Paris Agreement: EBAFOSA pursuing policy harmonisation to meet Nigeria’s NDCs—National President

Ecosystem Based Adaptation for Food Security Assembly (EBAFOSA) National President, Mr James Oyesola, explained to PAUL OMOROGBE the importance of policy harmonisation among the ministries, and a paradigm shift in agricultural practices for Nigeria to fulfil its nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the climate change agreement signed in Paris, France, in 2015.

Understanding the link between agriculture and climate change

EBAFOSA is a framework where we are looking at ecosystem-based adaption driven agriculture.  ecosystem based adaption driven agriculture is where you use a natural base, that is ecosystem services, or natural means, for food production. One basic thing about EBAFOSA is that it is a framework from UNEP looking at the perspective of climate change where we believe that because of the engineering nature of our production in agriculture that is affecting the ozone layer and climate change.

Nitrogen from fertilisers is part of the greenhouse gases. Other greenhouse gases are methane and carbon dioxide, which is the major emission from fossil fuels and  anthropogenic activities. The effect of these greenhouse gases affects the ozone layer, bringing extremes into weather conditions.

EBAFOSA is looking at how to revert all these in terms of climate action, taking into cognisance socio-economic effect, employment generation, food security. EBAFOSA is advocating that farmers should work with nature. Part of this is agroforestry where you plant trees with some arable crops and cover crops. We always encourage organic farming. That is part of working with nature by using compost manure, green manure and not synthetic fertiliser which will also deplete the top soil.

Carbon dioxide, which causes most of the damage to the ozone layer, has a higher percentage in the soil than in the atmosphere. So, the way we practice agriculture should change. We should consider zero tillage. In the Paris agreement, they called all countries to come up with what is called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which talks about how each country intends to mitigate the effects of climate change. In Nigeria, our own contribution to reduce the effect is in agriculture and transportation. Talking about agriculture, 30 to 40 per cent of agricultural activities contribute to climate change. It is also the most vulnerable to climate change. What we are saying is that agriculture contributes to climate change and can also be part of the mitigative efforts if it is properly done.

Pursuing climate-friendly farming

EBAFOSA is looking at this holistically, the amalgamation of the ecosystem based driven agriculture, and renewable energy, that is a paradigm shift in the way we practise agriculture from using fossil fuels to process our food, and mitigating the release of carbon dioxide in the soil by using organic fertiliser, working with nature, not against nature. We want farmers to practise zero tillage, where the tractors they use will not deplete the top soil, because carbon dioxide is in the top soil, if it is destroyed, it will release the gas into the atmosphere. If the soil is intact, it has the capacity to withstand adverse effects of run-off of water.

Now, population is increasing, but land is fixed. It is used for roads, physical infrastructure, so agriculture is competing for land with these. And we should increase food security because population is increasing. To increase food security, we must increase food production. But the land you want to use is fixed. So why don’t you look for a way to make land sustainable. EBAFOSA is looking for how and can be sustainable over the years without effect on the environment.  In a nutshell, we clamouring for the use of nature based agriculture that will not have effect on the environment. Most of our foods are banned overseas because of the way we produce.

EBAFOSA’s five pillars

EBAFOSA has five pillars. One is the amalgamation of the ecosystem based adaptation driven agriculture with clean energy. The second pillar is standardisation. That those who want to produce with nature based, will have a standard and be able to produce good food, organic food and we will increase the premium on such foods. Abroad, there is organic food, inorganic food and GMO foods. The organic food is better health-wise and is more expensive than inorganic or GM foods.

The EBAFOSA standard is such that we can certify through the help of SON and NAFDAC that food with this standard is food produced by working with nature. Along the value chain, it increases employment, and protects the environment, and preserves our health.

