Nkechinyere Ewa
When the rains finally arrived in parts of the Southeast this year, many farmers had already given up hope. The long dry spell, followed by weeks of scorching heat, had scorched fields and wilted crops long before harvest.
For thousands of smallholder women farmers who depend on seasonal patterns to survive, the experience was devastating and a sign that climate change is no longer an abstract global threat but a daily reality reshaping their lives.
Across rural communities, farm yields of rice, maize, vegetables, and legumes have taken a dangerous decline. For many women whose livelihoods depend on small patches of land, this decline represents not just lost income but deepening food insecurity.
Among those raising the alarm is Okwo Andreina, the Coordinator of Smallholder Women Farmers in Ebonyi state, who says the situation is deteriorating faster than most people realize.
She spoke in Abakaliki on Friday during a town hall meeting with stakeholders in Agriculture.
“This year, the sun destroyed most of our farm crops, especially rice and maize,” Andreina lamented. “The weather has become so harsh that we can no longer predict when to plant. We need proper guidance. The government must strengthen the Nigeria Meteorological Agency so they give us accurate information. Without it, we will keep making mistakes.”
Her plea echoes the growing frustration among smallholder farmers across Nigeria, who say inconsistent rainfall patterns, unexpected dry spells, and prolonged heatwaves are disrupting traditional farming calendars that have been used for generations.
Andreina believes that timely and reliable weather forecasting is now essential for survival. “We need NiMet to tell us exactly how the weather will go each season,” she emphasized. “If we plant at the wrong time because of a lack of information, the whole farm is gone. And we cannot afford that anymore.”
Beyond climate unpredictability, women farmers face longstanding structural challenges. Access to land, she explains, remains one of the biggest obstacles. In many communities, women are culturally barred from owning land, leaving them dependent on male relatives or temporary arrangements that can collapse without warning.
“We need land where we can farm,” she insisted. “We don’t just want to put food on the table; we want to contribute to economic growth, to export food someday. Those exporting food are not from heaven. They are people like us. We only need the opportunity.”
Credit facilities, extension services, and capacity-building programmes are also high on their list of demands. Without financial support or technical training, many women farmers struggle to expand beyond subsistence farming, even when they have the ambition and skill to scale up.
“If they give us these things, we will grow,” Andreina said firmly. “We will do better, and the country will benefit.”
Despite the challenges, she remains optimistic that Nigeria can still achieve food sufficiency. Her optimism is driven by the resilience of women farmers, who make up a significant percentage of the agricultural workforce. “We have up to 2,000 smallholder women farmers across the local governments,” she noted. “If empowered, we can prevent the famine people are predicting. We can produce enough.”
While the challenges continue, development partners are stepping in with strategic interventions. Ugochi Joseph, Program Officer at Participatory Development Alternatives (PDA), explains that the organization is implementing the Strategic Partnerships for Agroecology and Climate Justice in West Africa (SPAC–West Africa) project to improve food security and climate resilience.
Funded by ActionAid International’s Transformative Impact Fund, the three-year initiative supports agroecological farming a sustainable, climate-friendly approach that helps farmers cope with extreme weather. According to Joseph, the project has already enhanced the skills of 27,000 smallholder women farmers and youths across Nigeria.
“These farmers now have access to early-maturing seeds, seedlings, livestock, and poultry,” she explained. “This helps them adapt to erratic weather while improving yields. We also support indigenous seed preservation and agrobiodiversity, which are essential for long-term resilience.”
Through budget tracking and advocacy, the project has also pushed for better government funding of the agricultural sector. Many farmers are now benefiting from improved agricultural budget allocations due to these coordinated efforts.
One of the most impactful interventions has been the establishment of more than 200 model agroecological farms across different communities. These farms serve as demonstration sites where women learn climate-smart farming techniques, soil improvement practices, and natural methods of pest control.
Ugochi notes that the project also addresses structural inequalities. “We support women’s access to and ownership of land, and we connect them to markets so they can earn more income. With better control over production, their livelihoods become more secure.”
The SPAC-WA project is currently in its third phase, and more women farmers are stepping down the training they received, teaching others in their communities. Extension workers continue to monitor and guide the adoption of new techniques, ensuring that the impact spreads beyond the project sites.
For women farmers like Andreina, these interventions bring hope, but they insist that government involvement especially in climate information services is critical. As the effects of climate change intensify, early warning systems could make the difference between a successful season and a catastrophic one.
At the heart of their appeal is a simple message: with land, credit, training, and accurate climate information, Nigerian women farmers can feed their communities, protect their livelihoods, and build a food-secure future.
But without these supports, the looming threat of famine once a distant fear may inch closer than anyone expects.