The Federal Government of Nigeria has reiterated its commitment to continuously work towards mitigating the impact of climate change through enhancing soil fertility in the country.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Ernest Umakihe made the disclosure at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka while delivering his keynote address at the 47th Annual Conference of the Soil Science Society of Nigeria (SSSN) on Wednesday.
The theme of this year’s event was, “Tropical Soil and Water Resources Management: Climate Change Mitigation for Functional Ecosystem Services and Food Security”.
The Permanent Secretary who was represented by a Director in the Ministry, Mr. Oshadiya Olanipekun, said that the federal government was galvanizing relevant ministries to collaborate in its efforts to ensure that our soil is protected and food security enhanced.
He noted that several intervention programmes have been implemented through specific departments to ensure that proactive measures of the government against climate change were carried out in line with established protocols
He said:
“Enhancing soil fertility and food security is one of the mandates of our ministry and we have been taking the issue seriously to achieve the mandate.
“Our ministry has made a lot of contributions towards climate change mitigation to help maintain the soil productivity and achieve food security.
“Government has responded in many ways on issues of climate change mitigation through a series of interventions and collaborations with relevant ministries and agencies.
“In the past few years, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, through the Department of Agriculture, Land and Climate Change Management Service (ALCCMS), has invested so much on climate change mitigation strategies.
“In the areas of water harvesting, small-scale irrigation techniques, land and water conservation, and management strategies in many parts of the countries have recorded good results.”
Speaking further, the permanent secretary noted that “Disruption in rainfall intensity affects water resources and food production are already a threat to ecosystem services and food security.”
He called on all stakeholders, especially soil scientists and the academia in general to continue not to relent in their efforts in providing effective solutions to environmental problems in Nigeria.