The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development says it will provide farm inputs to one million farmers across the federation during the wet season farming.
Mr Ohiare Jatto, the Director, Farm Input Support Services Department in the ministry, disclosed this on Thursday while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He said that the inputs would be under the governments’ Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme.
The director said that the non-passage of the 2017 budget by was responsible for the delay in the distribution of the inputs for the wet season.
“Most of government expenditure is based on budget and you cannot spend any money that is not budgeted for.
“The ministry has been making a case that agriculture being time-dependent, should have seasons; you should start a particular thing at the right time.
“If we can have a kind of waiver whereby at the end of every year we already have something in our kitty that we can start spending as early as possible the following year. The issue of input can be accommodated
“So that by February, we have started doing our paper work and by March, we are already in the field giving out input to farmers especially in the South. And by April, May in the North, so that at the end of the day, the timeliness of our input distribution is very right.
“But of course, the present situation is that you have to know how much is allocated to input before you start committing agro dealers that will supply farmers these inputs.
“Because we do not want to go into a situation again where we are going to owe agro dealers based on assumption that what is in the budget will be approved.
“But for this year’s wet season, we are preparing and with what is in the budget, we hope we will be able to get to one million farmers.’’
On 15th of August 2016 when the Federal Government launched the Green Alternative Policy under the leadership of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh with his counterpart, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, the vision was mainly to diversify the nation’s economy from oil.
The policy also known as the Agriculture Promotion Policy (2016 – 2020) was part of deliberate moves to make agriculture the mainstay of the economy, contributing majorly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and improving on gaps which existed in the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the past administration.
The federal government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, rolled out policies to check the alarming, continuous food imports and increase local production of staple foods including rice, wheat, and dairy products among others. The four-year development plan mapped out strategies to realise four major goals in partnership with the State governments. The thematic focus includes food security, import substitution, job creation and economic diversification.
In the area of food security, rice cultivation got a special attention. The method of rice production among farmers across the states took a different dimension. It mapped out strategies to ensure rice is being cultivated in most states across the country. The rationale is due to the fact that rice remained major staple food Nigerians consume daily but with an outstanding deficit of 6.3 million tonnes and local production of about 2.3 million tonnes as at 2015. The wheat deficit was about 4.7 million tonnes with a supply 0.06 million while Soya beans was 0.75 million and local capacity was 0.06 million. The gaps were huge.
In order to meet these demands, the ministry sought supports of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through the Anchor Borrowers Scheme (ABS) to provide finance for the rural farmers from 2015 dry season farming and wet season rice and wheat farming in 2016. Anchor Borrowers’ programme is an intervention aimed to fast-track access of rural farmers to finance for better productivity. This entails the provision of agricultural credit to finance the production of rice, wheat, ginger, maize and soybeans in Kebbi, Niger, Kaduna, Kano, Enugu, Benue, Zamfara, Anambra and Kwara States.
It is important to note that state governments took advantage of the intervention to maximise production on the basic farm co mmodities. Lagos State for instance, went as far as signing a partnership agreement with the Kebbi State government to produce the popular LaKe Rice. Within a short time, rice imports declined, especially with the support of policies that discouraged its importation and smuggling while local production also soared higher from 2015 till date. These interventions were aimed to meet national requirements of paddy and milled rice set at 2018.
One of the rice farms in Watari, Kano State
The FMARD further established 40 large scale rice processing plants and 18 High Quality Cassava Flour plants with a stake commitment of China EXIM (85 per cent) and Nigeria Bank of Industry (BOI) (15 per cent) through concessional credit facilities of US$383,140,375.60 for the rice mills and US$143,722,202.40 for the HQCF Plants. The locations are Abia (Abriba), Kogi (Agbadu), Akwa-Ibom (Uyo), Kwara (Sare), Anambra (Ihiala), Lagos (Epe), Benue (Makurdi), Nassarawa (Gbude), Cross-River (Obubra), Ogun (Ijebu-Igbo), Delta (Mbiri), Ondo (Ore), Edo (Iraoko), Osun (Iwo), Ekiti (Itapaji), Oyo (Oke-Ogun), Enugu (Ebenebe), Oyo (Iseyin). Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is on-going for the ultimate private sector–driven initiative.
FMARD is now embarking on a programme of distribution of rice mills, of ten tonnes per day capacity, 20 tonnes a day, 40 tonnes a day, 50 tonnes and a few 100 tonnes. Collectively, between them, the capacity for rice milling will be close to 3,000 tonnes a day nationwide. That is expected to close the gap between paddy availability and mills to process it.
From available records, there is ongoing plan to also establish 10 large scale rice processing plants and 6 High-Quality Cassava Flour plants to be owned and operated by the private sector. According to the Ministry, the mills would be funded by the Special Rice Processing Intervention Fund and the World Bank Assisted Agricultural Development Policy Operation [AgDPO] Funds. Necessary approvals were obtained for an “original equipment manufacturer (OEM) contract” process via the “Flourtech Engineer PVT Ltd, – Rice Mills” and the “Haiyang Union Machine & Equipment Ltd, China &Korat SW Group 2007, Thailand – HQCF Plants.” The rice plants locations are Argungu (Kebbi), Yargeda (Zamfara), Permabiri (Bayelsa), Badeggi (Niger), KatsinaAla (Benue), Idah (Kogi), Kubau (Kaduna), GidanMaiwa (Bauchi), Imope (Ogun), and Ezira (Anambra), HQCF plants locations are Ore (Ondo), Ojoowo (Ogun), Abriba (Abia), Abraka(Delta), Obubra (C/River) and PakaLafia (Nasarawa).
One of other remarkable initiatives developed by the ministry was the national soil map. There had not been evidence to show that the use of the generic NPK fertiliser everywhere has necessarily improved farm production significantly to justify its continued application as one-size-fits-all soil fertility remedy. So, the map basically is to determine the right fertiliser that is applicable in a particular state with the promotion of the use of soil-specific fertiliser formulations. Unlike previous years where the same fertiliser is applied by farmers across the country, the map was designed to guide farmers on what fertiliser to adopt in order to get the maximum yield.
