Nigerian farmers recorded huge losses due to extreme weather conditions and inadequate support.
It was a bright and breezy Monday morning in September at Wuro Chekke - an agrarian community in the north-east of Nigeria - where Jamila Muhammed, draped in a navy-blue hijab, narrated how she lost all her farm produce to recent floods that swept across the region. As a result, she and her four children are now struggling to survive and she is looking ahead with despair at the oncoming dry season.
''We never expected the flood this year. Just like last year, it destroyed all our rice fields and submerged our houses,'' Ms Muhammed said, pointing towards her submerged farm.
''I've lost all my crops, I couldn't get a cup of grain from my farm. The government should kindly help us,'' she added.
Ms Muhammed is not alone. The lingering effects of the flood disaster that submerged farmlands in the first weeks of August and September haunt farmers across Nigeria.
Farmers in the Adamawa and Nasarawa states in September recounted to our correspondent how they lost incomes when their farms were destroyed by overflowing water around the ''Bakin Kogi'' (river bank) communities covering Yola South, Numan, Fufore, and Girei local government areas.
Similarly, across climate frontline communities in Nasarawa State, the drought experienced in the early part of the year and the unprecedented heavy rainfall that followed in July, August and September, left unforgettable memories across farming communities.
Farmers lament
Nigeria's changing weather patterns have exposed vulnerable farmers and farming communities in the country to unimaginable losses and damages, with many struggling to cope amidst soaring inflation and plummeting incomes.
''I feed and survive from the proceeds of my farm. I cultivated maize, rice and sorghum but the flood has taken over my farm and I could not harvest even a grain from the farm,'' Sunday Sa'adu, another farmer in Wuro Chekke narrated.
Mr Sa'adu lamented that the overflowing water from persistent rainfall prevented him from accessing his farm. This has exposed him and his family to untold hardship.
Like Mr Sa'ad, Amina Abubakar, who farms rice and groundnut along the tributaries of River Benue that passes through Fufure Local Government Area of Adamawa State, was not left out. Just like last year, she incurred more losses again this year.
''We experienced huge losses this year, but we can only pray that God uses paradise to comfort us in the hereafter. I lost my entire groundnut, maize and soybean crops to the flooding this year,'' she told PREMIUM TIMES in September.
She lamented that all their efforts to get assistance from the government failed.
Double whammy
In Nasarawa State, after the first rainfall in May this year, farmers in the agrarian communities of the state rushed to plant their staple crops (rice, groundnut, sorghum, sugarcane and maize, among others). They thought it was the beginning of the rainy season, based on the pattern they were accustomed to. They were wrong. A large chunk of their crops withered when the rains stopped after almost two months.
''Between May ending and July, we experienced a shortage of rainfall. We planted our crops and applied herbicide and there was no rain. All the crops refused to germinate,'' Loya Kagbu, ward head of Lambaga in Lafia LGA, said.
The farmer said they lost all the money and energy expended cultivating the crops.
''This year, (the seizure of rainfall) was a big problem,'' he said, reminiscing previous years when they usually had moderate rainfall during that period.
However, by mid-July, the farmer narrated, they started having sufficient rainfall and commenced replanting, but it was too late.
''If you plant some crops late, it may not give you the expected yield,'' Mr Kagbu told PREMIUM TIMES during a visit to the community.
The commencement of the rainfall came with a fresh burden on the farmers. Their farmlands were submerged from August through late September.
''We are supposed to be harvesting our rice by this period (September) but the rain washed away everything,'' the farmer said.
To reduce the impact of the flooding on their farmlands, farmers decided to plant palm trees alongside their sugarcane plantations.
The farmers lamented that the lack of access to improved seeds (drought-resistant), poor extension services and ineffective early-warning systems are making farming activities extremely difficult for them.
While this has become an annual struggle among farmers in Nigeria, the hope of mitigating the occurrence and getting support from the government remains uncertain for most farmers across climate frontline communities in Nigeria.
