From Rural Nigeria to Global Collaboration: Building the Future of Climate-Smart Farming with TeleVoltaic

This month, the Executive Director of the Centre for Renewable Energy and Action on Climate Change CREACC-NG, Usman Muhammad (Mareri), PhD had the privilege of participating in the Tsuha Global Fellows in Perth, Australia, where he engaged with leading researchers, agricultural scientists, climate experts, and digital innovation specialists from The The University of Western Australia, the Department of Primary Industries & Regional Development, and the WA Agricultural Research Collaboration.

The visit marked an important milestone in the development of TeleVoltaic—CREACC-NG’s flagship innovation that combines renewable energy, weather intelligence, digital communication, and community-centred design to strengthen climate resilience among rural farming communities.

Across many parts of Nigeria, millions of smallholder farmers still make planting decisions based on traditional experience rather than timely weather information. Increasing climate variability has made this approach increasingly risky, contributing to crop failures, food insecurity, and reduced household incomes.

TeleVoltaic seeks to change this.
Through solar-powered community hubs, local weather monitoring, digital early warning systems, and simplified advisory messages delivered in local languages, TeleVoltaic is designed to help farmers make better decisions on planting, irrigation, and climate risk management while also supporting broader community services such as renewable energy access, health information, and digital inclusion.

During the fellowship, valuable discussions explored:
🌾 Climate-smart agriculture and farmer decision-making under uncertainty.
📡 Weather monitoring technologies and community-based early warning systems.
🌦️ Practical approaches to translating complex climate data into simple, actionable advice for rural farmers.
🤝 Opportunities for research collaboration, technology transfer, and pilot implementation between Australia and Nigeria.

The knowledge exchanged is already informing the refinement of TeleVoltaic’s pilot implementation and strengthening its evidence base for future scale-up.

At CREACC-NG, we believe the future of climate adaptation lies in solutions that are locally owned, technologically appropriate, scientifically informed, and accessible to the communities that need them most.

#TeleVoltaic#ClimateInnovation#ClimateAdaptation#RenewableEnergy#FoodSecurity#EarlyWarningSystems#DigitalAgriculture#ClimateResilience#SmallholderFarmers#SustainableDevelopment#Research#Partnerships#SDG2#SDG7#SDG13#SDG17#CREACC#Nigeria#Australia#TsuhaFellowship