Travails of Climate Change
While Nigeria dithers on taking concerted action to combat climate change, its impact on the nation’s economy is unmistakable. For instance, women farmers who constitute 70 to 80 percent of the agriculture labour force in the country are at the mercy of climate change, with a resultant effect on food security. Governments have at best been indifferent. In this special report, Omolabake Fasogbon x-rays the travails of women farmers in Lagos state and Nigeria as a whole, noting that they are hardly ever captured in key agriculture decisions and policies
Acritical examination of Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial capital, and Africa’s 6th largest economy, presents a classical case of irony when viewed in the context of one of the most important vocations for the survival of humanity – agriculture. Although surrounded by water, the state still suffers from water shortages while it naturally remains vulnerable to flooding due to rising sea levels.
There is hardly any group or business mostly affected by scarcity of water and the ravages of climate change in Lagos than farmers, whose trade essentially thrives on availability of water, which underpins arable land. The situation, among other climate issues, has made farming unattractive and economically unviable for smallholder women farmers, who are equally constrained by other challenges such as access to land, inputs and finance as well as untargeted government policies.
Climate change, which manifests as flood, drought, erratic rainfall patterns as well as extreme heat and high temperature and their attendant results, such as pest and disease outbreak, has made agricultural development more challenging, its effect reflecting on the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
LAGOS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Lagos is considered one of the most vulnerable states in Nigeria to rising sea levels and flooding. With an estimated population of over 24 million, the state caters to more than 10 per cent of Nigeria’s population (200 million) on a landmass of 0.4 per cent.
Latest reports predict an increase in the intensity of rainfall in Lagos state. A research led by marine physicist at the UK’s National Oceanography Centre, Svetlana Jevrejeva, foresees a 90cm of sea level rise by 2100 in Lagos, if global warming exceeds 2C.
The Lagos State government, in April 2020, warned of a high intensity of rainfall of 261 days with attendant flooding across the state this year. The state’s Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tunji Bello, gave the warning during a briefing on the 2021 Seasonal Climate Predictions, and Socio-Economic implications for Lagos State.
He said, “Generally, the Seasonal Climate Prediction for Lagos State signifies that on-set dates ranged between March 17 in the earliest, and April 6, while the season-ending may range between November 20 and December 5, 2021. The connotation is that Lagos State shall experience a rainy season of 238-261 days, while the maximum annual rainfall amount is predicted to be 1,747mm.
“It is also expected that the increasing frequency of extreme weather events indicates that year 2021 will likely experience days with extremely high rainfall amounts which may result in flooding.”
On the flip side, water scarcity in Lagos puts the state at risk of drought. Water is considered an important climatic factor that determines plant and livestock growth and development. The Lagos State Water Supply Master Plan puts the daily water demand in Lagos at 540 million gallons per day (MGD), whereas it can only produce 210 MGD, less than half of what is needed.
The inconsistency of rain, flood and shortage of water, indeed, suggests a tougher time for farmers in Lagos who now need a high level of preparation for seasonal change.
The Fate of Smallholder Women Farmers in Lagos State
THISDAY interactions with smallholder women farmers in Lagos State showed an unmotivated lot devastated by the effects of climate change and neglected by government, a situation that might have a telling effect on food production in the state and its environs. If the situation in other parts of the country is anywhere close to the one in Lagos State, then food security in Nigeria might be a real and possible threat in the nearest future.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), already over 9 million people in Nigeria are reportedly facing food insecurity and the figure is predicted to increase by 12.8 percent later this year.
The situation is not unconnected to challenges faced by women farmers in this report.
Mrs. Adetola Modupe is one of the over 30,000 members of the Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), and specialises in fish farming. Generating water for her fish ponds tops her many hurdles. Electricity, she said, is not stable and so she relies mostly on generators to pump water to keep her business going. Even at that, the high cost of fuel with which to power the generator is killing her business. She said she had spent over N200,000 on fuel alone in six months.
But the good thing is that Modupe did not just fold her arms and resign to fate. She became innovative. She set up an earthen pond in her compound to culture her fishes, reasoning that the pond generates water from the ground. According to experts, the earthen pond, which is constructed from earth soil, presents natural habitat for fishes.
