The National President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) Architect Kabir Ibrahim has expressed that his members would be willingly ready to embrace new improved innovations like the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) Climate change applications for better agricultural production and productivity towards food security and more economic earnings. He said this at the recently held 2022 Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) of NiMet in Abuja.
Ibrahim said that plan is already on going to ensure that farmers are more technologically inclined to ensure best agricultural practices to earning more premium on food productivity by be climate smart, just as he applauded the NiMet for its proactive activities to weather predictions which has been very helpful to the farmers’ guide to farming season.
He told Food Farm News that farmers are no more complacent of the use of improved technologies to maximise their food productivity saying the use of phones technology by his members had attested to this as fertilizers and other inputs were being distributed through the mobile phones in their hands, adding that his association has a platform where an information can be wide spread among members to the local government levels.
‘’ We have representatives everywhere. You know our leadership involves from the ward local government to state and the National levels once we put this information on our platform and explained it in the language that the farmers will understand’’ said Ibrahim.
Meanwhile, the AFAN president also commended NiMet for its resilience to ensuring a prompt weather forecast to prevent economic havoc against agricultural activities and other sub sectors of the economy inclusive transport, building and road construction, saying the agency’s contribution to the development of the economy is worthy of commendation.
The showcasing of this new app and the release of the 2022 SCP to the general public especially to farmers was innovative and impressive as both information would help reduce losses incurred by farmers during the farming season with seed varieties.
Ibrahim pointed that ‘’ NiMet predictions has helped in the past to know the time to plant, and not to plant, and also to know the areas to plant because if you go to a flood-prone area of course you will lose everything. If you do not plant when you are supposed to plant by planting late, then you will lose just like the case of Kastina state where there was no strict adherence to the advice of NIMeT on flood predictions as it happened to many places which explained the inadequacy of all the food items you see in the market’’
He therefore alluded the sky rocking of food prices to the loses recorded by farmers to flood saying that strict adherent to NiMet prediction would proffer solution to this regular challenge to food security in the country.
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