In 2018, Nigeria ranked as a country with the largest number of people living in extreme poverty; putting the figure at 87 million. However, European Union and Oxfam International are pulling the worst, hit rural communities of Northern Nigeria out of poverty, reports ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE.
Having identified the rural communities as major contributors to the poverty figure, the European Union (EU) and Oxfam International have rolled out a four-year sustainable project tagged: Pro-resilience Action (PROACT). The project was aimed at improving food security, nutrition and livelihood of poor farming households in 70 rural communities of Kebbi and Adamawa states.
Implemented in Kebbi by Development Exchange Centre (DEC), the 11 million Euros project has reinforced the capacities of the poor households, who rely solely on agriculture and other natural resource-based livelihoods.
On a monitoring tour of the project in three local government areas of Birnin-Kebbi, Jega and Danko Wasagu in Kebbi State, it was observed that the locals have embraced the life-changing project as many of them narrated their success stories.
The project has many components,including Establishment of Village Savings and Loans Association; Farmers’ Training Field School; Conditional and Unconditional Cash Transfer; Income Generating Activities Training; Farm Inputs Distribution; Food Loan; Livestock Transfer; Tree Planting; Health and Nutrition Training and Linkage of Farmers to Input Suppliers and Produce Off-takers, among others.
In the area of farming, The Nation learnt that 692 lead farmers, who were earlier trained across the 30 communities of the project in Kebbi State, have, in turn, trained over 13,000 farmers through their Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) groups.
The farmers have acquired skills and expertise in pre-season preparations, in-season farm practices, post-harvest practices, Agribusiness skills and climate change mitigation strategies.
The farmers are reporting over 60 per cent increase in yield as a result of skills acquired from their respective Farmers’ Training Field Schools (FTFS), while more farmers are engaged in small agribusinesses thus: increasing their household income and stable food security.
At one of the training farms in Machika, Danko Wasagu Local Government Area, Malam Yusuf Shehu Rikoto, an Extension agent trained by Oxfam said his students were doing well, ready to go and step down the training in their various communities.
He said: “One of the major things we teach the farmers is Agro-eco-system analysis (AESA). Early in the morning, we go round the farm, see what is happening, and if there is any problem, we take care of it immediately.
“We observed that, before now, farmers were not doing AESA; they don’t apply fertiliser twice and they were not doing correct spacing. Now, we have taught them all that, and they have started saying that, ‘so, we have been wasting our time, energy and resources doing the wrong things before.’
“Now, our trained farmers get up to 60 bags of maize per hectre, as against 10 they used to get in the past. In fact, there is a woman here, who got five bags from one hectre before. Because they used to leave too much space thinking it allows enough ventilation for the plants and yield better.”
Mr. Bedi Gobo is one of the trained farmers. While he learnt at the demonstration field, Gobo had experimented on his own farm, which he said has yielded well, earned him a bumper harvest and improved the economy of his household.
“PROACT project has opened our eyes. The kind of harvest we used to get in two hectares before is what we now get in a quarter of an hectare. We have now realised that we were wasting much energy and resources to cultivate large space of land for little output.
“For example, this demonstration plot where we have gotten these 10 bags of maize is just quarter of an hectare. Now, imagine we used to farm this size of land in 10 places and it is by God’s grace that we used to get up to 10 bags. But, look at this one now; because they taught us how to plant, weed and take care of the farm, we now plant small to harvest plenty, instead of looking for a big field without the requisite knowledge.
“This project has really improved my life and that of my family, because away from the subsistence farming that I used to do, I now feed my family well and still have produce to take to the market for sale,” he said.
Gobo’s wife, Mrs. Lami is not left out in the life-changing programme. She said: “I farm maize and I also benefited from the modern maize farming techniques. We have been trained on how to plant maize, how to apply fertilisers, as against the traditional way of doing it.
“Now, with the new method, we are getting more yields for less seeds and less fertiliser. We used to put fertiliser at the base of every plant before, but now, we have been taught to put in-between two plants and it is serving the plants more than before.
“As a woman with small farm, I used to get one bag of maize from my farm. And I used to think that the land is not good, that is why the yield always comes out poorly. So, after the training, I have been using the same field and it is now yielding very well. This year now, I got eight bags.
“Now, my plan is to expand my field so that I can plant more and harvest more. As my husband is trying his best, I can also assist the economy of the family.”
Haliru Aliyu Wasagu, a Sorghum farmer in Wasagu Ketare community, said the Oxfam fertiliser distribution programme and the farmers’ training have benefited him greatly, as his farm produce have continued to improve yearly.
He told The Nation that: “We have witnessed a lot of transformation since the coming of PROACT project. Under the project, we were given fertilisers and asked to pay half of the cost of the fertiliser and we paid the balance after harvest.
“The Oxfam fertiliser project solved almost half of the farmers’ problems here. Before now, our major problem has been fertiliser. Getting government’s fertilisers comes with a lot of problems; they send allocation from state, you have to travel long distance to get it and sometimes we don’t get it, the large-scale farmers buy everything before we get there, sometimes when we get it, it comes too late.
“So, the Oxfam fertiliser project comes to us very easily and at cheaper rate. They didn’t just give us fertilisers; they educated us on the modern way of applying fertilisers. Before now, we used to put fertilisers on the surface and close to the root of every plant. Now, they came and taught us that we don’t need to expose the fertilisers and we just need to bury in-between two ridges. And that has been working.
“I started getting the Oxfam fertiliser in 2017 and I was trained in the same year. Since then, my output has been improving yearly. I used to cultivate this same size of land, two-and-a- half hectares and I used to harvest about eight to 10 bags. But, since 2017 till date, there has been great improvement.
“Last year, I planted maize here, then, I harvested 30 bags of maize. This year, I have planted Sorghum on the same field, as you can see, with the way it has yielded, I am expecting not less than 45 to 50 bags. Aside that, I have even planted cotton in between the Sorghum and it’s yielding well too,” he said.
Apart from farming, the locals have equally made the most of the other components of the PROACT project. Housewives who were hitherto financially dependent on their husbands for little household expenses are now economically active and have become financially supportive to their families.
While some of the women, who are members and beneficiaries of the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA), created their own businesses, others trained under Income Generating Activities (IGA) component are equally thriving in their soap, petroleum jelly and room air freshener production and sales businesses.
Oxfam Nigeria’s Governance and Influencing Coordinator, Faleye Usman explained how the VSLA works. He said: “It is a group of 15- 25 people, who save together and take small loans from those savings. Members save through the purchase of between 1 – 5 shares every meeting. The Loan Fund comprised money contributed in the form of shares and loan profits. The group may have a social fund from which grant may be given to support members in difficult times as agreed by the members of the group. VSLA runs in cycle of 12 months. This is aimed at bringing about financial inclusion for the rural dwellers that are mostly excluded from the complex modern financial institutions.”
Also, Influencing Coordinator of Development Exchange Centre, Bamaiyi Enoch said some of the components of the PROACT projects are now being adopted by the local governments, giving example of Birnin-Kebbi Local Government Area, which is now replicating the IGA in 15 communities outside the PROACT’s coverage.
“That is exactly what we want; we want government to adopt the models of our programne, because this project cannot continue forever. Most farmers do not necessarily need handouts, but require support to improve their productivity. timely delivery of quality intervention, particularly those related to farm inputs generally motivates farmers and increases their productivity,” he said.
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