrahim, General Manager, Public Relations of Ni Met, said the collaboration between NiMet and IFAD therefore, which has a renewable life span of 4 years, is designed with the objective of improving crop yields and farming systems through adaptation to climate change in core northern savannah states adjudged to be most vulnerable to the effects of climate change (Katsina, Borno, Sokoto, Yobe, Kebbi, Zamfara and Jigawa).
These states are to benefit from the IFAD/NiMet symbiotic relationship which, would reduce the losses incurred by farmers in the states over the years as a result of climate change and weather uncertainties.
Re-echoing the features of the MoU, the National Programme Coordinator, CASP, Muhammad Lawal Idah, added that the synergy between the two organisations across the aforementioned northern states would be downscaled to cover 104 local government areas and 727 villages.