By Collins Agwam

In a bid to proffer solutions to the effects of climate change impacting food security in Nigeria, no fewer than 5,119 Rice farmers in Nasarawa State have adopted several climate-smart technologies and Good Agronomic Practices aimed at improving their yields.

Arewa PUNCH reports that the farmers were trained by Sasakawa Africa Association, Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation operating in the private agricultural extension service delivery space under its Policy and Human Resource Development Grant project.

Speaking on Thursday at the close of the Two-Day 2025 Mega Field days at Rice farms in Yalwata Wuji and Assakio communities, Lafia Local Government Area of the state, the Country Director of Sasakawa Africa Association, SAA, Dr Godwin Atser, represented at the event by the SAA-PHRDG Facilitator, Idris Garko noted that the beneficiaries were drawn from across three LGAs in the state including Lafia, Doma and Akwanga.

He explained that the project is funded by the Policy and Human Resource Development Grant of Japan through the African Development Bank, and implementing SAA in collaboration with partners –  the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Softbank, Technologies for Africa Agriculture Transformation, TAAT, and Excellence in Agronomy EiA.

He said that apart from adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change, the project aims to promote regenerative agricultural practices in Nigeria with a view to increasing food and nutrition security, crop productivity, and household incomes.

Dr Atser further stressed that the farmers, after undergoing the rigorous trainings on climate-smart technologies and good agronomic practices, were given inputs such as improved rice and maize seeds, fertiliser, insecticides, herbicides and biochar, to enable them carryout seamless farming activities during the rainy and dry seasons.

He clarified, “The project is expected to last for three years. We planned that the direct beneficiaries in the state are going to be 5,000. Now, we are in the second year, and we have already exceeded our target as we have so far reached 5,119 farmers since we commenced the programme in the state.

“People hear about global warming

What it means is an increase in temperature like we are currently witnessing, and this is a result of climate change. Human activities are the reasons for climate change.

“For instance, the issue of deforestation has been a major challenge to us because when trees are cut down, the temperature increases because the carbon that is released were supposed to be absorbed by the plants, but it goes into the atmosphere and breaks down the ozone layer which then makes us have a very hot weather condition,” he added.

Meanwhile, the PHRDG facilitator commended the farmers for adhering to the teachings, which has immensely helped them increase their yields.

On his part, the Technical Coordinator, Regenerative Agriculture of SAA, Dr. Bello Shehu affirmed that the intervention was yielding the desired results in the state and promised to continue to give maximum support to the farmers in order to improve their livelihoods.

A rice farmer in the LGA who spoke on behalf of the others, Abdullahi Ibrahim expressed his gratitude to the NGO for empowering them with the necessary skills to improve their farming activities despite the prevailing challenges of climate change.

He noted that before Sasakawa’s intervention in the state, they were regularly broadcasting fertilisers on their farmlands instead of using the Urea Deep Placement pattern, which amounted to a waste of the input, and also negatively contributed to the issue of climate change affecting farmers in the state.

He said, “Before now, we were wasting our rice during the planting seasons because we broadcast too much of rice on the farms but Sasakawa Africa Association, Nigeria taught us to plant our rice on nursery beds before transplanting each of them, and since we started practicing all that they taught us, our yields have been massively increasing.

“I used to harvest two to three bags of rice after broadcasting one full basin of rice during the planting season, but with the new technology we acquired from Sasakawa, I now harvest over 10 bags of rice after planting about 16 kg of rice.”

While mentioning the technologies they learnt from the NGO to include – Good Agronomic Practices, Urea Deep Placement, Biochar, E-Kakashi, Green House Gas Emission Measurement, among others, Ibrahim promised that they will continue to use the acquired skills to sustain food security in the state.

Our correspondent reports that the PHRDG Project Coordinator from Benin Republic, Razack Adeoti; the Research Technician, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Oyelude Joseph; Community leaders and representatives of the various farmer groups graced the occasion.

Earlier, the State Coordinator of Sasakawa Africa Association, Nigeria, Salome Sabo, while expressing gratitude to the farmers and other dignitaries for turning up during the two-day Mega Field visit despite their busy schedules, reiterated the commitment of the NGO to continue to support farmers to enable them increase their yields.

Collins Agwam

Published Date: April 18, 2025