General News
NiMet Unveils Stronger Climate Support For Digital Agriculture, Food Security
By Iyojo Ameh
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has pledged to deepen the use of weather and climate information in Nigeria’s agricultural sector to help farmers improve productivity, manage climate risks and reduce losses.
The agency’s Director General and Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Charles Anosike, made the commitment in his goodwill message at the National Strategic Dialogue on the preparation of the AGROW Component 2.2 National Implementation Strategy and Digital Agriculture Architecture.
The dialogue, organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security under the World Bank-supported Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value Chain (AGROW) Project, focused on building a unified and inclusive digital agriculture ecosystem capable of supporting a more productive, resilient and food-secure Nigeria.
Anosike said the initiative aligned with NiMet’s mandate of providing reliable weather and climate information to protect lives, support livelihoods and guide decision-making in climate-sensitive sectors.
He said changing rainfall patterns, climate variability and extreme weather events were increasingly affecting agricultural activities, making timely climate information essential for farmers to determine when to plant, manage water and inputs and respond to weather-related risks.
The NiMet chief said the agency had continued to provide Seasonal Climate Predictions, routine weather updates, agrometeorological services and impact-based advisories to support farmers and minimise avoidable agricultural losses.
He also identified digital agriculture as an important mechanism for taking climate information directly to farmers, highlighting NiMet’s partnership with Tomorrow.io and MTN on the Digital Climate Advisory Services system.
According to him, the system is designed to provide location-specific weather advisories to farmers through mobile SMS, while NiMet’s collaboration with the Agricultural Innovation Mechanism for Scale (AIM for Scale) is aimed at strengthening the integration of artificial intelligence-based weather forecasting into digital agricultural advisory services.
Anosike, however, stressed that technology alone would not guarantee effective delivery, noting that digital agricultural services must be accessible, affordable and trusted by farmers.
He called for stronger collaboration among extension workers, technology companies, telecommunications operators, community radio stations and farmer organisations to ensure effective last-mile delivery of climate information.
The NiMet DG also urged stakeholders to take into account farmers’ realities, including language, literacy levels, connectivity, affordability and gender considerations, while involving farmers in the design and development of climate services.
He commended the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, for efforts to advance climate-smart agriculture and urged participants at the dialogue to develop a practical and measurable roadmap for embedding weather and climate services across Nigeria’s agricultural value chain.
Anosike expressed confidence that the dialogue would strengthen climate-smart and digitally enabled agriculture, reaffirming NiMet’s readiness to provide the technical expertise required to improve climate services, strengthen food security and build resilient livelihoods across the country.