Prior to the launched green alternative, Nigeria was importing foods to the tune of $22 billion annually, including fruits. As a result, the country cannot be classified as food-secured. The limited harvests produced by the local farmers mostly got rotten due to lack of storage facilities.
The net impact of these was limited job growth across the agricultural value-chain from inputs production to market system. Ironically, as these problems persist, the country was exporting jobs abroad.
Fertiliser supply
A resurrected interest in agriculture has brought in its wake growing interest in smallholders. Nigeria’s fertiliser market is growing. Baring the restriction placed on the transportation of urea for security reasons, Nigeria is launching into a new realm of responding to local fertiliser needs by promoting the blending of fertiliser locally to suit specific soil on the basis of findings in the national soil map. Field reports on the use of micronutrient inclusion in fertiliser in some parts of Nigeria have justified the need for a widespread and nationwide use.
Replacing the unbalanced NPK 15-15-15 with other formulations as a basal application in the Urea Deep Placement Technology has been reported to have led to increased yields by between 30 per cent and 80 per cent in a number of cases in rice, maize and sorghum. These results have inspired the Federal Government’s policy directive to use fertiliser blends recommended from soil maps, beginning from this cropping season. Nigeria has 108 balanced fertiliser recommendations for all crops and for all 36 States and the FCT, and the Government has signed an agreement with the Government of Morocco for the supply of fertiliser raw materials on concessionary terms to boost local blending to facilitate making soil and crop-specific fertiliser blends available and accessible to smallholder farmers.
In 2016, price of fertiliser especially NPK, rose to as high as N11, 000 contributing largely to hike in price of staple foods in the market. Urea which is an additional input after the application of the NPK sold at about N7, 500. Local farmers clearly were not finding it easy until the federal government came up with an initiative that encouraged local blending.
As a result of the several bottlenecks, the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative came into existence having Fertiliser Producer and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) and the FMARD as the implementing partner. The target was to produce One Million Metric Tonnes of fertiliser for local farmers across the country for the 2017 wet season and 500, 000 metric tonnes for dry season farming. It was the outcome of President Muhammadu Buhari’s meeting with the King of Morocco. The deliberation among others was to facilitate the export of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP), through OCP Group, Morocco to ensure a steady supply of the raw material for local production of fertiliser.
The other raw materials include the Muriate of Potash (MOP), sourced from Europe and Russia while Limestone Granules (LSG) was locally sourced from the West African Fertilizer Company limited, Okpella, Edo State. This deliberate effort was to meet fertiliser deficit in the country and ensure the nation locally blend the input.
Remarkably, the fertilisers are mixed in about 11 blending plants which were initially working at lower capacity across the country. Local fertiliser blending plants took ownership of the project, engaged labour and produced the farm input at a reasonable cost of N5, 000.
“From that 14th of December, 2016 to 14th February, 2017, we gave farmers free gift. They started to receive fertiliser at N5, 500. Agro-dealers also got theirs, when they come to a plant like this, they will pay N5, 000, and sell for N5, 500,” said FEPSAN President, Mr Thomas Etuh while responding to an inquiry.
Donor Support Interventions
Aside from the commitment to increase food production and create jobs across the value-chain, the federal government enjoyed interventions from the international development partners. The foreign organisations such as RUFIN, IFAD VCDP, World Bank Fadama project, RAMP among others have in no small measure contributed towards the realisation of the objectives of the green alternative initiative.
A number of states with high potential in the production of selected staple crops are being supported to increase farm yields, engage the youths, help rural families, provide finance and ultimately create markets to boost their returns. While some development partners focus on rice and cassava, others give more attention to sorghum, millet and wheat.
VCDP
Mr Peter Okonkwo is a member of the all-male Great Minds Multipurpose Cooperative Society. He cultivates 1 hectare from 3,850 hectares of land rice farm allocated to his group. Okonkwo harvested a yield of 7 tonnes from his one hectare rice farm in the last season, unlike his usual 2.3 to 2.5 tonnes per hectare yields. He is one of 20 other members in one cooperative group setup by the VCDP Lower Anambra Irrigation Project (LAIP) in Anyamelum local government area of Anambra state. All thanks to the IFAD-funded Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) programme which made the fete a reality, working to support rural farmers in form of inputs and training on good agronomic practices.
Peter Okonkwo showing off the tillers (48) of a sampled clump of his rice
The IFAD- funded VCDP works to improve the income and food security of poor rural households with particular attention to women and youths engaged in production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava. It focused on enhancing rice and cassava value-chains in Nigeria.
In 2016 alone, production figure showed that VCDP made a significant contribution of 55,513 MT of rice and 184,377.6 MT of cassava to the national food basket. This represents a contribution of $36 million (N11 billion) to the country’s GDP in 2016. The income-investment analysis indicates that for every $1 invested by VCDP in 2016, $1.2 was realised from sales of produce alone.
The programme, largely funded by IFAD had a total budget of $104.4 million. IFAD provided $74.4 million funding, the federal government supported with $9.9 million, state governments contributed $10.4 million, local government councils $4.3 million, complementary financing amounted to $2.8 million and beneficiaries $2.1 million.
Basically, the federal government is implementing the IFAD-VCDP project in six (6) States, namely: Niger, Ogun, Taraba, Benue, Ebonyi and Anambra. VCDP became effective in August 2014 and disbursement effective in March 2015. While the programme is expected to wind-up on June, 2020, its goal was to reduce poverty in 53, 480 households and enhance accelerated economic growth sustainably.
The programme is also targeted to sustainably create about 6, 000 jobs through production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava in the six states. So, between January to November 2016, about 4, 000 jobs have been created and N418.9million worth of farm inputs have been distributed to 20, 879 farmers working on 1,067.2 hectares.
Within the last two years, VCDP made good progress of effectively implementing the programme objective on the two crops. Through group and cluster development, it encouraged working with the private sector to facilitate service delivery to smallholder farmers; identified viable business opportunities within the commodity chains for youth; developed arable land to increase women and youth access to land; shared innovative agronomic practices with farmers to enhance their productivity; and engaged youths in agriculture.
