An expert in Agricultural Climatology has canvassed for adequate sensitisation of smallholder farmers on the need to adjust the farming calendar in the northern part of the country due to the climate change impact.

Mr Ademola Akintola,  who made the call in an interview  in Abuja on during the week , described the adverse climate change impact on agriculture as severe.

Akintola said that the global phenomenon constituted a major challenge to agricultural production, adding that the impact was more on those he described as peasant farmers.

He said that there was the need for an awareness campaign on the periodic adjustment of farming programmes.

“The world has been witnessing a series of disasters due to climate change; there have been issues of global warming, the El Niño syndrome and the greenhouse gases cases. All of these have affected the accuracy at which weather changes were being predicted.

“We are calling on government to intensify awareness campaign which will educate more farmers and enable them to prepare for the challenges of climate change.

Adequate sensitisation

“Adequate sensitisation will ensure a projection towards a determined calendar that will make farmers achieve their optimal goal of production.”

El Niño/La Niña-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is a quasiperiodic climate pattern that occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean roughly every five years.

The Southern Oscillation refers to variations in the temperature of the surface of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean (warming and cooling known as El Niño and La Niña respectively) and in air surface pressure in the tropical western Pacific.

Akintola, who is also the Chief Executive of Dalvi Limited, an agricultural training consultancy, said the firm planned to partner with Benue State to organise a seminar on climate change and the agricultural planning in the northern part of the country.

He said the seminar would bring together all stakeholders to brainstorm on possible strategies to be adopted to reduce the effect of climate change in the region.

According to him, all stakeholders in climatology as well as agriculture will be invited to develop an understanding of climate change vis-avis agriculture in Nigeria.

He said that the seminar would also identify the effects of climatology problems as it affects both planting and harvesting periods.