by Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf
Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, who recently toured some rural communities within the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Lokoja, Jos, Kaduna and Bauchi, in this report, captures how agricultural revolution has lifted the rural poor above poverty
THERE are many reasons why northern Nigeria continues to hold the aces as far as food production is concerned compared to other states of the federation.
Anyone who doubts the regions’ ‘supremacy’ in the area of food production needs to visit any part of the north to erase every iota of doubt in his mind. Truth is the north still dominates the rest of the country in agriculture. Yes, if there is an area where the north literally suffers from an embarrassment of riches of some sort, it’s her rich heritage of agriculture resources including flora and fauna.
A road trip from Okene in Kogi to Abaji in FCT, Abuja to Langtang in Plateau, Kafancha in Kaduna, Ningi in Bauchi to Mayo Belwa, Mubi, Yola, all in Adamawa across other northern states of Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kebbi shows that their economy is largely driven by farming activities.
Some of the food and cash crops like sorghum, tomato, pepper, cowpea, millet, wheat, cotton, rice, yams to mention just a few are grown in commercial and subsistence quantities.
It also bears stating that a lot of people across both gender and age divides are involved in the agriculture value chain whether in the field or off field.
For instance, a visit to one of the largest and most popular open air farmers’ markets in Bakin Dogo in Kaduna, near the Kaduna Central Market, shows that majority of those involved in the marketing of farm produce are mostly women.
Why the north holds the aces in agricultural revolution
A combination of factors may be responsible for north’s good fortunes in the area of farming when compared to other parts of the country.
Musa Nafinji Yusuf, a lecturer in Agricultural Extension at the Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State, says the main reason the north has succeeded with farming thus far is because rural development within the region has been inextricably tied to agricultural development.
Going down memory lane, Yusuf recalls that the introduction of a number of initiatives may have worked in favour of the north.
“Nigerian Agricultural, Cooperative and Rural Development Bank-NACRDB, now Bank of Agriculture Limited, National Fadama Development Project-NFDP, project which is being implemented in phases, National Special Programme on Food Security-NSPFS, are some of the initiatives that are supporting agric.”
Besides he says the north has a natural endowment in terms of its conducive environment.
“The weather and its ecosystem are most suitable for planting of different food and cash crops and thankfully they have been able to harness it to their benefits.”
Echoing similar sentiments, Muhammed Usman, RUFIN Coordinator in Adamawa, Bauchi, Zamfara and Katsina states, while assessing the level of agricultural development in the northern states he oversees, said quite a lot has happened in that regard.
“We’ve strengthened and built the capacities of rural farmers over the years. We’ve linked them to sources of finance, especially to microfinance banks, financial cooperatives, financial NGOs. Hitherto they had no interactions with such institutions. As a result of our activities in the states they now deal with the banks. They transact their businesses and their lives have improved seriously.”
However for reasons of argument some analysts have said the region may have enjoyed undue advantage when compared to other parts of the country in terms of funding opportunities by successive governments at the federal level.
But Chief Olusola Isaac Dada a renowned economist and technocrat offers plausible explanation as to why the rest of the South is lagging behind in the area of farm cultivation.
According to him, it’s not a question of having an undue advantage.
“Majority of the state governments across the country get all such allocations like the ecological funds. The question to ask is to what extent has the funds been utilised? There is nothing stopping other state governments from harnessing their resources accordingly.”
Short of blaming the south for their woes, the Chairman of Anchoria Investment and Securities Limited said: “It’s only we’ve become so lazy in the south. Time was many years back when we used to have what is called the Commodity Boards. The Commodity Boards were being managed by the different regions of the country. We had the Northern Commodity Boards, the Western region Commodity Boards and we had the Eastern region Commodity Board. This was before the creation of many states. For example, for the one in the West, we had the Cocoa Board. Cocoa Board will buy the produce from farmers look for market abroad and sell the thing there.”
Pressed further, he recalled that “In the north, we had the Groundnut Commodity Board, the Cotton Commodity Board and for hides and skin. In the east, we had the palm produce commodity board. These are all the things we had then. Unlike the rest of the country which abandoned agriculture, it was not so in the north. This is because they had always believed that Nigeria will still return to agriculture. We’ve not learnt our lessons in the South. Down South you can see the rate of rural urban migration.
