"We are training the trainers so that they in turn would pass the information to their siblings and peers."
The Abia Project Coordinating Office of the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Project for Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) says it has built farmers' capacity on seasonal climate prediction and weather forecast.
The State Environment and Climate Change Specialist for LIFE-ND, Chidozie Kalu, said this in an interview with reporters on the sideline of a one-day workshop organised for the farmers in Umuahia, Abia State, on Tuesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the farmers were trained with respect to their various enterprises as they concern the project.
Mr Kalu said the objective was to encourage and inform them about weather and climate change challenges and how to mitigate them.
He also said that the training was designed to improve agricultural production.
He said the farmers were engaged using information from the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) in order to guide them on how to plan their enterprises for the year.
Mr Kalu, who used a weather station for demonstration at the workshop, said the project also supported the beneficiaries with similar gadgets.
A weather station is an Android-like instrument for measuring weather.
According to him, such a gadget enables them to know the actual weather for the day as well as plan for that particular day.
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"Also, we encourage and sensitise our beneficiaries on activities to cushion some of these environmental issues.
"We are training the trainers so that they in turn would pass the information to their siblings and peers.
"We don't expect them to keep it to themselves," Mr Kalu said.
Also, the state Agribusiness Promotion Officer, Godwin Chukwuekezie, said it was part of the activities for the beneficiaries to improve productivity in their various agro enterprises.
Mr Chukwuekezie said it would help them to forecast or mitigate as much as possible the losses that might occur because of ignorance about the weather elements.
He said: "We are in a time when most of our agricultural activities rely on rainfall and we don't have the facilities, so we are more or less at the mercy of weather.
"When farmers know all the hazards associated with it, it will enable them to micro-manage or manipulate so that they can still produce without being chased out of proportion by these weather fluctuations."
A beneficiary, Uduma Ochu, expressed gratitude to the organisers, saying, "this workshop has helped me to know the exact time to plant, apply fertilizer as well as harvest."
NAN reports that LIFE-ND is funded by The International Fund for Agricultural Development, in collaboration with the Federal Government and Niger Delta Development Commission as well as the state government.
The project, which is in line with President Muhammadu Buhari's vision for national food security, is meant for implementation in the nine Niger Delta states, but currently operating in six.
