Agromet information gets a boost as NiMET partners other agencies to deliver its services to farmers
DG, NiMET Prof. Mansur Matazu
The Director General, Nigeria Meteorological Agency, NiMET, Prof. Mansur Matazu says, traditional beliefs, poor communications, language barrier are major challenges in the delivery of Agrometeorological information to farmers in the country.
Speaking at the One-day Workshop in Lagos on ‘Developing a feedback framework for Climate Information Service Delivery in Nigeria’, Prof. Matazu stated that, to eliminate these challenges, the agency partnered with other major players in the sector to ensure NiMet products and services reached the required destinations and achieved the desired impacts.
According to the NiMET boss, climate change adaptation and Agribusiness Support Programme (CASP) which covered 104 Local Government Areas and 727 villages with over 60,000 farmers and extension officers were trained in Jigawa, Katsina, Borno, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara States between 2017 and 2021.
To this end, he said, the Agency was able to reach out to multiple clients over the years with attendant testimonies and positive feedbacks.
“One of such partnerships is the one with Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) which began in 2018 and has culminated to this day. Some of the activities include: The 2018 feeding futures Africa Workshop (AGROCONNECT) held in Lagos, Nigeria”.
According to him, the objective of the partnership was to engage stakeholders on their role in co-production and co-ownership of Agrometeorological products for effective understanding and efficient utilisation of the products as promoted by NiMet and the World Maritime Organization, WMO.
He stressed that, this also afforded NiMET a platform to develop a sustainable communication channel to the end-users and appreciate further the needs from stakeholders.
Prof. Matazu congratulated the leadership of Human and Environment Development Agenda (HEDA) under the supervision of Mr. Arigbabu Sulaimon and the entire HEDA family for the impacts being recorded in the Agricultural value chain through the uptake of weather and climate information and their applications in promoting food security.
