AU agency urges farmers to embrace climate-smart agriculture
The African Union Development Agency - New Partnership for Africa's Development has urged rural farmers to adopt climate-smart agricultural practices in order to increase yields and ensure the country's food security.
Princess Akobundu, National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria, gave the advice during a one-week workshop on Climate-Smart Agriculture for farmers in Edo.
On Friday, Akobundu issued a statement signed by Mr Marcel Anyatonwu, the agency's Media Officer, urging farmers to apply their newly acquired knowledge for personal, community, and national benefit.
Mr Zacchaeus Maxwell, Director, Planning, Development and Implementation, AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria, represented Akobundu, who stated that no nation could develop adequately if its citizens were hungry and poor.
"Agriculture has been an important tool in the fight against hunger, poverty, and all forms of malnutrition."
"It will be a key determinant for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030 and the African Union Agenda 2063," she stated.
"It is important to educate and equip farmers with modern and climate-smart agricultural practices, considering the effects of climate change on agriculture," said Dr. Olotu Yahaya, a guest lecturer from the Department of Agricultural Technology, Auchi Polytechnic, Edo.
Yahaya, who spoke on the topic "Climate Smart Agriculture and Food Security," added that if the practices were properly implemented, farmers' yields and income would improve significantly.
He went on to say that it was critical for them to abandon some old farming methods because climate change had changed some variables, rendering such practices ineffective.
Mr Abiodun Amoo, a lecturer with the Agricultural Technology Department at Auchi Polytechnic, also spoke, adding that climate change had an impact on aquaculture practices in the country.
He went on to say that climate change had caused water shortages, flooding, water pollution, and excessive heat, among other things, in aquaculture practices.
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