In a bid to curtail harvest losses due to climate change, Federal Government has expedited action to incorporate the Agricultural Insurance Scheme into the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-Pocket Program, NAGS-AP, to enhance sustainability and food security.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Dr Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi revealed this during the Agricultural Insurance Train-the-Trainer Workshop held at Debbie’s Upper Class Event and Recreation Centre, Orozo, Abuja recently.
He pointed out that the purpose of integrating the Agricultural Insurance Scheme into the NAGS- AP program was to protect the investment and interventions being made by the government and the financing partner, the African Development Bank (AfDB), via NAGS-AP in addressing the sustainability and security of our local food systems.
The Minister recalled that “we commenced this program in the 2023 dry season with wheat cultivation. So far, we have been fortunate to have favourable production due to good weather, resulting in a bountiful harvest”.
“It is more evident than ever that we need a climate risk mitigation solution to close the many protection gaps arising from climate change risks such as floods, droughts, pests, diseases, etc capable of leading to crop failure or harvest losses”, he added.
Abdullahi noted that these risks have now become central issues affecting the government, financiers, and the beneficiary farmers, who stand to lose the most from seasons of bad harvests, adding that such adverse conditions could wipe out investments and the labour invested in the program leading to significant food price inflation as we are witnessing today.
The Minister pointed out one of the unfortunate incidences of the 2023 wet farming season, in which ginger farmers in Kaduna suffered immensely from the outbreak of the ginger blight disease, losing over 90% of their total harvest for the season.
He stated that only a few of those ginger farmers who took the insurance protection received monetary compensation for their harvest losses, noting that these set of farmers could boast of returning to their farms with little or no financial assistance, unlike their uninsured counterparts who had to dip into their meagre savings to be able to continue farming.
In his words, “it was estimated that Nigerian ginger farmers incurred losses amounting to N12 billion due to the catastrophic blight epidemic that decimated their crops in 2023. That is some food for thought and something that we all have to bear in mind; as we are at all times one or two bad harvest seasons away from losing our food supplies.
Furthermore, guidance from the 2024 Annual Flood Outlook report, recently released by the Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation in the first quarter of this year, has alerted us that 148 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in 31 states are high flood-risk areas, while 249 LGAs in 36 States and the FCT fall within moderate flood-risk areas.
In simple terms, 397 LGAs out of the total 774 LGAs in Nigeria, representing over 51% of our farming areas, are at risk of flooding”, the Minister emphasized
He, therefore, pointed out that the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President is poised to arrest the situation through the deployment of climate-smart agriculture for the establishment of a resilient food security system because climate-smart agriculture remains the only means for adapting to climate change.
“This necessity has driven the Ministry to establish a joint working committee, comprising representatives from the NAGS secretariat of the Ministry, NAIC, and Pula Advisors. This committee has been tasked with creating a practical framework to achieve a national Agricultural Insurance scheme for the NAGS program”.
He added that one of the key deliverables, which the Ministry had approved, was to organize a training and sensitization program on Agricultural Insurance to educate stakeholders on its features and benefits.
The Minister, therefore expressed his gratitude to the Joint Working Committee and looked forward to the outcomes of the workshop and a subsequent report on the next steps towards implementing the Agricultural Insurance component for the ongoing NAGS 2023 wet season and subsequent dry and wet season programs.
In his opening remarks, the National Project Coordinator, National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP), Mr. Isiaku Buba noted that the scheme was designed to broaden its operational horizon to carter and accommodate the interest of the farmers and other relevant stakeholders operating along the production line of the chain.
He stressed that the Agricultural Insurance component of the NAGS-AP Project was being designed and propelled by tested and experienced hands from the insurance industry citing that NAIC and PULA Advisors Limited are present to inform stakeholders of the benefits and the proposed implementation strategies to be followed to incorporate the important component into the programme with a view to achieving the desired goals.
In her goodwill message, the Managing Director, Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation, NAIC, Mrs Folashade Joseph pledged the readiness of NAIC to partner with stakeholders in the Agricultural and other sectors of the economy by providing sound insurance and other risk management expertise with a view to reducing risks bedeviling these ventures and improving national agricultural output towards the attainment of food security.
In attendance were stakeholders from All Farmers Association, NAIC, PULA Advisors, USAID, REX Insurance, and NAIDA, amongst others.
Eremah Anthonia (Mrs.)
Chief Information Officer
For: Director Information
