By Miriam Humbe
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening weather and climate information services for farmers as part of efforts to build a more productive, resilient and food-secure agricultural sector in Nigeria.
The Director General/CEO of NiMet, Prof. Charles Anosike, stated this in his goodwill message at the National Strategic Dialogue on the Preparation of the AGROW Component 2.2 – National Implementation Strategy and Digital Agriculture Architecture, organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security under the World Bank-supported Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value Chain (AGROW) Project.
The dialogue, held under the theme: “Building a Unified, Inclusive and Future-Ready Digital Agriculture Ecosystem for a More Productive, Resilient and Food-Secure Nigeria,” brought together key stakeholders to deliberate on strengthening Nigeria’s digital agriculture ecosystem.
Prof. Anosike said the dialogue was important to NiMet given its mandate to provide weather and climate information that protects lives, supports livelihoods and enables informed planning across climate-sensitive sectors.
According to him, climate variability, changing rainfall patterns and extreme weather events are increasingly affecting agriculture, making timely and reliable climate information critical to agricultural planning and decision-making.
Prof. Anosike noted that NiMet provides Seasonal Climate Predictions, regular weather updates, agrometeorological services and impact-based advisories to help farmers make informed decisions on planting, water and input management, while reducing avoidable losses.
Prof. Anosike emphasized the importance of digital agriculture as a critical pathway for translating climate information into practical, farm-level action and also highlighted NiMet’s partnerships with Tomorrow.io and MTN on the Digital Climate Advisory Services (DCAS) System.
The partnership is designed to deliver location specific weather advisories to farmers through mobile SMS, as well as its partnership with the Agricultural Innovation Mechanism for Scale (AIM for Scale) to strengthen the integration of AI-based weather forecasting with digital advisory systems.
He stressed the need for digital agricultural services to reach farmers through accessible and trusted channels, noting that collaboration with extension services, technology providers, telecommunications companies, community radio and farmer organisations would be essential for effective last-mile delivery.
The NiMet DG|CEO also emphasised the importance of making such services responsive to farmers’ realities, including language, literacy, connectivity, affordability and gender inclusion, while involving farmers in the development of climate services.
Prof Anosike commended the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, for his efforts towards promoting climate-smart agriculture and challenged stakeholders at the dialogue to develop a practical, inclusive and measurable roadmap for integrating weather and climate services into decision-making across the agricultural value chain.
He concluded his remark by expressing optimism that the dialogue would advance climate-smart, digitally enabled and farmer-centred agriculture, while reaffirming NiMet’s readiness to provide the technical leadership needed to strengthen climate services, support food security and build resilient livelihoods in Nigeria.
