By Atoyebi Nike
The Federal Government has called for collective efforts to protect Nigeria’s food systems from the growing threats of climate change through shared commitment to resilience, productivity, and food security.
Mr. Ibrahim Tanimu, Director of Planning and Policy Coordination at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, made the call on Monday in Abuja during the FGN/IFAD Best Practice Workshop on Public-Private Partnerships for Climate Information Services and consultations on the Climate-Smart Agribusiness Partnership for Resilience (CSAPR) Project.
Tanimu warned that erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts, and extreme weather events are undermining farmers’ livelihoods, food security, and rural economies. He said the government, under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, has prioritized climate-resilient agriculture as a pillar of development, citing frameworks such as NATIP, the CAADP Kampala Declaration, and Nigeria’s Food Systems Transformation Pathways.
He explained that the workshop seeks to build consensus on best practices for public-private partnerships in climate information services, scale up access for smallholder farmers, and finalize the CSAPR project.
In her remarks, IFAD Country Director, Mrs. Dede Ekoue, described the theme as urgent and forward-looking, stressing that “climate information services are not just technical tools but life-saving, productivity-enhancing, and resilience-building instruments.”
Also speaking, NiMet DG, Prof. Charles Anosike, highlighted the importance of integrating climate data and risk management into infrastructure design, while reaffirming NiMet’s collaboration with IFAD to develop Digital Climate Advisory Services (DCAS) for smallholder farmers.
The workshop was jointly organized by IFAD, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, NiMet, the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, and the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) initiative.