A unique model which so far has helped the rural farmers was the ability of IFAD-VCDP to arrange major off-takers such as Olam, Onyx and Popular Farms, who provide co-funding in the form of cashless credit services to enable farmers, have access to agri-inputs and enhance their productivity. This has luckily helped cut down the incident of post-harvest losses. Farmers do not have to wait or search for the market to sell their produce as the off-takers are readily available to buy the harvests, having knowledge of the fact that there is increasing buy-in by the state governments.
The programme facilitated an innovative Commodity Alliance Forum (CAF), which empowers smallholder farmers to engage and transact businesses with major private sector players in each state. The platform involved key stakeholders in input delivery, bulk purchase of farm produce such as factory raw materials, financial institutions with credible credit delivery services and farmer groups.
In Benue state, for instance, Olam a major player in the nation’s rice sub-sector is working with 3,000 rice farmers under the alliance.
Farmers with support from off-takers receive agro inputs
As of date, 30, 100 verified farmers with names and locations are benefiting from various services of VCDP to increase their production and productivity and enhance their income. Out of this figure, 21,245 farmers (13,456 for rice and 7,789 for cassava) who produced a credible business plan were provided with 50 percent of the input requirements in line with design. About 2,328 FOs, 103 per cent of the Life of Project (LoP) target are using bulk purchase method to procure their inputs, and 2,135 FOs, representing 95 per cent of the LoP target are registered with the Department of Cooperatives.
So far, the programme has trained 925 group leaders, representing 14 per cent of the LoP target, to strengthen groups’ engagement with the private sector players and provide effective services for their members. It has developed a number of knowledge products, including women inclusion strategy, youth involvement in agribusiness strategy, and package of best agronomic practices. It has so far increased their sales, generate more income and improve their living standard.
Mr. Mbon Sumaka, a rice farmer in Benue, one of the states participating in VCDP is excited with the market linkage facilitated by the programme. “I am grateful to VCDP for linking me and other group members to Olam. We are happy as we know all our produce will be bought by Olam after harvesting. We are ready to go into farming on large scales with this arrangement and this will go a long way to boost the economy”.
So far, 667 MoUs have been signed with off-takers in the six programme states while 143 contractual agreements have been formalised and 30, 100 farmers linked to off-takers.
Farmers at Igbaran, Anambra State
FADAMA
FADAMA, as popularly known among stakeholders, is a World Bank project usually in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) targeted to support small holder farmers to increase productivity and access to finance. The success story of this project has been outstanding right from the FADAMA I, II, III and recently FADAMA III Additional Financing (AF).
Within a short period, the number states participating in the World Bank intervention project has increased considering its immense impacts at the grassroots.
Between 21st and 22nd March, 2017, the FADAMA office flagged-off dry season irrigation rice production in Plateau state as part of measures to ensure all year round production of rice. Even though the event witnessed the presence of the Senior Technical Adviser (STA) to the minister on International Donor, Engr. Auta Appeh, Plateau State Governor, Bar. Simon Lalong, Task Team Leader (TTL) World Bank country office Abuja chief Dr Adetunji Oredipe including FADAMA National Project Coordinator, Tayo Adewunmi the immediate beneficiaries of the project were not left out.
For the dry season rice farming, about 100, 000 hectares of land have been cleared by the state government. So far, a total of 11 production clusters (PCs) have been prepared consisting of 57 production groups, with a benefiting population of 570, comprising 381 males and 189 females. The state is rich in terms of vegetation for both dry and rain season farming.
The National Project Coordinator, Mr. Tayo Adewumi, in his message, gave a brief on the implementation of Fadama III-AF in Plateau state. About 27 Tomato production clusters made up 222 production groups have been funded through a well-developed business plan. Also, funded were 11 rain-fed rice PCs with 222 PGs.
Speaking on the Fadama Farmers Micro Finance Bank (FFMFB) Limited, a fresh initiative by the FADAMA III-AF Office, It was designed in December, 2015 to support 570 farmers comprising 381 males and 189 females.
Lalong, in his remark at the event disclosed that the state through the Fadama project has supported about 55% of rice farmers in the state, with an increased yield from 2.8 tonnes per hectare to 4.5 tonnes per hectare representing 60.14% increase. “About 1,395 permanent jobs for rain-fed and 13,950 indirect jobs were created for youths and women during harvest. During dry season implementation, 570 permanent jobs were created and 2, 850 indirect jobs.
“As at baseline, indicators showed that farmers’ income increased from N108, 501.76 to N390, 220.65 per annum representing 20% of farmers surpassing poverty threshold.” According to him, the arrangement has been made for a 16.9KM Fadama feeder road in Shendam, Langtang South, Kanke, Mangu, Bassa and Jos East Local Government Areas. This is expected to ease transportation challenges faced by rural farmers. Some of the civil service workers and pensioners were as well encouraged to improve their livelihood by engaging in agricultural related activities while they are still in service.”
RUFIN
Rural Finance Institution Building Programme (RUFIN) is a $27.2 million initiative of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Federal Government of Nigeria. It was a project coordinated by the federal ministry of agriculture and rural development in 12 States and 36 local governments to help realise the set objective of alleviating poverty with particular emphasis on women, youth and the physically challenged. Some of the benefitted states include Adamawa, Bauchi, Katsina, Zamfara ( North Zone), Benue, Nasarawa, Oyo, Lagos (Middlebelt/South West zone) and Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Imo, Edo in the Southern Zone.
Purpose of the initiative ultimately was to enhance access of rural population to viable and sustainable rural financial system in order to expand production, improve on-farm productivity and micro small rural enterprises. “Our group-Nneoma Union Group heard that FAME MFB was giving out loans to people. We went there and were informed by the bank that they have accessed the MSMEDF. We applied and got a loan from FAME MFB. I received N70, 000 which I invested in my business. My business is doing well and I can now support my husband all thanks to RUFIN,” said Mrs. Adaoma Timothy, Member Nneoma Union Group, Itu-Ezinihite LGA, Imo state. Incidentally, the programme will be completed on 31st March, 2017.
