The National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB), on Saturday, advised farmers to choose and multiply the right variety of crops to mitigate climate change.

The centre’s acting director, Anthony Okere, said this on the sidelines of the Farmers Field Day/Seed Diversity Fair held at Bagauda in Bebeji LGA in Kano.

Mr Okere said the project was supported by the Global Crop Diversity Trust and intended to mitigate the effects of climate change in Nigeria. 

He said the programme was a component of user engagement activities within the framework of the Seed for Resilience (S4R) project implemented in Oyo, Niger and Kano.

According to him, about 150 samples of indigenous and unique accessions of sorghum and cowpea seeds were planted to accelerate climate change mitigation.

Mr Okere said the Technical Working Group and NACGRAB would continue to support and guide the farmers in selecting the right variety of crops for cultivation.

He said the Germ Plasm Users Group (GUG) for sorghum, cowpea, and other crops relevant to climate change would guide farmers in selecting the right variety for cultivation.

NACGRAB chief scientific officer Muyiwa Olubiyi stressed the importance of crop conservation.

According to Mr Olubiyi, it will enable researchers to access different indigenous crop samples in the gene bank for breeding. He said the farmers were expected to select the best among the accessions of sorghum and cowpea based on their desirable traits such as earliness, seed colour, panicle size, seed yield, etc.

In separate remarks, Sunusi Gaya and Ignitious Anagarawai pledged effective farmer support services to guide them in selecting the right variety for cultivation.

While advising farmers to change their traditional mindset by adopting NACGRAB climate-resilient seeds, they advocated for knowledge sharing with farmer groups to encourage productivity and mitigate the effects of climate change.

(NAN)