A New Framework for Building Resilience in Nigeria's Agriculture Value-Chains through Climate Smart Policies, Programs and Actions

It is now widely understood and accepted that climate change poses significant serious threats to sustained economic growth and agricultural development, poverty reduction, food security and political stability globally. Nowhere are these challenges more marked than in Africa where two-thirds of all available land is classified as deserts or drylands and which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) categorizes as the most vulnerable continent to climate change and climate variability. This situation is further aggravated by the interaction of multiple stresses occurring at various levels, compounded by low adaptive capacity. In Nigeria, climate change threatens food production systems and therefore the livelihoods and food security of millions of people who depend on agriculture. More than 70% of the economically active population and their dependents - almost 100 million people - rely on agriculture for their livelihoods and agriculture still contributes nearly 40 percent of the country's GDP (FGN, 2012). Agriculture is the sector most vulnerable to climate change due to its high dependence on climate and weather and because people involved in agriculture tend to be the rural poor. The year 2012 was one of the most challenging for Nigeria in recent history with the unprecedented flood that ravaged several states of the country, affected over seven million people, displaced 2.3 million people, killed over 363 persons and destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of houses. Total value of losses across all sectors of the national economy was estimated at US$16.9 billion by the Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA). In this presentation, we describe a new multi-disciplinary effort to develop an agricultural resilience national program in Nigeria to support the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA). The core of the program comprises policy options and strategies for achieving the following strategic objectives: (i) strengthening the overall policy/institutional framework for climate change adaptation planning and implementation, including resource mobilization and information management; (ii) evaluation and introduction of risk transfer and risk management options into the agricultural sector and rapid (and widespread) deployment of same through communication technologies, including mobile phones; and (iii) building capacity within Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) for evidence-based assessments and management of climate risks and the maintenance of robust extension services to the agricultural communities and industry.