However, about $5,616, 000 has so far been disbursed by the implementing agencies and government institutions. They are the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Federal Department of Cooperatives (FDC) and the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP).
Omolara is one of the beneficiaries of the intervention in Lagos.
Access to soft loans and other finances by farmers had been a serious challenge to boost productivity. It is often difficult for the commercial institutions to lend to farmers at a considerate interest rate. Rural farmers are either given loans at a 2-digit interest rate which is almost impossible to repay or never given. So with the initiative, RUFIN promoted good policies that created satisfactory working environment for grassroots financial institutions to benefit. It improved the lending environment, funds flow and sustainability support to the microfinance sector. It engaged in training and capacity building to improve their services in order to facilitate easy access to credits.
Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) were strengthened and the programme eventually established linkage between these institutions and formal financing institutions and down to the rural dwellers. “As a result of the capacity building we received from RUFIN, we developed rural business plan and have started implementing it. Our customer base has increased; we have been able to spread our tentacles. We are doing business with 27 women groups mentored by RUFIN. More rural people are accessing credit facility from us and zero default rate. RUFIN groups don’t default, they are highly responsible.
“Aside from capacity building, RUFIN also provided us with ICT equipment such as laptops, printers, accounting software which has helped us in keeping records. We now have improved financial reporting. It has been a wonderful working relationship with RUFIN. The impact we see today is as a result of this technical support by RUFIN,” said Mr. Ayodele Odufowokan, Head, Group Micro loan/Rural Finance, Excel Microfinance Bank, Eruwa, Oyo state. Credit flow from MFIs to the rural communities has cumulative figure of N30.983 billion till date. This is a huge jump from N47.1 million as measured in May 2011.The number of loan beneficiaries totalled over 714, 000 farmers.
As a result, at the community level, group members have developed savings habit and financial discipline. Capital base of farmers which was as low as N5, 000 – N6, 000 increased to N1-2 million and over 20,000 rural groups were formed and strengthened. They were eventually linked to financial services with about 40 per cent of them already lifted out of poverty.
Within two years, RUFIN’s sustained follow-up finally unlocked the MSMEDF to the financial suppliers in 2014 and N78.77 billion disbursed. RUFIN’s contribution of $1.5 million to the NIRSAL guarantee facility also eased Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) R-MFIs access to the MSMEDF by reducing collateral requirements to only 5 per cent.
“About N8, 747,015,234 credit was accessed by over 80 MFIs including Non-Governmental Organsiations and Financial Cooperatives from MSMDF, NAPEP, BOA and other state government micro-credit initiatives. Household level lending to low income and poor rural dwellers has improved in contrast to the start of the programme. Number of MFBs rendering online returns to CBN increased from 20% in 2010 to 85% in 2015.”
“RUFIN’s support is immeasurable. Our capacity has been built on so many issues related to business management, record keeping, business plans and financial management. These training have helped us successfully manage our business. Before now, we were not doing internal savings but after receiving training on this from RUFIN, we started saving. Now we give internal credit to our members. In 2013, our group was linked to Bauchi Microfinance Bank and we got a loan of N140, 000 naira which was shared among group members. Each member received N20, 000 naira. We have repaid the loan and RUFIN is working to link us with Bank of Agriculture to access more credit. We are very happy, our business is growing. Now we can support our husbands to take care of family needs. May Allah bless RUFIN,” Hajia Aisha’tu Musa, Chairperson, Zumunta Durum Women Group from Bauchi Local Government Area, Bauchi state, made the assertions on the impacts of the interventions to supporting their livelihood.
According to available records, over 710,770 individual farmers and rural dwellers that benefited from RUFIN loan facilities, voluntarily saved about N16.149 billion as refund.
In conclusion, since some of these initiatives are tailored towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, especially Goal 1 which centres on ending poverty in every form and Goal 2 targeted to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition as well as promoting sustainable agriculture, it is imperative to build partnership to realise the Green Alternative and attain food sufficiency.
Farmers supported by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Northeast are looking forward to good harvest, going by the quantity and quality of crops they have gathered so far from their fields.
A monitoring and evaluation officer at Community Based Agricultural and Rural Development Programme (CBARDP), the FAO implementing partner in Borno State, Salisu Bukar Mohammed Ngulde, said: “Most of the crops are grown by women who make up 40 per cent of the project”.
They have already started harvesting their crops from the dry season interventions and have food for their families for some time to come while they sell part of their produce to make some money. They are now able to get income, save feeding costs and have surplus at home to take care of other basic needs for a few months. The FAO is collaborating with the governments of Belgium, Ireland and Japan to support these farmers.
He described the intervention as very successful, hoping that more funds would be made available to take care of the larger number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees, female-headed households, youths and the host community, who are in dire need of support.
Abba Mursi, one of the beneficiaries of the interventions, recounted how he fled his community in Bama after an attack two and half years ago and then took refuge in Gongulong Bulamari village in the outskirts of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital in Jere Local Government Area, some 75 kilometres away from Bama. “I fled from Bama on foot and left everything behind, everything,” he said.
Mursi’s desire of returning to productive life was nurtured by the FAO. His carrot plot is doing well, less than three months after he received seedlings and fertilizers from the FAO. “I got assistance of assorted seeds and fertilizer from the FAO. I started farming with the seeds when they were distributed in January 2017. It is from the farm that I have harvested these fresh carrots you see. The fertilizer and seed helped me to carry out farming in the dry season. My group is also thankful for the borehole provided by the FAO.” He is grateful to the Gongulong Bulamari people for accepting him and giving him access to a farmland where he hopes to eke out a living.
Mele Muktar has a similar story. Originally from Koshabe, in Mafa Local Government Area, over 50 kilometers away, he settled in Gongulong about two years ago.
