Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have lamented the absence of climate change policy in Benue State, attributing it to one of the significant factors limiting the improvement of crop production in the state.
This was made known during the stakeholders’ engagement on Climate Change Adaptation and Building Climate Resilience in Rice and Livestock Systems in Benue and Nasarawa states.
In one of the presentations, a lecturer at the Akperan Orshi Polytechnic, Gboko, Ver Abraham, titled ‘Identification of Existing Gaps that Limit the Adoption of Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Technologies in Rice Production,’ urged policymakers to develop Climate policies and Action Plans tailored to each region’s specific needs and vulnerabilities.
According to Abraham, “Climate policies should be designed with the local context in mind, involving rural communities in the decision-making process geared towards a sense of ownership and responsibility of Climate actions to ensure that climate action is practically achievable and resonates with the local population, which will increase the likelihood of successful climate policy implementation and sustainable climate action initiatives.”
While informing that only seven states, including Lagos, Rivers, Ebonyi, Cross River, Yobe Osun and Delta, have climate change policies that can be found online, he appealed for a policy targeting a robust irrigation plan for Benue and Nasarawa States to mitigate the effect of drought and desert encroachment caused by climate change.
In an interview, the representative of the European Union (EU), Hugh Briggs, said the program, which has a life span of three and a quarter years, is to see how they can help farmers in Benue and Nasarawa States adapt to new techniques in the rice and livestock production value chain that are resistant to climate change.
He said, “EU is a co-founder of this project with the German Government with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as the implementing partners; we are here for the presentation of the research that was conducted by our implementing partners GIZ and IITA to see how the government of the Two States can come in, to help farmers in the rice and livestock value chain as the programme will soon end sometimes in November 2024.”
Earlier, Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia commended the EU and other implementing partners for choosing Benue for the programme. He said he is committed to boosting agriculture through various incentives and security measures to protect farmers from constant attacks.
According to him, “his focus is on subsidised agricultural inputs, food storage facilities, and also on providing high-yielding seed that will guarantee all-year farming to Benue farmers, as well as buy-back policies that will feed the National Grain Reserve stations while taking full advantage of the State’s suitable soil texture, climate, and human resources to feed the nation.”