Farming Gets Harder in Nigeri 05/13 07:20

   

   KWALKWALAWA, Nigeria (AP) -- After two decades of working his farm in 
northwestern Nigeria, Umaru Muazu now struggles to find water for his crops.

   A murky puddle is all that remains of a river near his 5-hectare farm and 
those of others in this community in arid Sokoto state. Because the 62-year-old 
Muazu can't afford to dig a well to keep crops like millet and maize from 
withering, he might abandon farming.

   "Before, with a small farm, you could get a lot," he said.

   Climate change is challenging agriculture in Nigeria, Africa's most populous 
country. With long dry spells and extreme heat, water bodies are drying because 
the arid season is becoming longer than usual. The wet season, though it can 
dump excessive rain, is short.

   It's fresh pain in a country where the World Food Program says 31 million 
people already face food insecurity. Efforts to recover from one climate shock 
are overlapped by the next, said WFP spokesperson Chi Lael.

   The challenges faced by farmers in the north, who account for most of what 
Nigeria eats, are affecting food prices and availability in the booming coastal 
south that's home to the megacity of Lagos.

   More than 80% of Nigeria's farmers are smallholder farmers, who account for 
90% of the country's annual agricultural production. Some work their fields 
with little more than a piece of roughly carved wood and their bare hands.

   Farmers are facing low yields because the government has failed to develop 
infrastructure like dams to help mitigate the effects of climate change, said 
Daniel Obiora, national president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria.

   There is little data available on the drying-up of smaller water bodies 
across the north. But farmers say the trend has been worsening.

   In Adamawa state, water scarcity caused by higher temperatures and changing 
rain patterns has affected over 1,250 hectares (3,088 acres) of farmland, 
disrupting food supply and livelihoods, Nigeria's National Emergency Management 
Agency said last year.

   Over-extraction of water and deforestation are other factors contributing to 
northern Nigeria's drying rivers, according to Abdulsamad Isah, co-founder of 
local Extension Africa nonprofit that often works with farmers.

   Elsewhere in Sokoto state, Nasiru Bello tilled his farm to cultivate onions 
without assurance of a meaningful harvest. With nearby rivers and wells drying 
up, he has resorted to pumping groundwater for the farm that provides the sole 
income for his family of 26. But the cost of pumping amid soaring gas prices 
has become unbearable.

   "The plants do not grow well as it did," he said.

   Nigeria is forecast to become the world's third most populous nation by 
2025, alongside the United States and after India and China.

   With Nigeria's population expected to reach 400 million by 2050, the U.N. 
Food and Agriculture Organization has been encouraging climate-smart 
agriculture to help ensure food security, including drip irrigation, which 
delivers water slowly and directly to roots and helps conserve water, instead 
of traditional irrigation systems that flood entire fields.

   "There should be more orientation for farmers about climate change," said 
Yusuf Isah Sokoto, director of the College of Environmental Science at Sokoto's 
Umaru Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic.

   At least two-thirds of the trees in the state have been lost due to 
deforestation, contributing to rising temperatures, Sokoto said.

   Data from the government-run statistics agency show that local agriculture 
contributed 22% of Nigeria's GDP in the second quarter of 2024, down from 25% 
in the previous quarter. While the trend has fluctuated in recent years, 
experts have said agricultural production still does not reflect growing 
government investment in the sector.

   Household food imports, meanwhile, rose by 136% from 2023 to 2024, 
government statistics show.

   The decreasing farm yields are being felt elsewhere in Nigeria, especially 
the south.

   In Lagos, the price of several items grown in the north have nearly doubled 
in the last two years, partly due to decreasing supplies. A head of cabbage 
grown in the north is selling for 2,000 naira ($1.2), nearly double its price a 
year ago and more than five times the price in Sokoto.

   Nigerian authorities acknowledge the problem. Many farmers who once 
harvested up to 10 tons are hardly able to get half that these days, 
agriculture minister Aliyu Abdullahi said earlier this year.

   Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu and his government have touted agriculture 
as a means for economic prosperity. Shortly after he took office in May 2023, 
Tinubu's government declared a food security state of emergency and announced 
plans to activate 500,000 hectares of farmland in Nigeria's land banks, which 
are mostly in the north.

   The land banks, however, are yet to be activated.