Nigeria’s agricultural sector contributes about 36% to the country’s employment and almost a quarter to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The country’s total land area is 98.3 million hectares of land, with 74 million hectares of this suitable for farming. About 80% of Nigeria’s farmers are smallholder farmers and are responsible for about 90% of food production in the country. About seventy-two percent of these smallholder farmers (some estimates put this at 27.3 million farmers) live below the poverty line of US$1.9 a day (FAO).
This productivity situation has been made worse by changing climate conditions. With only about 5.4% of Nigeria’s cropland irrigated, Nigeria’s rain-fed food production system is vulnerable to changing climate conditions as food production depends on the stability of the natural environment.
This situation is compounded by the low adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers due to widespread poverty, low level of education and inequitable land distribution. The socio-economic impact of this is excluding (especially smallholder) farmers out of agriculture and could lead to crop net revenue losses by as much as 90% by 2100, with smallholder farmers the most adversely affected by these losses.
In response to this, we have created the ‘Enhancing a Market-Based Approach to Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Transition in Nigeria’ programme, with a mission to build a compelling and locally relevant business case for the private sector investments required to stimulate Nigeria’s smallholder farmers transition to CSA practices. We aim to catalyse private sector action towards achieving climate transition in agriculture in Nigeria. With our experience as a part of the policy advisory team that developed the Nigerian Climate Smart Agriculture Policy Framework (CSA PF), this programme is one of the Framework implementation activities. The objectives of the programme include;
Identification of business cases that identify locally relevant, science-backed commercial
opportunities that support the transition to CSA for stakeholders in the various segments of the value chain.
Identification the policy impediments & opportunities for the optimisation of these commercial opportunities
Engagement of private sector stakeholders and the government on private sector investments and policy reform opportunities to stimulate investments.
Capacity building of smallholder farmers, especially women and youth, to meet the demand for CSA produce in Nigeria
This programme will match demand and supply for CSA produce in Nigeria, building a market system that can encourage innovation and investment at scale.
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