Lingering loss and damages in Nigeria
During last year's wet season, between August and October 2022, Nigeria witnessed one of its worst floods in a decade. Nigerian authorities said that over 600 people died and more than 1.4 million people were displaced.
While far fewer people died in this year's floods, the back-to-back impacts bear new challenges for farmers, who are barely able to recover from the 12 months before.
In particular, agrarian communities farming major staples such as rice, maize and cowpea were the worst hit, and the impact on local food security will be significant. The government earlier declared a state of emergency on food insecurity amid perceived shortages and high inflation.
In 2021, the Global Hunger Index ranked Nigeria as 103rd out of 116 countries with the most hunger-ridden population. This is expected to worsen following the existing climate change threats straining the country's food supply chain and globally.
However, experts have argued that much of these impacts of extreme weather events could have been mitigated if the necessary infrastructure needed to control floods were properly maintained by the government.
Concerns
During a visit to some of the climate change frontline communities, PREMIUM TIMES observed that since last year, no remedial measures have been implemented by the government to curb or mitigate future occurrences of flooding.
A major problem that causes flooding across communities in Nigeria is improper disposal of solid wastes, which block waterways. Other problems are the silting of rivers, and poorly built and insufficient adaptation and mitigation infrastructure.
A recent report by Agora Policy, an Abuja-based think-tank, projected a potential $460 billion loss by 2050 for Nigeria without adequate adaptation and mitigation.
The report noted that a more recent estimate indicates that without climate-proofing Nigeria's economy and society through concrete adaptation action, climate change will cost the country between six and 30 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2050.
This, the researchers said, is equivalent to a cumulative loss of $100 billion to $460 billion.
''In addition, estimates for losses in the country's priority sectors (agriculture, water resources, health and transport), without adequate mitigating measures, are at $3.06 billion annually from 2020 which is expected to rise to about $5.50 billion in 2050,'' the report said.
Meanwhile, a former minister of commerce, Mustafa Bello, assured that with less than $3 billion, Nigeria can solve the problem of annual flooding in the country.
The former minister called for the dredging of the two major rivers (Niger and Benue) and the channelling of overflowing water to the recharging of shrinking Lake Chad in the country.
''I remember, for example, when I was much younger, there was no way you could cross any of these channels except you were either good at swimming or you would drown. But today if you look at all these two major channels in the River Benue and River Niger, the siltation level is way too high,'' he said.
Mr Bello said deepening the two major rivers and their tributaries will help to prevent water from overflowing into surrounding communities during excessive rainfall in the country.
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He also said this will help to boost economic growth and development in the country.
Nigeria's Target at COP28
As world leaders and climate activists convened in Dubai, Salisu Dahiru, the director-Ggneral of Nigeria's Climate Change Council, underscored the importance of the loss and damage fund in supporting climate-vulnerable nations, including Nigeria - a commitment aligned with the overarching principle of ''leaving no one behind.''
Their high hopes of operationalizing the climate fund were met with a significant victory as the landmark deal was reached during the first day of the summit - prompting high-income countries to announce substantial pledges in solidarity with the funds, earmarked for promoting climate-resilient development across vulnerable nations, particularly in Africa.
In the initial three days of COP28, pledges to support loss and damage surpassed $700 million, signalling a promising start towards addressing the urgent needs of climate-vulnerable regions worldwide.
Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, a think-thank, welcomed the establishment of the fund but criticised the initial funding pledges as ''inadequate''. He said it was a mere ''drop in the ocean'' compared to the scale of the challenges they are meant to address.
''In particular, the level announced by the US is embarrassing for President Biden and John Kerry. It just shows how this must be just the start,'' he added.
While the loss and damage text was officially adopted on 30 November, the journey is not complete.
The heartbreaking toll of flooding and extreme weather events on communities in Nigeria and across Africa, often pushing vulnerable individuals to desperate measures, underscores the urgency.
Operationalising the loss and damage fund is seen as a beacon of hope. It offers a lifeline for climate-vulnerable nations, enabling the creation of resilient infrastructure that can shield individuals like Muhammad and Sa'ad from the devastating impacts of climate change.
