Nigeria: Travails of climate change

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 A critical 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 ...