By Praise Chinecherem
President General of Umunankwo in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, Mr. Augustine Aniegbuna has identified lack of storage facilities for harvested crops as one of the greatest challenges confronting farmers in the area.
Aniegbuna disclosed this during an advocacy visit by Social and Integral Development Centre, SIDEC, to the traditional ruler of Umunankwo, Igwe Fidelis Onumonu, ahead of the climate change sensitization programme to be organized for women and girls in the community.
The visit is also one of the activities lined up under the project titled “Climate Change and You”, implemented by SIDEC, supported by the Action Aid Nigeria and funded by Global Affairs Canada.
According to the community leader, each time there is flooding, farmers mostly women, are forced to harvest their crops all at the same time.
“When that happens, there is glut more than what can be consumed. At the end, the agricultural products are sold at give-away prices”.
“But, if government can help with storage facilities, farmers will no longer be in a hurry to sell their products because of flood. That will reduce their losses,” he added.
Traditional ruler, Igwe Onumonu, appreciated SIDEC and Action Aid Nigeria for the initiative to create awareness about climate change and its many negative effects on food production.
“This is not taken for granted that you people come all the way from Awka to educate us on how we can enjoy our sweat despite the devastating impacts of climate change.
“Thank you for choosing Umunankwo among all flood affected communities. Our women are trying but they need help so they can get better. Be assured of our support and cooperation on this project”.
Earlier, Executive Director, SIDEC, Ugochi Agalaba-Ehiahuruike, explained, “We are here to carry out a project we call ‘Climate Change and You’. We choose Umunankwo because it was one of those seriously affected by the 2022 flooding. Women and girls are worst hit.
“We are here today to inform Your Highness that we want to carry out a sensitization programme for women and girls of Umunankwo on how they can adapt to or mitigate the impacts of climate change in their farming practice.
“Women here need to embrace agro-ecology to reduce the losses they record every day as a result of climate change. We will also teach them how to use harvested human urine mixed with ashes or charcoal as alternative manure,” Ehiahuruike stated.
Consultant on the project, Ifeoma Onuzulike, explained that the goal of sensitizing the women is to increase efforts towards averting food insecurity.
“We want women and girls in Umunanko to start planting flood and drought resistant crops as this will help to reduce their losses. It’s good they embrace Climate Smart Agriculture instead of rain-fed agriculture. We must be mindful of the environment as we go about our agricultural practices.
“We passionately appealed that indiscriminate felling of trees even for agriculture must be stopped. Our activities have worsened climate change impacts on us and we must join hands to salvage ourselves,” Onuzulike submitted.
