Farmers hail Makinde as Oyo Govt trains 22,370 on soil, climate change

Oyo State governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, has received accolades as the state government organised training programmes for 22,370 farmers on weather predictions, soil management and other factors that affect agricultural practice.

Chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Oyo State chapter, Mr Adewumi Abass, gave the accolades on Wednesday, shortly after a programme organised by the state government to present the seasonal climate predictions as released by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet).

At the programme held at the House of Chiefs, Secretariat, Ibadan, Abass said the training was important and quite useful, as it would help farmers to understand their environment and how best to handle their farming activities.

He said: “We are happy that the Governor Makinde-led government is organising this kind of training for farmers. It will give us the knowledge of how the ecology of our environment is; it will empower us with the knowledge of what to plant and the kind of animals we can rear and what we can plant at a particular period across the state.

“Our business has more to do with ecology and with the way the weather is nowadays, with the rain stopping at intervals, nobody is sure of rainfall pattern anymore.

“But through NiMeT, it is possible to forecast that the rain will fall at this period and there will be a break at this period. Farmers can use this knowledge to programme their activities and we will have good produce at the end of the day.”

Speaking earlier, the Oyo State Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Barr. Olasunkanmi Olaleye, said the government put the programme together to present NiMet’s predictions to farmers in order to guide them on the planting season and what to expect on climatic conditions.

He added that the Ministry also presented the result of the soil test it embarked upon in 100 communities across the state, noting that the state government had, in the process of conducting the soil test , also trained over 22,000 on how to respond to the result of the soil test.

He said: “What we are doing today are two main things. We are presenting seasonal climate predictions as released by NiMET and as it affects Oyo State in the year 2025 to the farmers, so they can know when to start planting.

“Also, they will know when to expect drought and the things they need to do, especially as regards the climatic condition that we may have this year – whether they need to plant drought-resistant crops, where they need to apply irrigation, the time of the year they need to plant and what are the things they can plant in the year.

“All of these are for us to achieve increased yields in Oyo State in 2025.

“In addition to that, we are presenting the result of soil test we did in 100 communities here in Oyo State and to also let the people know that in presenting the soil test result, we were able to train 22,370 farmers on how to respond to the result of the soil test in their communities.

“What are the things lacking in the soil of that community and what are those things you need to do? The fertilisers you need to apply and what type of crops you can plant in that community.

“This also will help investors – those who also want to embark on commercial farming in those communities, because we are going to upload the result on our website so that investors can look at it and notice the situation of the soil in a particular place.

“These are the things we are presenting to the public today. The annual seasonal climate prediction serves as an early warning system with vital information from the onset and cessation of the rainy season, the length of the cropping period, annual rainfall projections, potential dry spell occurrences and temperature variations.

“According to the 2025 seasonal climate predictions by the NiMET, Oyo State will experience varied dry spell conditions across different local government areas.

“Investors can now easily and conveniently access information on the soil fertility status of 100 communities in the state.”

Speaking during the programme, a Lead Scientist with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Professor Morufat Balogun, said the predictions by NiMet are reliable, as according to her, those of 2024 were 95 per cent accurate.

“NiMeT has tried to make reliable predictions which, as of last year, were 95 per cent reliable. So, we can work with NiMeT, which has discovered that in the southern part of the country, we will have a longer growing season in the first part of the year and a shorter one in the second season and the latter part of the year.

“In their report, they have advised that farmers should not hurry to plant with the first rains but wait till April when the rain would be steadier, and that length can extend until December.

“They will have some cessation in-between and to prepare for that, they should have back-up water supply like moisture control, munching, having some water reservoir which they will water with and to be in constant touch with NiMeT. It has also provided some contact details they can call.

“They have been advised to be more vigilant, to use improved varieties of crops that are adapted to their environment. Early maturing, draft tolerant, flood tolerant and they should prepare for alternative sources of income as well as storage facilities so that they can cope with climate change.”