He has only been on the FAO-supported farm for one month. His seedling beds are doing well. He hopes to transfer them to the main site in days to come and is already looking to a good harvest. “What I received was a complete package from the FAO. We get food support from a number of organisations, but this agricultural assistance means everything to me,” he said.
As part of its dry season interventions in support to IDPs, returnees and vulnerable host families in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, the FAO provided farmers with capacity-building and skills, vegetable seeds, fertilizers and irrigation support for the dry season.
Mursi and Muktar are some of the farmers, who embraced the project with great enthusiasm and less than two months into the programme, the enthusiasm has started paying off. The farmers, mostly youths and women, are already looking to a good harvest. The early signs of a potentially good harvest are evident by the crisps and fresh carrots, huge cabbages and other vegetables being gathered from the fields.
Vegetable seedlings covering carrot, okra, amaranths, sorrel/roselle, onions, tomatoes, pepper, watermelon and cabbage were given to each farmer in a master kit for food security, nutrition and livelihoods as well as incomes.
“The FAO with partners’ support will provide the greatly desired livelihoods to IDPs, returnees and host communities where men, and especially women and youth, will be provided with food security, nutrition and livelihoods for both the dry and rainy seasons in the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe on a sustainable basis to recovery from many years of hardship.”
To engage youths in agriculture, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA) are partnering to facilitate access to financial services, skills and jobs to grow their businesses, DANIEL ESSIET, reports.
Unemployment among the youth is growing. The figure increases every year with them constituting more than 50 per cent of Africa’s unemployed population.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates that of about 10 to 12 million youths that enter the job market yearly, only three million secure employment in the formal sector.
As unemployment continues to hurt the youth, AfDB ‘s President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has noted that engaging them in efforts to address unemployment challenges is more relevant and important.
Since he assumed office at the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan some two years ago, Adesina has attempted to draw African governments’attention to the impact of implementing initiatives to enhance the agribusiness sector, while enabling the youth to gain employment and improve their livelihoods.
According to Adesina, the bank is undertaking a number of initiatives to stop the unemployment crisis, including the Jobs for Youth in Africa (JfYA) Strategy, designed to create 25 million jobs and positively impact about 50 million youth over the next decade. The bank has also embarked on Empowering Novel Agri-Business Led Employment (ENABLE), an initiative which aims at promoting youth entrepreneurship in agriculture and agri-business.
Adesina stressed that ENABLE championed by the IITA has received the support of the bank. This, according to him, will give room for the emergence of new agripreneurs, who will help re-brand the agricultural sector.
At the IITA station in Abuja, Adesina said his determination to create a continental wide platform for the African youth to generate wealth and create employment, was a deliberate attempt to ensure that the continent was able to feed itself again.
He said the level of hunger, poverty, food importation and insecurity in the continent has increased over the years because the youths, who are supposed to bring about the dynamic change needed to support Africa’s dream of feeding itself, were massively migrating to the western world illegally in search of greener pastures.
Last year, the bank approved ENABLE Youth Nigeria programme and provided a $250 million loan, to contribute to job creation, food security and nutrition, rural income generation and improved livelihoods for youths in urban and rural areas.
The programme will be implemented in all the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The targeted beneficiaries are in two categories. The first are the unemployed young Nigerian graduates from any field of study, who have finished their National Youth Service Corp programme (Greenfield), while the second are graduate youths, who are already successfully engaged in agribusiness, but have no access to commercial loan to grow their businesses (Brownfields). The mainstreaming of gender and environmental issues across the various components would ensure inclusiveness. The programme targets a 50:50 male and female participation across the country aged 18 to 35 years.
The number of beneficiaries according to Director, Agriculture and Agro-Industries Department, AfDB, Chiji Ojukwu, will depend, in large part, upon the outcome of the agribusiness incubation placement and successful bankable proposals. In general, it is expected that all the youths that have successfully undergone the incubation programme and satisfied the relevant criteria, will move to the next stage of accessing the loans to set up their agribusinesses or may find employment with the private sector and the rural development community.
Most of the loans will be about $50,000 maximum per business. According to him, agripreneurs can have individual or joint businesses and these must be duly registered by Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The target is to reach 1,000 agripreneurs per state, who will establish enterprises, as individuals (about 2,000 for both green and brown fields) and as groups of 10 to 50 (creating about 5,500 businesses).
The businesses will generate about 185,000 additional jobs. Total direct jobs created by the programme would reach as much as 222,000.
The AfDB is not working alone on the ENABLE Youth Programme. The bank has IITA as core-partner. Following the AfDB’s High-Level Conference on African Agricultural Transformation, which held in Dakar, Senegal, in October 2015, governments across the continent, international development partners, agri-business companies, finance institutions, youth and women’s groups expressed interest in working with the bank in collaboration with the IITA, to develop and roll-out country-specific ENABLE youth programmes designed to sustainably tackle youth unemployment and promote food security.
Subsequently, the AfDB and the IITA held design workshop in Abuja last year to provide a well-grounded evidence-based understanding of the programme concept by sharing experiences and lessons learned in promoting youth entrepreneurship and employment in agriculture on the continent.
The workshop was attended by 240 participants from more than 30 countries, including over 70 young “agripreneurs”, young men and women engaged in agriculture and agribusiness. It featured keynote speakers, including eight Ministers of Agriculture and Youth Employment; IITA Director-General, Nteranya Sanginga; Chief Operating Officer, Tony Elumelu Foundation, Abimbola Adebakin and Adviser, African Union Commission, Mark Kofi Fynn.
The young “agripreneurs” shared the inspiring stories of how they set up their agribusinesses, described some of the challenges they faced and gave clues to their success stories. This helped to fine-tune the ENABLE Youth programme designed by the incorporation of proven Africa-wide best practices.
The workshop established a general consensus that the ENABLE Youth programme was a powerful mechanism for boosting youth employment in agribusiness. This led to the establishment of the African Youth Agripreneurs Forum and Agri Pitch Competition.
According to the bank , there is a proliferation of incubation and accelerator initiatives across Africa in recent years.
However, there is currently no continent-wide forum/framework to connect the programmes. AYA Forum, therefore, intends to serve as platform for aggregating agripreneurs across Africa and escalating the impact of their activities.
