06/01/2016
By Laura Schmitt-Olabisi and Saweda Liverpool-Tasie
The Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project’s Climate Change Workshop proved to be exemplary of a useful new way for stakeholders to interact.
Participants were grouped together based on their region of expertise (by geopolitical zone) and encouraged them to brainstorm together on the Nigerian agriculture sector. Then participants discussed the interaction between the agricultural sector and climate change. Each group also created their own causal loop diagram to depict the key interrelationship between actors and issues and presented it to the full group of participants. Presentations were followed by a series of questions and answers and then a final session to close the workshop and inform participants of the next steps of the research.
The workshop was held on June 1, 2016, at the University of Ibadan conference center. It was led by Drs. Laura Schmitt Olabisi and Saweda Liverpool-Tasie of Michigan State University and Dr. Adeola Olajide of University of Ibadan. There were over 50 participants, with representation from all the Nigerian geopolitical zones except the Northeast. Representatives came from Nigerian research institutes, academia, civil society, the legislature and state ministries of agriculture. The Ebonyi State Commissioner of Agriculture (Southeastern Nigeria) and his counterpart in Rivers State (South South Nigeria) both offered very positive feedback. Both commissioners had their directors of planning research and statistics attend the workshop. Also attending from the two states were officers responsible for climate change and forestry. In the case of Ebonyi, the permanent secretary of the ministry of agriculture also attended. Directors of planning, research and statistics from states Kaduna and Oyo attended while the Ogun state director of tree crops and rural development services under the State Ministry of Agriculture participated.
The workshop was well received, with many participants indicating that the approach of bringing together so many stakeholders to actually brainstorm together, and not just be in the same room listening to a presentation, was a very useful and welcome approach. Some voiced their intention to adopt this approach and expressed that they would like to see more of such an approach being used.
RELATED POLICY BRIEF:
Laura Schmitt Olabisi, Saweda Liverpool-Tasie, and Adeola Olajide. 2017. Towards a Systemic Analysis of the Impacts of Climate Change on Agricultural Production in Nigeria. Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Brief 29. East Lansing: Michigan State University
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