A fish expert, Benadine Nonye, explained further: “Fishes grow better in an earthen pond than in every other type of pond. The maintenance cost is cheaper and it can support different kinds of feed. It also has natural capacity to control pollution”
But it was not too long that Modupe closed down the pond. Why? According to her, the earthen pond could not withstand the pressure from flood anytime it rained heavily, leading to the fishes dying or escaping and pollution of the pond.
“This is where I used to have my earthen pond (pointing to the spot which has been covered up and now a base for one of her 14 plastic ponds), it was an economical option and less stressful to operate as a woman. Infact, fish grows faster in earthen pond and even though I have to feed, I feed less because in the pond are earthworms and other organisms that fishes can feed on. Where I used four bags of feed on plastic pond, I will only use two in earthen pond,” Modupe explained.
She continued: “Despite these benefits, I’ve always had fish loss from flood arising from heavy rain. More to it is the fact that fishes get lost in the earthen pond and I would usually engage the service of men - the abokis - to locate them from the pit for me at a fee.
“It was so bad that the pond got the ground sinking, such that when we decided to cover it up as a result, getting to refill it with sand was tough. This also affected our borehole as we were forced to dig another borehole entirely. Thank God we are the owners of the house. Besides, fishes are always affected by cold weather when they are in hatchery. Infact, I’ve always recorded huge loss during this stage as a result of the cold weather.”
Continuing, Modupe said, “Other than these reactions, this would have been the best option for me. I wished I had a separate land close to my house where I can be able to do this as I would not be able to leave my family for a distant location”.
As another option, she later switched to a concrete pond, and that too suffered persistent water leakages before she eventually settled for black plastic ponds. Though the incidence of fish loss from flooding was curtailed as a result, she still bemoaned the huge overhead and extra physical efforts with no corresponding profit.
Mrs. Erhunmwunsee Osaretin, like Modupe, used to operate two earthen ponds to nuture fish. Her reason for this choice was not farfetched. “It is cheaper and less stressful for a woman”, she said.
Visiting her farm at Aiyetoro village along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, it was obvious that the ponds had since been abandoned as Osaretin also confirmed. She said she closed down the earthen pond to switch to plastic tank due to climate pressure.
“When l had my earthen pond, l had serious challenges due to theft since the farm is not fenced round. Besides, during heavy rainfall, the pond usually over flows, resulting in loss of fish most especially when it rained at night” She confessed, however, that having to manage plastic pond has not been easy in terms of resources and physical efforts.
WOMEN FARMERS’ AND WEATHER FORECASTS
Although, the Lagos State government has always disseminated weather forecasts via media platforms, not many farmers usually get hold of the information which could have enabled them to plan ahead. For the Lagos State SWOFON Coordinator, Mrs. Chinasa Asonye, who had just lost more than N500,000 worth of fishes to flood and infections in her Ijebu Farm in Ogun State, the calamity could have been averted if she had a signal that it was going to rain.
This reporter’s visit to Asonye’s farm was fortuitous, as she had just returned from where she went to bury dead fishes. She poured out her grievance with deep emotions.
“I lost more than N500,000 worth of fishes to the rain that fell two nights ago in Ijebu. This could have been averted if I had prior information on the weather. Then I would have quickly planned ahead of the rain. The rain came in the night when everybody had left the farm, so there was no one around to flush out water in the pond. Usually, when it starts raining, we usually fix the pumping machine to flush out water in the tanks but this happened in the night when there no one was on ground”.
But, it is not just flood alone that is bringing her headaches. Asanye recalled how she recently lost both her capital and profit to excessive cold weather despite the fact that affected fishes were hatched indoors.
“During extreme cold weather, when we spawn (bringing the egg of female fish and the male sperm together, also known as external fertilisation), the fishes should come out between 24 to 30 hours but if the weather is so cold, it takes so long and in other cases, all the eggs will die. So, in the case of extreme cold, we try to heat them up. Last time, I lost almost all the fishes because of extreme cold weather and running into huge loss.”