‘Flooding, Soil Degradation Undermining Food Security’

National coordinator, African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS), Nigeria, Prof. Michael Madukwe, has said that intensifying climate threats, extreme droughts, floods, rising temperatures and soil degradation are undermining food security and livelihoods among smallholder farmers in Nigeria.

He spoke at a training session for farmers, agricultural extension agents, and researchers to support inclusive knowledge brokering and increased client resilience, held in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.

He said Nigeria risks a 10-25% decline in agricultural productivity by 2080.
Madukwe, who represented the executive director ATPS Nairobi, Prof Nicholas Ozor, said that the project’s goal is to strengthen the extension system’s capacity to use proven knowledge and technologies to sustain equitable, locally led adaptation among smallholder farming communities in selected West African countries.

He said that ATPS is partnering with the Initiative Prospective Agricole et Rurale (IPAR), Senegal and the West Africa Green Economic Development Institute, WAGED, Nigeria.

The initiative, termed the SCALE project, is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) which addresses the systemic failures by strengthening the extension system’s role as a knowledge broker for equitable Locally Led Adaptation (LLA).

Madukwe hinted that the workshop is a follow-up to a data collection process, which involved the key stakeholders, the validation of the report emanating from the collected data, co-design sessions using farmer feedback loops, among others.

“Smallholder farmers in Nigeria face intensifying climate threats—extreme droughts, floods, rising temperatures, and soil degradation—undermining food security and livelihoods.
Prof. Madukwe, who is a lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Extension, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said that these challenges disproportionately affect marginalised groups (women, youth, and persons with disabilities), who lack decision-making power in top-down adaptation interventions.

“Critically, agricultural extension systems are crippled by severe under-resourcing; Nigeria has just one extension agent per 5,000 farmers (vs. one per 400 in Europe), exacerbated by funding gaps, weak actor linkages, and inadequate technical capacity.

He said that the training is to respond to validated needs assessments revealing critical gaps in access to climate-resilient technologies, GESI-responsive knowledge sharing, Multi-actor collaboration frameworks, Digital literacy, and financial literacy.

He maintained that by bridging these gaps, the initiative empowers stakeholders to co-design and sustain context-specific adaptation, directly aligning with national priorities in Nigeria.

“The training goal will strengthen the capacity of farmers, extension agents, and researchers to co-generate, transfer, and adopt proven LLA technologies, ensuring equitable and inclusive climate resilience.

“The Specific Objectives will help build technical competencies in climate-smart agriculture, agroecology, and digital tools.

“The goals will also enhance collaboration among researchers, extension agents, and farmers for co-designing solutions. Integrate GESI principles into adaptation planning and resource allocation. Improve access to climate finance and policy advocacy capabilities.

The project officer, of SCALE Prof Joel Nwakaire, in his presentation, encouraged rural farmers, especially in the South East, to procure homegrown irrigation technology for all-season farming.

“I believe that our homegrown technology, which is locally made and quite affordable, will help our rural farmers in their yearly farming season.

“The technology is locally driven and it is adapted for rural farmers, which they can operate using text messages through their phones.”

Prof Nwakaire maintained that agroecology and crop rotation are most suitable for rural farmers, adding that multi-cropping is most practised in the region because of land availability.

Agroecology and crop rotation enhance the rejuvenation of the soil, but multi-cropping is commonly practised because of land availability. In multi-cropping, there are diseases that a crop can adapt to but because there are other crops that are host agents for the diseases, it will affect the farm easily.

One of the participants, Mrs. Elizabeth Ojukwu, commended the organisers for the training and called for such regular training to ensure food security and boost collaboration between farmers, agricultural extension agents, and researchers.