The
uncertainty in predicting the weather has been the single major challenge to
productive farming in Ghana and other parts of Africa in recent years.
Access
to weather information and irrigation services are among interventions farmers
need to survive the unexpected changes.
Speaking
to 3news.com on the sidelines of the 25th UN Climate Change
Conference (COP25) in Madrid, Spain, President of the World Farmers Organization,
Theo de Jager, said smallholder farmers need to be exposed to climate smart
agriculture for sustainability.
After
years of negotiations on how mankind should deal with climate change, farmer’
organizations have managed to ensure the mainstreaming of agriculture in the
climate talks.
The
buzz word in the climate circles today is climate-smart agriculture.
For
small-holder farmers in Africa who are often food-insecure and the poorest,
climate-smart agriculture is in line with modernization and mechanization of food
production.
“Africa’s
time has come to have a revolution in agricultural production because we have
everything which money cannot buy; the climate, soils, land, water, the people.
What we lack are things we can bring about through investments; the linkages to
markets, processing facilities, the financing, expertise and the experience,”
noted Theo.
He
is hopeful these opportunities would be unlocked by the African farmers
themselves.
Theo,
a South African farmer, believes farmers in Africa can pull the trigger by
forming stronger cooperatives to increase output and secure their future.
“I
believe with every cell in my body, give us 25–30 years, if we have this common
dream we can do it; not through mining, not through oil, not through tourism [but]
through agriculture,” he said.
The
World Farmers Organization is the apex body for 86 national farmers’
organizations across the globe, comprising large-scale and small-holder farmers.
Story
by Kofi Adu Domfeh
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