By Faith Anisiobi, The Sight News
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) is advancing the development of a national digital platform designed to provide farmers, livestock keepers and agricultural advisers with reliable, location-specific weather and climate information.
Known as the NiMet Data Hub, the platform is being developed in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Crea2Solutions. The project has progressed from the design and mock-up stage to an advanced Minimum Viable Product (MVP), with NiMet’s weather and climate services currently undergoing testing.
Work on the hub commenced in February 2026 under the Climate Services for Youth (CS4Y) and AGRA programmes. By July, the project had advanced to a testable product aimed at improving access to historical, monitored and forecast climate information for risk analysis, seasonal planning and climate-informed decision-making.
The initiative is also expected to address persistent challenges in agricultural climate services, including fragmented data, limited coordination among information providers and difficulties in translating technical forecasts into timely and practical advice for farmers and other end users.
Stakeholder engagements co-hosted by NiMet and ILRI have focused on mapping Nigeria’s agro-meteorological data and advisory landscape, identifying information and delivery gaps, strengthening institutional linkages and improving last-mile communication.
The engagements also seek to promote gender and social inclusion in the delivery and use of climate information.
The platform is expected to serve a broad range of users, including farmers, pastoralists, extension professionals, researchers, government institutions and private advisory providers.
NiMet’s existing resources, including online map rooms and agricultural climate products, are expected to feed into the system and support the development of context-specific agro-weather advisories.
ILRI’s contribution is aligned with its broader work in organising research data, developing digital tools and making scientific information more accessible and useful to partners and decision-makers.
The project is in line with the food security, climate-smart agriculture and digital service priorities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Through improved access to usable climate information, the initiative is expected to strengthen preparedness, support climate-informed agricultural planning, reduce climate-related losses and contribute to more resilient agri-food livelihoods.
