Poverty is like a hallmark of agriculture in Nigeria. Like most parts of Africa, farmers wear it as a badge of dishonour.
Millions of farmers have done the same thing year in, year out, for decades. Toeing the paths of their fathers and those before them who frolicked with poverty in their lifetime, they farm, struggling to produce low yield output that is often of inferior quality and after all the toiling, still left at the mercy of middlemen.
Tens of millions of farmers are often unable to scale up their production, with many struggling with poverty due to a combination of low productivity, poor market access, and lack of training in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). They also struggle with little or no mechanization, poor storage, high post-harvest losses, inadequate input supplies and access to finance.
However, there is a silent, yet visible revolution, which is not only creating impact, but also has the capacity for greater economic good in farming communities across the African continent. Over the last decade, the concept of ‘Outgrower schemes/programmes’ has contributed to changing the fortunes of farmers by fixing many of the challenges identified. One farmer at a time and several thousand others following in succession, farmers are being gradually taken out of poverty. Replicated with more purposefulness across the continent, it could even contribute substantially to the first two goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); ‘No poverty’ and ‘Zero Hunger’.
For seven years, Mimi Hwande cultivated rice on one hectare of land in Guma Local Government Area of Benue state, Nigeria, a period during which she says, “I could not boast of anything.” When pests destroyed her rice farm, like many farmers she knew, she would believe it was “a traditional problem”. When a particular pest attacked the crops, she said the leaves turned reddish as though hot water was poured on the plants.
Like her, the flabbergasted farmers would think some spirits visited their farms at night at the behest of rivals and enemies; real or imagined. Today, she has become enlightened to know this is, in fact, a scientific problem that she now addresses with pesticides rather than spiritual warfare.
“With the aid of Olam and IFAD, we are supplied with chemicals to ensure the pest does not finish all our rice,” said Hwande in a phone interview. In 2017, she joined the Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Olam Nigeria where her group of 25 farmers cultivate 100 hectares at 4 hectares per farmer.
Asked what her farm yield was before joining the VCDP, she laughed hysterically, and it seemed the question was an unintended joke. “Highest, four!” she repeated twice, explaining all she got from one hectare of rice cultivation was four bags of paddy rice (averaging 75kg each) before joining the programme. As of last year (2019), she got 35 bags per hectare at harvest, a growth of almost nine fold. From not being able to boast of anything as she puts it, Hwande has built a modest 3-bedroom house where her family lives.
She is one of 18,646 farmers who have benefitted from the Olam partnership with IFAD/VCDP in Benue and Taraba states since 2015. Countrywide, Olam says it now engages 33,514 smallholder farmers in its rice farming initiatives, growing exponentially from 475 farmers five years ago.
The VCDP programme, which kicked off in Nigeria in 2014 focused on holistic and demand-driven approach to addressing constraints along the cassava and rice value chains. It does so through an inclusive strategy, strengthening the capacity of actors along the chain – including producers and processors – as well as public and private institutions, service providers, policy-makers and regulators, according to information on the IFAD website.
According to Nadine Gbossa, country representative for IFAD in Nigeria, the programme was initiated because of food security issues and the need to find opportunities to generate wealth for smallholder farmers in Nigeria. The country, she said, has a huge food market with a population of about 200 million people with smallholder farmers contributing about 90 percent of domestic food. However, there is a huge gap filled by imports, necessitating the programme as a way of supporting farmers to “take advantage of this food market and produce for Nigeria so that they can come out of poverty”. This is only one example of several Outgrower Programmes that have been deployed across Nigeria.
When a restriction on accessing foreign exchange for the importation of maize was announced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in July, 2020, many local processors using the commodity saw it as bad news that would put a huge strain on their operations.
For Nestle Nigeria Plc, however, this was going to be a reward for its investments in local sourcing. For at least four years, the company reports it has sourced 100 percent of the maize used in its cereal brands – Cerelac and Golden Morn – through the Nestlé Cereals Plan. Not only maize, but also sorghum and soybeans used in Milo and Maggi respectively.
