Stakeholders in the farming sector have called upon the Kwara State government to invest in climate information services to improve farming activities in the state.
They also called upon the government and its relevant agencies to facilitate the timely delivery of the seasonal climate prediction for farmers before the commencement of the planting season.
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The call formed part of a communique issued at the end of a one-day mid-season interactive workshop held in Ilorin.
This is coming on the heels of the climate change impact, which has continued to threaten food security, livelihoods and poverty reduction in the state.
Stakeholders at the workshop include representatives of the various farmers association, CSO/NGOs and research institutes/academia.
The list includes the coordinator of FADAMA, Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), Lower Niger River Basin Authority, ARMTI and commodity associations and Budgit Foundation (CCEPE) across various parts of the state among others.
According to the communique, the state government should improve on the disproportionate ratio of extension workers to farmers and improve the former’s capacity to support small-scale farmers to be able to cope with the impact of climate change and other food system stressors.
They emphasised the need for all the local governments in the country to work out a plan with NIMET towards increasing weather stations in their various communities, adding that this will also increase weather points across the country.
Such a move, they said, will improve the accuracy of the data that NIMET will generate and their early warning system while urging the local governments, in collaboration with NIMET, to also work on a flood alert mechanism.
