The Federal Government and the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), have said they are collaborating with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) to minimize the effect of green-house emissions.

This was revealed during the signing of the MoU by the three parties in Abuja.

While commenting on the agreement, the Managing Director of NIRSAL, Mr. Aliyu Abdulhameed, said the MoU was geared towards achieving the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) signed at the Conference of Parties (COP 22) in Paris.

According to him “In our analysis, close to 30 percent of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) Goals for Nigeria are achievable via sectoral focus on agriculture alone.’’

The Director also stressed that the partnership would intensify the country’s quest towards protecting investments, providing an overview of climate risk issues and vulnerabilities to potentially impact agricultural production.

“We understand that our efforts in growing the agricultural sector must be sustainable and at the same time, not detrimental to the environment.”He added

In his remarks, the African Director of CIAT, Dr. Debisi Araba, said the centre would educate farmers on how climate change affects their practices and help them build a work-plan to get alternatives so as to improve agricultural production.

Araba added that CIAT would join hands together with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) with a view to improving access of finance to farmer.

On his part, the Minister of state of Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Jibrin, who was represented by the Director Climate Change, Dr Peter Tarfa, said the agricultural sector was a major emitter of green-house gases.

According to him, “Priority of Nigeria and other developing countries is in the area of adaptation to the impact of climate change.”

“It is for this reason that we are creating a platform through a policy direction for participation by NIRSAL and CIAT to bring benefits to the end user, who is the farmers’’. He added

Source: https://agronigeria.com.ng/green-house-gas-emissions-fg-nirsal-partner-ciat-to-curb-impact/

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