The five major locally sourced products (average volume per annum) were; Corn – 10,000 metric tonnes; Sorghum – 6,500 metric tonnes; Soya Beans – 5,000 metric tonnes; Cassava Starch – 4,000 metric tonnes; Cocoa – 5,000 metric tonnes.
By sourcing over 80 percent of its raw and packaging materials locally, Nestle has over the years provided a steady source of livelihood for over 46,000 smallholder farmers who supply grains to its factories every day.
This on one hand has ensured the company has a guaranteed supply system, while at the same time, empowering thousands of local farmers to remain productive. For Nestle, Mauricio Alarcon its former CEO in Nigeria said in an interview that the company has partnered with organisations like IITA, IFDC and USAID to promote sustainable farming practices while increasing yield and quality.
Outcomes include increased productivity; increase in household incomes by over 18 percent; and reduction in factory gate rejection of grains from over 30 percent to below 4 percent all in 18 months, according to information provided by the company. Left on their own and not coordinated into an Outgrower Network, farmers would have continued struggling with poor yields of crops with less desirable qualities.
In yet another example, 65,000 smallholder farmers in Nigeria out of which 80 percent are expected to be women are benefiting from quality land, seeds, fertilizers, mechanization, and storage over the next two years. Launched by the Mastercard Foundation, the program focuses on building food security and increasing digital and financial inclusion within the most vulnerable farming communities.
The $20.4 million programme by the Mastercard Foundation program, which is aimed at helping the country reverse the pandemic’s impacts on food security and bolster it even further will help farmers increase their farm productivity and incomes. To achieve this, Mastercard is working with Alluvial Agriculture, to enable participants significantly improve yields, for example from 2.5 tons of rice per hectare to 4.5, or from 1.5 tons of maize to 4 tons per hectare.
When the average farmer wakes up to start a new planting season, he/she is confronted with a myriad of challenges, starting from the inputs to actual farming, and the uncertainty of an offtaker at harvest. “How do I get the seeds, fertilizer, or cash to farm,” many would ask. Following this they ask, “Who will buy from me”? Neglecting the waves of uncertainty, the farmer goes through months of tilling the soil to ensure food is produced; a modest contribution towards ensuring food security.
“When you’re producing, you are anxious on who will buy your product,” said Martha Zemehe, a law graduate of Kogi State University and a former bank staff, who is now a farmer in Nasarawa. “The buyer is already there,” she said, referring to her participation in the VCDP programme, which guarantees offtake for her harvests, even after production had been supported.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, which has slowed economic activity across the world, Reji George, vice president for Farming Initiatives at Olam International Limited, expressed the view that it is a time that requires all stakeholders to give more importance to food security. “There is no better time to have these (kinds of) food security initiatives across the globe,” he said.
Ruth Kyase was farming half a hectare before joining the VCDP in 2016 and was getting two or three bags at harvest. She now cultivates three hectares where she gets up to 40 bags, a growth of more than 12 folds.
“This has helped a lot,” said Kyase who holds an NCE from the College of Education in Oju, Benue state. She was also not using fertiliser before, but now has access not only to fertiliser but also knowledge of how to use it on account of her participation in the programme.
Her living conditions and that of her family have improved, and in a phone interview, said she is now able to assist her husband in paying bills, especially school fees for their children.
According to Gbossa, data at IFAD’s disposal shows that smallholder farmers have increased their income by 79 percent, and they market about 90 percent of their production, on account of participation in Outgrower Programmes. “When you market 90 percent of your produce, it means that you are generating a significant income and a profit,” she said.
As more Outgrower initiatives are unveiled, not just in Nigeria, but also across Africa, the cycle of poverty that has constrained millions of smallholder farmers in an unending rat race might just get broken. For now, the few thousands that are lucky to have been captured in one Outgrower Programme or the other are coasting free on the fringes of poverty, but to get farther away from it, more needs to be done.