When you spray chemicals, it affects insects both bad and good. Sixty to 70 per cent of the food we eat are insect-pollinated. So, when you use chemicals to spray insects indiscriminately, you are destroying the ecosystem and creating imbalances. If there are constant imbalances in the ecosystem, it will affect nature and we see the effect in climate change: 2016 was hotter than 2015, and 2017 was hotter than 2016. This year you can see the kind of heat we are experiencing.

The third pillar is innovative financing, whereby those who get involved in EBAFOSA and ecosystem based adaption (EBA) will have incentives thorough NIRSAL (Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending), because EBA is a de-risking approach to production. When we call it ecosystem based adaptation that means you are using ecosystem services and nature base to produce there is adaptability with micro flora and fauna, the top soil will be intact and everything will be good for production health wise, environmentally, and will reduce the effect of climate change. The amount of carbon dioxide being released will be reduced by value addition through processing of food using renewable energy instead of fossil fuel.

The fourth is policy harmonisation. Formerly in agriculture, we produce at the detriment of our environment. If the Paris Agreement says everyone should look at ways of reducing the effects of climate change, will the Ministry of Environment go and meet the Ministry of Agriculture? No! there should be policy trade-off, complementation, synergy. Agriculture should be told not to produce in a way that will affect the environment. The Ministry of Environment should learn how to complement the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture. The Ministry of Industry will liaise with the Ministry of Environment on value addition using renewable energy. The Ministry of Agriculture will instruct farmers to use bio-fertiliser instead of inorganic. That is policy harmonisation. Individual ministries do things in silos, on their own. We need to break these silos. They need to complement each other so each ministry, agency or department does not work in isolation.

The last is Information and Communication Technology (ICT), where we talk of the market. When you produce food to be taken to the farm, ICT can provide coordinates of the farm where the food is, and you don’t have to go from farm to farm searching. This will reduce transportation and reduce emission from moving produce here and there.

All these pillars will produce a win-win situation: to protect the environment, we eat healthy food that will increase our life expectancy, it will reduce the effect of ozone layer depletion from carbon dioxide release, and also increase our foreign exchange earnings because if we produce good organic food which foreign countries need, it will lead to export. This will bring foreign exchange and accelerate our diversification from the oil economy.

Why the inter-agency policy taskforce is domiciled in the Ministry of Budget and Planning

In 2015, at the Ecosystem Based Adaptation Food Security Conference held in Nairobi, Kenya, which I attended, that conference metamorphosed to an assembly called EBAFOSA. The assembly called Nairobi Action Agenda was where there was a pronouncement to form an assembly throughout the 54 countries of Africa in collaboration with African Union and UNEP. EBAFOSA has been launched in at least 40 African countries. The framework must be hosted by one ministry. In Nigeria, we decided to host the assembly in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. This ministry coordinates all other agencies. The ministry is strategic to coordinate the effects and where they draw their funds. So, it will assist to coordinate all other agencies for a genuine purpose such as EBAFOSA. That is why the ministry became the national secretariat for EBAFOSA. In other countries, it may not be the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. We believe the ministry is best positioned, as a coordinating ministry in Nigeria, to coordinate the activities of the inter-agency taskforce.

Outcomes of the taskforce

Policy is the biggest driver of change. In EBAFOSA we look at two things: the policy angle and operationalisation. The inter-agency taskforce is taking care of operationalisation. The amalgamation of ecosystem based driven agriculture and clean energy is operational while policy harmonisation is a kind of policy making. The two must go together. In policy harmonisation, each country according to the Paris Agreement which Nigeria signed in 2015, must produce its nationally determined contributions to mitigate the effect of climate change. In Nigeria, where we have comparative advantage is in agriculture, if we don’t harmonise policy between Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Power, Petroleum, Energy Commission of Nigeria, SON and NAFDAC, we will not get there.

Agriculture happens to be a catalytic sector. There is no sector than can generate more employment than agriculture. But agriculture cannot stand alone. Policy harmonisation is coming to bridge silos among organisations. Everyone must work together towards reaching the targets ofour NDCs, and provide food security and employment generation.