Climate Change: Farmers Cautioned Against Early Planting

An agriculture expert, Mr. Ismail Olawale, has cautioned farmers against the early planting of crops, as climate change continues to affect rainfall patterns.

Olawale, a Fellow at the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), gave the advice in an interview with the press on Wednesday in Lagos.

The expert said that a recent prediction of the dry spell by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) in some parts of the country required that local farmers should not rush into crop planting.

“Local farmers should be patient and a bit critical in their timing of planting season. They need to work with the realities of climate change.

“Our farmers need critical analysis and information in order to commence planting season at the right time,” he said.

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Olawale noted that NIMET recently released rain pattern prediction for the year 2021 and warned of a dry spell in some parts of the country and heavy rains in some other parts.

He said that in spite of the information, some farmers still depended on indigenous knowledge of predicting planting seasons.

Olawale cautioned local farmers against depending solely on such knowledge, saying that they should come to terms with climate change realities.

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He said that climate change had continued to heat up and impact negatively on farming communities around the world.

He said that climate change represented one of the biggest challenges to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that made the world habitable.

“Now is the time for all to address every unchecked damage to our environment,” he said. 

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