The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has called for stronger integration of weather and climate intelligence into Nigeria’s emerging digital agriculture ecosystem, stressing that timely, accessible climate information is essential to helping farmers improve productivity, manage risks and build resilience.
NiMet Director General/CEO, Prof. Charles Anosike, made the call in his goodwill message at the National Strategic Dialogue on the Preparation of the AGROW Component 2.2 – National Implementation Strategy and Digital Agriculture Architecture, organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security under the World Bank-supported Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value Chain (AGROW) Project.
Held under the theme, “Building a Unified, Inclusive and Future-Ready Digital Agriculture Ecosystem for a More Productive, Resilient and Food-Secure Nigeria”, the dialogue brought together stakeholders to deliberate on strategies for strengthening Nigeria’s digital agriculture framework.
Climate Information Critical to Farming Decisions
Anosike said the dialogue was particularly relevant to NiMet because of the agency’s mandate to provide weather and climate information that protects lives, supports livelihoods and enables informed decision-making across climate-sensitive sectors.
He noted that climate variability, changing rainfall patterns and extreme weather events were increasingly affecting agricultural activities, making timely and reliable climate information critical to planning and decision-making across the farming value chain.
According to him, NiMet provides Seasonal Climate Predictions, regular weather updates, agrometeorological services and impact-based advisories to support farmers in making informed decisions on planting, water management and the use of agricultural inputs, while helping to minimise avoidable losses.
The NiMet chief executive described digital agriculture as a critical pathway for translating climate information into practical action at farm level.
He highlighted the agency’s partnerships with Tomorrow.io and MTN on the Digital Climate Advisory Services (DCAS) System, which is designed to provide location-specific weather advisories to farmers through mobile SMS.
He also cited NiMet’s partnership with the Agricultural Innovation Mechanism for Scale (AIM for Scale) to strengthen the integration of artificial intelligence-based weather forecasting with digital advisory systems.
Last-Mile Delivery
Anosike stressed that the success of digital agricultural services would depend largely on their ability to reach farmers through accessible and trusted channels.
He identified collaboration with agricultural extension services, technology providers, telecommunications companies, community radio and farmer organisations as essential to effective last-mile delivery.
He also called for digital climate services to reflect the realities of farmers, including differences in language, literacy levels, connectivity and affordability, while ensuring gender inclusion.
The NiMet Director General/CEO further advocated the active involvement of farmers in the development of climate services to ensure that the information and tools provided respond to actual needs at farm level.
Call for Practical Roadmap
Anosike commended the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, CON, for his efforts to promote climate-smart agriculture.
He challenged participants at the dialogue to develop a practical, inclusive and measurable roadmap for integrating weather and climate services into decision-making across the agricultural value chain.
He expressed optimism that the dialogue would advance climate-smart, digitally enabled and farmer-centred agriculture in Nigeria, while reaffirming NiMet’s readiness to provide the technical leadership required to strengthen climate services, support food security and build resilient livelihoods.