Climate-Smart Agronomy Practices for Smallholder Cereal Production in North East Nigeria

This study examines climate-smart agronomy practices and their effectiveness for sustaining cereal production under the increasingly variable climate of North East Nigeria. North East Nigeria is among the regions most severely affected by climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa, experiencing declining and erratic rainfall, rising temperatures, and increasing drought and flood frequency that threaten the food security of millions of cereal-dependent farming households. Climate-smart agronomy practices that simultaneously improve productivity, build resilience, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions are urgently needed. This study uses a participatory action research design, implementing and evaluating a portfolio of climate-smart practices including drought-tolerant cereal varieties, tied ridges for water conservation, zaï pits for moisture harvesting, conservation tillage, and in-field rainwater harvesting structures on 60 farmer demonstration plots in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States over two cropping seasons. Yield outcomes, water productivity, labour requirements, input costs, and farmer acceptance are assessed. Findings reveal that the integrated climate-smart package combining drought-tolerant variety, zaï pits, and conservation tillage achieves cereal yields 52 percent above farmer practice under normal rainfall and 78 percent above farmer practice under drought conditions. The yield advantage is largest in the driest sites, demonstrating climate resilience benefits. Farmer acceptance is high when practices are demonstrated visibly and participatory learning methods are used. The study recommends the integrated climate-smart package for scaling in North East Nigeria through agricultural extension and humanitarian recovery programmes.

Keywords: climate-smart agronomy, cereal production, North East Nigeria, drought resilience, zaï pits.