The AYA Forum will comprise: the AYA Forum, a two-day Conference/Workshop with thematic discussions and presentation of success stories and Agri-Pitch Entrepreneurship Competition that will lead to a selection of three finalists for presentation at the Bank’s annual meetings in India in May.
The side events include mentoring and incubator training programmes. The AYA Forum will also showcase the strength of collaboration and partnership with key institutions such as the IITA, African Agribusiness Incubators Network (AAIN), CTA, and others.
The AfDB and its partners, IITA, AAIN and CTA are to launch the Agri- Pitch Entrepreneurship Competition as an agripreneurship challenge to identify innovative solutions for the sector in Africa. The expected outcome of the challenge is to select winning solutions that can lead to new products, programmes, projects and processes by young agripreneurs.
AYA Forum is scheduled for the IITA, Ibadan, between April 25 and 26.
The Loguma community in Agaie Local Government Area of Niger State has signed a $250 million contract with Uzza Rice Mill in Kano State.
The contract is expected to address the increasing price of rice in the country. Under the contract, the community’s farmers will send the rice they planted to the mill for processing.
The Loguma Cluster Chairman, John Ndagi, said the contract would improve the lot of farmers and give an awakening to rice farming in the state.
He said all year round, rice farming was now possible with the intervention of Fadama 3 Additional Financing which rehabilitated the irrigation scheme in the community and trained them on contract farming and group dynamics.
“Because of Fadama’s intervention, the harvest last year was wonderful. We have signed a $250 dollar contract with Uzza Rice Mill in Kano. Fadama have helped the rice farmers in the community to widen their scope and improve their economic base,” he said.
Ndagi said the rehabilitation of the irrigation scheme has helped a lot in the cultivation, adding that 140 hectares of rice farm was covered by the irrigation scheme. He also said the road network constructed by Fadama in the community has also helped in easy movement of goods into towns.
Feed Nigeria Summit Secretariat’s Director–General Mr Richard Mbaram has said free meals and take-home rations under home grown school feeding (HGSF) will enhance pupils’ performance and boost income generation and entrepreneurship in local communities.
Mbaram said in Lagos that homegrown school feeding adopted by this administration would improve education, boost local economies and smallholder agriculture.
To support the government, he said his organisation was planing a summit on how to work with development partners and the Federal Government to implement innovative solutions that can bolster agricultural performance.
The summit set to hold between April 6 and 7 in Lagos, will bring together some of the most influential organisations and leaders in the food industry .
The outcome of the summit will help support the government in implementing HGSF programme and help them allocate resources accordingly.
The event tagged: “Feed Nigeria, to Feed Africa” is a first of its kind in Nigeria, and will bring together prominent stakeholders, NGOs, government officials and ministries, campaigners, continental and international players and other influencers in the agricultural space, to discuss bugging issues aimed at advancing development of the agriculture sector in Nigeria. According to him, some of the key challenges faced by the food industry will be discussed in the summit.
Mbaram said there was a need to bring together producers and leading industry representatives to agree to boost future production and open up opportunities.
There is a huge market for mangoes in the world from which Nigerian farmers can hit a goldmine, reports DANIEL ESSIET.
Former Adamawa State Governor Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd), who is renowned for his investment in mangoes, is a successful farmer.
Nyako owns the largest mango farm in Nigeria and he is popularly known as Baba Mai Mangoro (BMM). Exotic mangoes from his orchard of 50,000 trees were first exported to Europe in 1993. The mango farm, Nyako said, generates N5 billion yearly.
With 50,000 mango trees, he said, the farm has the capacity to produce 10,000 tonnes of mangoes yearly, representing 200 kgs of mango per tree. ”If you make juice with 10,000 tonnes of mangoes at the present price of juice in the market, you will get about N5 billion, while all it would cost you to process the juice won’t be more than N1.5 billion. That is why I will be taking home N3.5 billion annually all things being equal,” Nyako said. He cited his farm to underscore the importance of commercial farming.
Experts believe mango has enormous potential that can transform the economy like other traditional export produce, such as cocoa, cashew and palm oil. Classified as MangiferaIndica, its fruits are delicious and they have the advantage of being relatively low in calories and high in nutrients.
In total, about 40 million tonnes of mangoes are produced worldwide.
Key exporters in Africa, include Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Kenya, The Gambia and Cameroon. Top ten mango importers are the United States of America, the Netherlands, China, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan, Hong Kong and Spain in that order.
This clearly points to the fact the developed countries are the main importers. Of the 10 top importing countries, the US, the Netherlands and China, account for 49 per cent of total world imports.
Rising consumer appetite for mangoes, particularly in Europe, has boosted demand for mango from developing world . However, in Europe, importers give preference to fair trade – and organic-certified mangoes. To access premium prices from European supermarkets, as opposed to selling into the less lucrative wholesale market, exporters need to achieve GlobalGap (EurepGap), which assures good agricultural practices including traceability, soil management, pest management and responsible water use.
An exporter, Sunny Anjorin, said there was a big market for mango in the Middle East. He told The Nation that he had an order from Dubai for mango last November. Anjorin has experience in export business, including purchasing produce from farmers and overseeing movement of the produce to the port.
He said perishable products, such as mango present greater risks than other non-perishable ones. This is because the fruits get damaged at every point in the value chain from pest infestation, poor transport conditions, such as poor ventilation, temperature control, bumpy roads and delays in shipments.
Also, exporters of fresh produce incur a lot of costs, including processing and transportation costs.
On the farmers’ level, they are concerned with diminishing mango yields caused by fruit flies that cause losses of between 50 to 85 per cent of total mango production. They plant the mango trees and maintain them by weeding, controlling pests and applying compost. These aside, Anjorin maintained that mango export offers a particularly promising opportunity for economic development.
He urged farmers to continue on growing notable varieties that interest importers and produce fruits that meet the domestic and international market standards.
