Using Climate Smart Agricultural System to address low Profitability of Rural Women Farming Households Aro Ajatakiri, Abia State

It was cheers in the rural community of Aro Ajatakiri in Abia State, Nigeria, when a team from the Environment and Social Change Foundation was there on a capacity building and enlightenment exercise. Aro Ajatakiri community is about 15 km from Umuahia, the capital of Abia State and has an estimated population of 700 people. The people are majorly into farming and trading. They grow mainly yam, cassava, maize and plantain without mechanization, and their produce is sold to Urban centres such as Umuahia, Aba and Port Harcourt. Farms are usually allowed to fallow and recuperate for five years before they are farmed again. Key farmers in the community are women. Currently, the profitability of their farming enterprises is very low, considering that beyond the annual yield of cassava, maize, and vegetables (such as okra, melon and Telferia, among others), these farmers have no other expectations from the farms. Apart from the cultivated crops, their farms are occupied mainly by a shrubby species (Dactyledaenia barteri (icheku)), which are cut at the beginning of the farming season into firewood and sold cheaply to merchants from urban centres. There is no presence of economic and permanent tree crops in the farms.

Environment and Social Change Foundation made these observations and decided to take action by orientating and providing women farmers in Aro Ajatakiri with some preferred economic tree species. On Monday, 15th May 2023, a team from the Organization concluded the first phase of its engagement with the women from the community. The highlights of the information previously obtained from the women farmers include: the pattern of farm operations they carry out, such as the crops they prefer to grow, the sources of their seedlings and other inputs, the maintenance practices they implement (e.g. weeding and fertilization), the average yield per unit plot, their sources of labor, the gains from the farm apart from the crops, economic trees they would like to have in their farm or steads etc.

The team explained to the women that Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is not extraordinary from what they have been practising, though the concept may appear novel. CSA is the practice of sustaining improved farm productivity through resilience (i.e., ways that reduce shock effects) and adopting mitigation measures (measures that reduce CO2 emission into the atmosphere). Agroforestry (growing of crops along with beneficial trees) has been acknowledged as one of the useful CSA practices. This practice is common in their home gardens. If the women adopt and continue this agroforestry practice, it has diverse benefits and co-benefits. Among them are:

• Improving the yield of cultivated cassava, yam, and maize
• Adding to their normal yield, the yield from the economic trees (increased profitability)
• Protecting the farms against erosion
• Protecting the crops from windthrows
• Increasing the organic matter and fertility of the soil
• Providing the diversity in farm products and creating insurance against crop failure
• Provide an avenue to sink more CO2 into the vegetation

The women were so elated to have this awareness, and answers were provided to some questions they posed, which helped them gain more understanding of the issues.
A follow-up to the enlightenment was the handing over of economic tree species such as Ukwa (African breadfruit: Treculia africana), ube (African pear: Dacryodes edulis), mango (Mangifera indica), and coconut (Cocos nucifera) seedlings to the women. They were given counsel on how to plant and maintain the species on their farms. The women were challenged to maintain the trees on their farms, and anyone who successfully nurtures the seedlings will be given gifts at our next visit, especially to those who would maintain these seedlings in their farms.