Nigeria ball - After twenty years of working on his farm in northwestern Nigeria, Umaru Muazu is now struggling to find water for his crops.

A vague puddle is a river near his 5 hectares of farm and a river in this community in Sokoto. Since the 62-year-old Muazu can't afford to drill holes to prevent crops like millet and corn from withering, he may give up on agriculture.

“You might get a lot before you have a small farm,” he said.

In Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, climate change is challenging agriculture. Because the drought season is longer than usual, the water is dry and the heat is very high. The wet season can pour rainy, but it is very short.

This is new pain in the world’s food program, and 31 million people are already facing food insecurity. WFP spokesman Chi Lael said efforts to recover from a climate shock were overlapping.

The challenges faced by farmers in the north (which accounts for most of the food eaten in Nigeria) are affecting the price and availability of food in the booming southern coastal areas, home to the big cities of Lagos.

More than 80% of Nigeria’s farmers are small farmers, accounting for 90% of the country’s annual agricultural production. Some people work with a thick piece of carved wood and naked hands.

Daniel Obiora, the national president of the National Farmers Association of Nigeria, said farmers face low returns as the government fails to build infrastructure like dams to help mitigate the impact of climate change.

There is little data on the drying of smaller bodies of water in the north. But farmers say the trend has been worsening.

The National National Emergency Management Agency of Nigeria said last year that in Adamawa State, water scarcity caused by higher temperatures and changing rainfall patterns affected 1,250 hectares (3,088 acres) of farmland, destroying food supplies and livelihoods.

According to Abdulsamad Isah, co-founder of the local nonprofit organization, the order of water and deforestation is other factors that contribute to dry rivers in northern Nigeria.

Elsewhere in Sokoto State, Nasiru Bello tilled his farm, ploughed onions without guaranteeing a meaningful harvest. As nearby rivers and wells driered, he resorted to the farm that provided the only income for his 26-year-old family.

"These plants are not growing well," he said.

It is expected that by 2025, Nigeria will be the third largest country in the world with a large population, second only to India and China.

With Nigeria's population projected to reach USD 400 billion by 2050, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has been encouraging climate-smart agriculture to help ensure food security, including drip irrigation, which feeds water slowly and directly and helps root in roots rather than flooding traditional irrigation systems throughout the field.

"Farmers should have more direction for farmers," said Yusuf Isah Sokoto, director of the School of Environmental Sciences at Umaru Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic in Sokoto.

Sokoto said at least two-thirds of the state's trees were lost due to deforestation, causing temperatures to rise.

Data from the Government Operations Statistics Bureau showed that local agriculture contributed 22% of Nigeria's GDP in the second quarter of 2024, down from 25% in the previous quarter. Despite this trend changing in recent years, experts say agricultural production still does not reflect the growing government investment in the industry.

Government statistics show that household food imports increased by 136% from 2023 to 2024.

In Nigeria, especially elsewhere in the south, the decline in farm yields is being felt.

In Lagos, the prices of several items growing in the north have almost doubled in the past two years, partly due to reduced supply. The north-grown cabbage heads sell for 2,000 naira ($1.2), nearly doubled a year ago, more than five times the price of Sokoto.

The Nigerian authorities acknowledge the issue. Agriculture Minister Aliyu Abdullahi said earlier this year that many farmers who once harvested 10 tons were hard to get half.

Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu and his government have hailed agriculture as a means of economic prosperity. Shortly after taking office in May 2023, the Tinubu government announced the situation of food security and announced plans to activate 500,000 hectares of farmland in Nigeria's Land Bank (mainly in the north).

However, the Land Bank has not yet been activated.

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