National President of Federation of Agricultural Commodities Association of Nigeria,Dr. Victor Iyama, said Nigeria has potential for producing mango products that can be used in processed food. He believes the nation’s arable land offers enormous potential for development of exports.
Although Nigeria’s potential exports in the mango sub sector is limited because of increasing competition from other West African countries and capacity constraints, Iyama believes that Nigeria ‘s numerous under-exploited perishable food resources present potential for expanded exports.
He said constraints such as old storage depots, outdated infrastructure and additional cold storage facilities for perishable agricultural commodities need to be fixed. Some container facilities are slow to process cargo containers. Quality control, inadequate technical capacity, and lack of government and institutional support are also cited as impediments to export development. There is also a limited understanding of global market quality requirements.
He said mango exporters have had to improve several processes, from understanding what products are in demand internationally and planning crops to the logistics of shipping, handling of the product and its packaging, which must be done carefully and must always follow rules to qualify for certification
The Chairman, Export Group, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Chief Executive, Multimix Group , Dr Obiora Madu, said involvement of big players is crucial to support the development of the mango sector and stimulate wealth creation and reduce poverty. According to him, though small- and medium-scale farmers are the majority in the sector, they don’t have the capacity to acquire infrastructure to succeed in mango exports. In addition, he noted that small businesses are unable to fulfill the volume requirements of importers in developed-country markets. Since mango has a big value chain, Madu said there is scope for small farmers to increase their incomes. He added, however that the big players have to support SMEs in farming to increase productivity. This is because big time processors need higher volumes of fruit at lower prices to be competitive. Compared with Nigeria, he said Kenya is doing well as the leading mango producer in East Africa. It contributes about 43 per cent of the region’s total production volume. Kenya has two mango seasons: a main season from October to March and a low season from May to July. This production calendar gives Kenya a natural advantage in the Middle Eastern market where, during Kenya’s main season,the key market suppliers, India and Pakistan are out of production.
Kenya is able to supply mangoes throughout the year but there are two distinct major harvest seasons from October to March and from May to July, with only minimal supplies available in April, August and September.
Madu said the government needs to commit to continue improving the infrastructure for the entire productive chain. They must give priority to irrigation projects, as well as to modernising the roads, airports and the ports to improve marketing from the main agricultural activity points and to facilitate transportation to the most distant destinations. One of the most important things farmers consider in raising the quality of mango production is the suitability of the soils, fertilisers, climate and irrigation in the proposed plantation site. They are encouraged to collect soil samples for testing to identify nutrients, composition and other characteristics to know whether the soil is suitable for mango cultivation.
For many years, mango growers have struggled to find experts from abroad specialised in soil sciences and fertilisers to have trainings on soil and fertiliser application so that they would be able to produce high quality mangoes and generate a surplus for export meeting customer’s needs.
The Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has said President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration’s policy on the ban of importation of rice and wheat has enabled the country to save $5 million daily.
Ogbeh spoke in Garun Baba Village in Kano during the 2017 Wheat Farm Harvest ceremony.
He said: “The tariff increase introduced in December last year saw the import duty on rice increased from 10 to 60 percent in an effort to increase local production of the product.”
Ogbeh added that the policy option had created wealth for farmers and those in the farm produce value chain.
“The rice you grow, the wheat you grow is saving Nigeria a lot of money. Before now we were spending $5 million a day importing rice from Thailand. Now that money is in the hands and pockets of farmers in Kano, Jigawa, Kebbi and other parts of the country.
“That is why farmers are getting richer, before now the money was going to some other places and the poverty was coming here, that era is gone,” he noted.
He said the figure represented the amount of money being spent on the importation of those farm produce before the ban and tariff increase policies were introduced about a year ago.
Ogbeh commended Kano State Government and farmers for the rice, saying it has expelled recession from the state and supplied food to needy states.
‘’I’m proud of you and thank you for all your effort. I know if we give you the right support as we are trying to do, you can feed the whole nation and there will be no hunger in Nigeria,” he added.
He said further production was being encouraged through reduction of fertiliser price to N6,000 a bag by the government via an arrangement with the Moroccan Government.
On herdsmen/farmers’ clashes and cattle rustling, the minister said grazing reserves were being created across the federation, with accommodation, human and veterinary clinics, water and schools, among others, to stop herdsmen from roaming about.
“Similarly, the good news is that 3,000 Civil Defence operatives are being trained by the Nigeria Army to combat issues of cattle rustling perpetrated on those rearing cattle by hoodlums,” he noted.
On the occasion, the Governor , Dr. Abdulahi Umar Ganduje, said the wheat being harvested was a by-product of a N100 million interest-free loan extended to 10,000 farmers in the state late last year.
He said the farmers were also given moratorium not to pay the loan immediately so that they could re-invest the money in their farms as well as introduce new measures on harvest and post harvest.
“To prevent post-harvest losses, the state government has made available the sum of N50 million naira as loan for them to tap into and meet their immediate needs in order to stop them from selling the wheat product at low price,” Ganduje said.
He said combined harvester machines have been provided to ease the process of harvesting the wheat, adding that warehouses and stores have been provided in various parts of the state for the farmers to store their products till the point of sales free of charge, adding that “wheat millers and sellers will be mobilised to buy the produce when farmers are ready to sell.”
Amidst challenges, women are making successes in agriculture and food production, DANIEL ESSIET reports.
A Women are breakimg barriers in agriculture despite the challenges they are facing. Amon them is Madam Yemisi Iranloye who lives in Alayide Village, Ado-Awaye, Iseyin Local Government, Oyo State. But it doesn’t take too long to discover that she has a remarkable story to tell.
A cassava farmer, she started cultivating on about 10,000 hectares of land and expanded to cassava processing and established a starch factory at Alayide Village.
The factory has a capacity to process over 50 tonnes of cassava daily.
For starters, as well as small farmers, Madam Iranloye, the chief executive, Psaltry International, is one of the women playing in the cassava big league.
She has on her company’s payroll over 200 workers, contract staff and labourers engaged in tending the cassava farms as well as many farmers engaged in her out-grower scheme. Madam Iranloye is making wealthy, farmers that had been consigned to the backwaters of poverty because they planted cassava.
