At a one-week workshop on Climate-Smart Agriculture, Princess Akobundu, the National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria gave this advice to farmers in Edo.

In a statement issued on Friday by Media Officer Marcel Anyatonwu, Akobundu urged farmers to apply what they had learnt in the workshop in order to improve their lives and those of the entire country.

Akobundu, who was represented by Zacchaeus Maxwell, director of Planning, Development & Implementation for the African Union in Nigeria—said that the workshop's timing couldn't have been better. He argued that no nation can thrive if its people are hungry and poor.

“Agriculture has been used as an important instrument in eradicating hunger, poverty and all forms of malnutrition.

“It will be a key determinant for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030 and African Union Agenda 2063,” she said.

Also speaking, Dr Olotu Yahaya, a guest lecturer from the Department of Agricultural Technology, Auchi Polytechnic, Edo said, ”It is important to educate and equip farmers with modern and climate-smart agricultural practices, considering the effects of climate change on agriculture”.

Yahaya, who spoke on the topic “Climate Smart Agriculture and Food Security”, added that when farmers incorporate these practices into their lives they will see great improvements in both how much food they grow as well as how much money it yields them.

He affirmed that it was important to change some farming practices because of climate change, which had altered variables and rendered certain old methods unproductive.

In addition, Mr. Abiodun Amoo, a lecturer with the Agricultural Technology Department at Auchi Polytechnic College, said that climate change had also affected aquaculture practices in Nigeria.

He added that aquaculture practices were directly affected by the water shortage, flooding and pollution caused by climate change.