The Agricultural Credit Corporation of Oyo State(ACCOS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are set to roll out initiatives to support cassava farmers to boost production. DANIEL ESSIET reports.
Iseyin, Oyo State is a rural community life where people farm and look after their livestock to earn a living.
Young unemployed graduates have moved to the community to farm. To them, Iseyin offers an alternative to unemployment.
That is why the Chief Executive Officer of Eagleson and Nito Concepts, Ms. Nike Tinubu, has come in to help.She is part of those boosting cassava production. A successful cassava producer, she has sited her cassava flour processing plant in Iseyin, thereby creating jobs.
She has built her success on an- inclusive business model that places smallholder farmers at the centre of her operations.
Having started at Lagos State Agriculture Youth Empowerment Scheme, popularly known as “Agric-YES” Settlement at Arago Poka Street, Agric, Epe, Lagos, she later moved to Aba-Ola Iseyin Local Government Area, Oyo State to acquire 1000 acres for cultivation of starchy root, which has allowed her to expand source of raw materials. Initially, she started working with few farmers, engaging them to cultivate cassava on some parts of her 1000-acre farm.
Through her experience in the cassava sector, she observed that when farmers transported their cassava over very long distance, the starch content could drop from 17 to five per cent and tubers would often rot. The proximity of the factory to the farmers ensures that good quality, mature cassava tubers with high starch content are processed within 24 hours, avoiding unnecessary losses.
The steady supply generated by these local farmers has allowed the company to maintain a relatively stable price throughout the year to undercut international pricing. She explained that cassava also has a high water content and starts to degrade rapidly after harvesting. It has to be processed within 48 hours of being lifted.
With many production areas riddled with logistical issues, including bad roads, she noted that centralised processing is a viable option. She had to establish her processing factory with the farm area to enable her process it there after harvest.
A life time spent on cassava production, has made Ms Tinubu an ardent advocate for people- focused solutions to agricultural problems.
She has built a business relationship with smallholder farmers in the farming community in Iseyin, and further enhance women’s roles in agriculture across the cassava value chains. As markets and demand for agricultural produce change, she provides women with opportunities to step out of roles as laborers and subsistence farmers.
However, governments have begun to realise the huge potential for the plant as a driver of rural development. The market for cassava’s commercial and industrial use has started to grow. Its root starch is now in demand from food and beverage companies for bread and beer production. It can also be used in plywood and pharmaceuticals, as well as feedstock for the production of ethanol biofuel.
To boost national cassava volume, Ms Tinubu is working Agricultural Credit Corporation of Oyo State(ACCOS) to find practical ways to make farming work for the people.
She had been experimenting with marketing inside and outside the state, but with the outgrower scheme organised by ACCOS. She has provided a standard market for micro cassava farmers producing cassava on her farm to support her high quality cassava flour factory within the area.
The corporation collaborated with Ms Tinubu to support the micro producers with technical assistance, production plans, provision of stems, among others.
ACCOS funds 200 acres of cassava plantation on her farm.
Ms Tinubu said increased cultivation of cassava had boosted its processing into flour and reduced the challenge of sourcing for raw materials.
She said more farmers were now cultivating cassava tubers because of availability of ready markets.
Mrs Tinubu said cassava processing into flour was becoming easier because of exposure and support from the government on cassava flour processing.
The project enables her organisation in partnership with ACCOS to provide employment for local youth by creating sales, mechanic and support staff jobs, which has the added benefit of slowing migration from Oyo State’s key agricultural production areas.
She explained that youths migrate for employment daily due a lack of employment opportunity and capital constraints in their own communities, a phenomena that directly contributes to agricultural yield loss.
She believes that the role of both rural and urban spaces for rebuilding food systems is ever more relevant.
Success for entrepreneurs such as Ms Tinubu allows farming households to access innovative, scale-appropriate technology, increase employment for youth and boost cropping system productivity, all of which are needed to sufficiently and sustainably increase food production for future generations.
The government is spending money trying to improve production and create a food supply chain around cassava.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, Oyewole Oyewumi said the government would empower cassava producers through the state’s funded Anchor Borrower’s programme introduced by ACCOS.
He explained that ACCOS is saddled with financing peasant farmers in the state through her soft loan programme but with the global trend of agricultural financing in line with government diversification agenda, the agency is restructured towards financing farming under the “Home grown anchor borrowers’ scheme” to showcase agriculture as a business rather than hobby.
In partnership with Eagleson and Nito Concepts, Oyewumi explained that the government is funding of 200 acres of cassava plantation.
Oyewumi said the project was designed to support the farmers to increase their yield, enhance sustainable profit and boost food security in the state.
An Agribusiness Specialist with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Dr Nelson Abila, said his organisation was working with high quality cassava producers, such as Ms Tinubu to provide them with technical support to earn higher income.
According to him, the organisation trains farmers to maximise productivity and meet stringent quality requirements.
By improving their farming and business practices, he said the farmers would be creating a more prosperous future for their families and oft-marginalised community.
The other goal, he explained, is to create a more efficient and profitable processing center by investing in upgraded equipment and ensuring quality control.
Abila said UNDP is supporting the government objectives of making agriculture and food processing more productive and competitive, and increasing private sector participation and investment in agribusiness.
He said UNDP is committed to the revival of Nigeria’s agricultural industry and will continue to improve the agricultural enterprise model so that it supports the government’s policy to promote food security.
According to him, the organisation’s value chain development approach include supporting farmers and agro entrepreneurs to improve their productivity and increase their yields, and address challenges of access to finance and upscaling processing operations.
