…Abdullahi: SCP will boost food production
By Seun Adams
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Aliyu Abdullahi, has said that the timely release of Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) for 2025 would ensure that Nigerian farmers are well informed in decision-making and agricultural planning, thereby enhancing their productivity.
The Minister made this known during the presentation of the 2025 Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) with the theme: ‘’The Role of Early Warnings towards a Climate Resilient Aviation Industry for Sustainable Socio Economic Development”, by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) held in Abuja, on Tuesday 4 February, 2025.
He stated that ‘’the SCP is a useful advisory guide to farmers. It offers site-specific downscaling and, when applied, will boost the adaptive capacity and resilience of farmers to the impact of climate change.”
The AD, Information, Ezeaja Ikemefuna, who signed the statement on behalf of the Director in the Ministry, Dr.Joel Oruche, said the Minister noted that: “Early warning systems and climate intelligence are indispensable for resilience, adaptation, and economic stability.
“Seasonal climate prediction is germane to the nation’s agricultural sector. It will serve as a strategic guide for planning, decision-making, and risk mitigation.”
Abdullahi said that ‘’the agricultural sector contributed 17.22 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product in the first quarter of 2024, with smallholder farmers making up more than 70 per cent of the workforce’’.
He added that the ‘’SCP will enable farmers to increase productivity, while poverty, hunger, food insecurity, malnutrition, food imports, and unemployment will reduce, even as women’s empowerment in agriculture and environmental performance will increase’’.
The Minister lauded the collaborative efforts between NiMet and the Ministry in integrating climate intelligence into agricultural practices, stating, “the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is fully supporting and committed to the early warning system, climate-smart agriculture, and every development initiative to achieve food security and a resilient environment.”
The Minister further revealed that the present administration led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has prioritized SCP and given the nod for the office of the Presidential Special Envoy on Climate Action to serve as the lead negotiator on climate-related matters and coordinate climate-action-related activities across federal ministries.