From the beginning, her business was established with farmers’ welfare at heart. She produces high quality cassava and runs an efficient business. She earns a decent guaranteed income for her produce, and participates in the way the produce is brought to the market and in educating others.
She is involved in administering the money flowing back into the cassava communities from farming –money that pays for clean water well, and new farming equipment. There is an infectious confidence about her today. Her story showed the difference farming can make to communities.
She is focused on improving agriculture with modern innovations and involvement of women. Her goal is to educate and empower women. She also empowers women to make decisions in agricultural activities and educate them about the various government programmes and schemes that are beneficial to them. If given financial support, she believes that small-scale growers could transform into major farmers with high incomes.
Women face many challenges that preclude them from owning or managing land and other assets. But she overcame such challenges as erratic weather, poor seeds, expensive fertiliser and a lack of advice and others.
Cynthia Mosunmola Umoru is another trailblazer. Currently, Technical Adviser, Youth & Gender, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), a lot of corporate women farmers look up to her. She has spent the last 10 years building her entrepreneurial career in agriculture. She started Honeysuckles PTL Ventures straight out of college, and today the business is engaged in farming, food processing and distribution. The company runs its flagship retail outlet Farmshoppe in Ikeja, Lagos offering a wide range of farm produce, including poultry products, eggs, snails, cat fish and vegetables.
She is very hard working and is determined to help change the fortunes of others as well.
Her leadership qualities and ability to quickly grasp new knowledge encourage other farmers to seek her advice. She understands the importance of education and knowledge, and is thus very enthusiastic about learning and practising any new developments in crop cultivation. Not only does she teach them improved methods of farming but also shows them how to address their financial challenges. She is always eager to learn innovative ways of doing things. She actively participates in agriculture-related meetings, and interacts to clarify her doubts.
But despite her own challenges, she is concerned not many women want to enter farming and agribusiness, adding that the sector holds so much potential as everyone needs to eat. However, outside crop cultivation, there are also other opportunities women and young entrepreneurs and university graduates should look into such as distribution and food processing.
Founder, Britts Fresh Foods Limited, Belema Alagun is a lawyer. She is one of a growing number of young women into farming and food business. She decided to establish an agro business to promote healthy lifestyle and eating.
Founded in 2015, Britts Foods pride itself in using locally-sourced ingredients not just because it supports their communities, but because their fresh, healthy ingredients straight from the farms taste great.
Currently, she makes salads for customers to be delivered to their offices. She does home deliveries, helping people in Lagos to enjoy salads from the comfort of their own home without having to go out to do a pick up. The majority of our customers’ orders are done via whatsapp.
Agribusiness Specialist, Agribusiness Supplier Development Programme (ASDP), Inclusive Growth Unit,United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Dr Nelson Abila said the efforts of women in agriculture and food production is a bold step amidst obstacles and in the face of the most unfavourable business environment.
According to him, women are key agents for achieving the transformational economic, environmental and social changes required for sustainable development. But limited access to credit, healthcare and education are among the many challenges they face, which are further aggravated by the economic crises and climate change.
Abila said: “The obstacles to women involvement in agriculture value chain in Nigeria are many, and I must confess quite daunting. The reality of the overwhelming nature of these obstacles is a barrier to getting many more women involved in agriculture.
“Finance is on top of this list. From land acquisition to putting infrastructure in place, the need for huge financial commitment cannot be overstated. Perhaps, it is now time to put to practice a more inclusive affirmative strategy that will allow our women agripreneurs to have access to finance at the lowest possible interest rate.
“The policy must ensure that 35 percent of all the agric financing scheme go to women. In spite of the obstacles, I must tell you, opportunities abound to make profit and contribute to nation building through agriculture for women.”
He explained that empowering them is not only to the well-being
With obesity rates steadily climbing in Nigeria, health professionals and sociologists are looking beyond conventional solutions to address the crisis. Tomiwa Ayetigbo, a renowned Nigerian sociologist and public health advocate, believes that the path to healthier communities begins at the farm. In a recent interview, Ayetigbo detailed how empowering local farmers could be the key to reversing Nigeria’s growing burden of obesity and related cardiovascular diseases.
Obesity in Nigeria is fueled by a complex mix of socioeconomic factors, most notably the limited access to healthy and affordable food. According to Ayetigbo, “Many Nigerians, especially in low-income communities, rely on highly processed, calorie-dense foods because they are cheaper and more accessible than fresh produce.” In both urban and rural areas, fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are either priced out of reach or logistically unavailable, leading to dietary patterns that favor convenience over nutrition.
Ayetigbo stresses that the empowerment of local farmers is essential to solving this challenge. “Local farmers have the capacity to supply communities with fresh, culturally relevant, and nutrient-rich food. By supporting their operations through infrastructure improvements, credit facilities, and policy reform, we can simultaneously strengthen our food systems and public health,” he explained.
But there are challenges. Many smallholder farmers in Nigeria face systemic barriers: poor roads, lack of storage, minimal access to financing, and weak market linkages. These hurdles reduce the quantity and quality of fresh produce that reaches the average Nigerian household. Climate change and inconsistent government support further threaten their resilience.
The sociologist advocates for targeted government interventions to alleviate these burdens. These include providing subsidies and low-interest loans to farmers, investing in rural road networks, building cold storage facilities, and offering training on sustainable farming techniques. “Government involvement should not stop at production. There must be policies that link farm output to urban markets, schools, hospitals, and community programs,” Ayetigbo emphasized.
Beyond government action, he calls on individuals and communities to adopt grassroots solutions. From urban community gardens to farmer-supported cooperatives, local engagement can help restore a culture of healthy eating. Schools and religious institutions can serve as platforms for nutrition education, while local media can promote awareness about the risks of obesity and the benefits of traditional diets.
In a country where non-communicable diseases are quickly becoming as threatening as infectious ones, Ayetigbo’s perspective introduces a powerful and practical solution, one that begins not in hospitals but in the hands of farmers.
