The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) says farmers in Nasarawa State may lose their harvests due to the influx of herdsmen, following the execution of the anti-open grazing law in Benue.

Malam Muazu Ishaq, the state AFAN Chairman, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday, November 10, 2017 in Lafia that the influx of herdsmen and their cattle had been a great concern, as farmers had yet to harvest their produce.

“Due to the mounting fears of losing their produce, farmers in the state, especially those around the border communities, have been compelled to harvest their crops even before there are fully mature.

“The implication is that the farmers would not get the expected harvest and some might even lose everything, which would invariably lead to food shortage in the state,’’ he said.

Ishaq said that there had been no official report of any farm invasion by cattle, adding, however, that if pre-emptive action was not taken by the relevant authorities, such farm encroachments were imminent.

He, therefore, called on the government, security agencies and community leaders to be proactive by engaging the farmers and herdsmen in a dialogue so as to avert crisis.

He appealed to farmers not to take laws into their hands, adding that they always report any encroachment into their farms to the authorities.

Ishaq underscored the need for the security agencies to beef up security around the border communities in order to forestall any breakdown of law and order.

On the anti-open grazing law of Benue, Ishaq said that its implementation should have been delayed until necessary measures were put in place to deal with all the contentious issues.

“In as much as the law would go a long way to address the incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen, its implementation should have taken into consideration all the perceptible grey areas.

“This would have created a win-win situation for all the parties,’’ he added.

NAN reports the Benue Government began the implementation of its Anti-Open Grazing Law on Nov. 1, resulting in the migration of herdsmen to neighbouring states, including Nasarawa State.

Following the development, the Nasarawa State Government held series of security meetings to evaluate the situation and assured the citizens of the safety of their lives and property.

The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and Union Bank, in a recent partnership, have earmarked N10 billion for agriculture financing in the 2018 farming season.

Managing Director of NIRSAL, Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed, who spoke at the launch of the scheme in Abuja on Friday, November 10, 2017, said that the programme was aimed at boosting agricultural productivity and modernisation via increased lending to the sector.

He said that the NIRSAL-Union Bank partnership would cover NIRSAL-supported projects in livestock and crop production, agricultural mechanisation, logistics and poultry.

He said that under the terms of the partnership, NIRSAL would provide credit guarantees to cover up to 75 per cent of Union Bank loans for bankable agricultural projects, using its 300-million-dollar risk-sharing facility.

Abdulhameed said that the funds, if fully utilised, would create about one million direct jobs and many more indirect jobs, while boosting the incomes of rural farmers and complementing government’s efforts to drive inclusive economic growth through agriculture.

“This partnership is not only on making finance available to the relevant stakeholders but will also provide technical support for them through NIRSAL’s $60 millionr technical assistance facility.

“We will provide a wide range of support to improve agricultural productivity, teaching best agricultural production best practices and providing effective capacity building to both farmers and Union Bank officials at our own cost.

“We are doing all these to enable us to ensure maximum deployment of funds, efficient utilisation of the money and 100-per-cent recovery.

“It is, indeed, vital that we learn from the various schemes where finance was provided which turned out to be unsuccessful.

“But with NIRSAL, we hope to get 100-per-cent recovery and, therefore, complete the cycle back to the banks,’’ he said.

Abdulhameed also said that the scheme had been designed, not only to facilitate the beneficiaries’ access to finance but also to ensure that they succeeded and paid back the loan.

He said that this year, NIRSAL had succeeded in getting commercial banks to devote N60 billion of their capital to finance agricultural businesses across the country.

He urged deposit money banks with low lending to the agricultural sector to commit more of their funds into agriculture lending so as to boost the country’s food security.

Also speaking, Mr Emeka Emuwa, the Group Managing Director of Union Bank Plc., said that the initial N10-billion capital earmarked for the scheme would be expanded gradually as soon as milestones were achieved.

“What we want to do is to boost agricultural productivity with the much-needed credit lines.

“So, our focus will be on enhancing post-production, boosting capacity, aggregation and market expansion to cut post-harvest losses and provide market access for smallholder farmers.

“If you think of Nigeria, there are more than180 million inhabitants and almost everyone eats at least once a day. That tells you the scope of the opportunities which exists in agriculture,’’ he said.

Investing faster and further in agricultural climate action and to support the sustainable livelihoods of small-scale farmers will unlock much greater potential to curb emissions and protect people against climate change, sector leaders and experts said on Friday, November 10, 2017 at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany.

“Agriculture is a key factor for the sustainability of rural areas, the responsibility for food security and its potential to offer climate change solutions is enormous,” Christian Schmidt, Germany’s Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, said during the session opening.

The call to direct far more resources to the agriculture sector as a key strategy to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the inextricably linked 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was made during Agriculture Action Day under the Marrakesh Partnership for Global Climate Action at COP23.

“Countries now have the opportunity to transform their agricultural sectors to achieve food security for all through sustainable agriculture and strategies that boost resource-use efficiency, conserve and restore biodiversity and natural resources, and combat the impacts of climate change,” said René Castro, Assistant-Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The central goal of the Paris Agreement is to keep the average global temperature rise well below 2 degrees C and as close as possible to 1.5 degrees. About one degree of that rise has already happened, underlining the urgency to progress further and faster to cut the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

For the livestock sector, for example FAO estimates that emissions could be readily reduced by about 30 percent with the adoption of best practices.

Extreme climate impacts also disproportionately affect small-scale farmers, pastoralists and fishing and forest communities who still provide the bulk of the planet’s food. Supporting these communities with innovative solutions both to reduce their emissions and protect their communities also meets many of the objectives of literally every one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Detailing some of the actions needed to transform the agriculture sector, the FAO has released a new Sourcebook on Climate-Smart Agriculture. The book, launched at the event, features knowledge and stories about actual projects to guide policymakers and programme managers to make the agricultural sectors more sustainable and productive while also contributing to food security and lower carbon intensity.

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), an organiser of the Agriculture Action day, announced they will work in the next few years to create the conditions for greater agricultural climate action. They aim to help give countries the confidence to set realistic yet ambitious targets through the next revision of their national climate plans – Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

“Agriculture is a large source of powerful greenhouse gases like methane and other short-lived climate pollutants but has great potential to store carbon and reduce greenhouse gases in our lifetime, that’s why we support and advocate for countries to improve their livestock emissions inventories,” said Helena Molin Valdes, Head of the CCAC Secretariat.

A number of other agriculture-based solutions for addressing climate change were also presented at the event. Discussions involved participants from governments, civil society, the private sector, small scale and young farmers centered on livestock, traditional agriculture systems, water, soil, food loss and waste, and integrated landscape management.

Among the recommended actions and initiatives were:

• Scale up public and private climate finance flows to agriculture, and use them in a catalytic manner. Climate finance flows continue to favour mitigation over adaptation, and focus overwhelmingly on energy systems and infrastructure. These imbalances should be addressed.
• Incentivise public-private partnerships. Strong dialogue and collaboration between the public and private sectors is key to ensure alignment between public policy and private sector investment decisions in agriculture and throughout the entire food system.
• Strengthen a multi-sector and multi-stakeholder dialogue towards more integrated approaches. Integrated approaches to landscape management will require enhanced coordination of policy and climate action across multiple public and private entities.
• Invest in knowledge and information. Additional analyses are needed to better identify the institutional barriers and market failures that are inhibiting broader adoption of climate-resilient and low-emissions agricultural practices in individual countries, regions and communities.
• Build capacity to address barriers to implement climate action. Agricultural producers require additional capacities to understand the climate risks and vulnerabilities they face, and respond accordingly.