“Instead of staying in the villages and do farming everybody finishing secondary school wants to live with their brothers and sisters in Lagos or move to the cities in search of the ever-elusive greener pastures. I get a lot of requests most times from folks in the village. They say oh Chief Dada, your son needs job oh. They send their CVs and all sorts. That’s why a place like Lagos is overcrowded. But in the northern part of Nigeria they still believe in rural development. We’ve to learn a lesson from them.”
Vincent Yusuf, an Abuja-based journalist who is also into farming shares his own perspective. “The major reason why farming thrives in the north is because everybody considers it a serious business. So you have the push and pull factor. Majority of the civil servants in the north are government workers from 9-2pm but devote the rest of the day to their farms. In Nassarawa state for instance, land comes very cheap to acquire around here. You can literally get it for a song. Hectares of land go for as low as N500-N600, 000. That is why a lot of people are encouraged to go into farming. You can call it the northern advantage if you like.”
Abdallah Mainasara, a shoe cobbler in Lagos boasts of large farmlands in Katsina, where he grows sorghum, wheat, millet, maize and rice. According to him, majority of his folks who ply their trades in the cities have farming as their mainstay. Like him, they only return to Lagos during off farming season.
No longer at ease with oil
At a time the nation is getting dwindling oil receipts as a result of the volatility in the global oil price, the present administration under President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed its determination to diversify the economy.
It is little surprising that the Central Bank of Nigeria through initiatives like the Bank of Agriculture Anchor Borrowers’ rice and wheat production programme stepped up efforts thus far in its quest to realise government mandate. The CBN had only recently created about 500,000 jobs for farmers across the country.
The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, made the disclosure penultimate Friday during a one-day assessment tour of rice farms in Argungu and Augie Local Government Areas of Kebbi State. The CBN governor was on the entourage of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh to the farms.
Emefiele said the bank registered 70,871 farmers in Kebbi for the Anchor Borrowers Programme, adding that they had begun the cultivation of farmlands for the large-scale production of rice and wheat.
Speaking during the tour, Ogbeh re-affirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to diversifying the Nigerian economy to guarantee food security and enable the growth of a multi-sectoral economy.
The minister commended the efforts of the CBN and the Kebbi State Government for the successful implementation of the programme in the state.
He stated that the government would support rice and flour millers to establish additional milling factories for the economy to thrive.
Emefiele said the bank had provided financial support to large-scale rice farmers in the state to boost farming activities and food production.
He also commended the Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, for fully implementing the programme, calling for the provision of water-pumping machines, fertiliser, insecticides, and financial support to the farmers to ensure successful large-scale production.
Changing roles of women.
Time was when majority of the women in the north were consigned to the positions of housewives and farm hands. Thus it was a thing of taboo for women to lay claim to economic assets of any sort. But that narrative is fast changing with many women becoming economically liberated.
Thanks to initiatives like the Rural Finance Institution Building Programme (RUFIN), a pro-poor programme, today many women in the north constitutes themselves into different cooperative societies known in local parlance as ‘Adashe’ with the sole purpose of working their way out of poverty through a common front: agriculture.
Majority of these women are made up of married and divorced, single parents, widows and adolescent young ladies.
Thankfully, most of these women are beginning to earn their deserved respect from the otherwise chauvinistic male folks.
More than anything else, the men are also lending their full support to the women in a way that clearly suggests that the long held stereotype about the demeaning status of women has now given way for respect and honour for the womenfolk in their newfound roles as breadwinners.
One of such economically empowered women is Hajia Zainab Yau. Mrs. Yau who leads the Amaran Juwa Women Farmers’ Association, a group of over 25 women in Gadar Maiwa, Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi state, originally hails from Akwa Ibom state, in Southsouth Nigeria.
A proud mother of seven kids with the youngest aged 18, said she is finally living her dream. Former Miss Ekaette who has become completely accustomed to the lifestyle of the average northern woman and is very much at home with Islamic fashion told The Nation that her life is better off now than it was few years back.
The proud grandma who had contemplated divorce a few times because of the neglect is today happy with her marriage.
“From the beginning we were in total darkness. Majority of us women in this community were suffering both economically and emotionally such that some had to quit their marriage. It was really tough for all us,” she said in impeccable English which belied her rural setting.
“Thanks to programmes like RUFIN which has taught us how to fish today as we speak most of our women are dutifully engaged in one form of business across the agriculture value chain. Most of us are into mechanised farming as a group. We plant cash crops like wheat, millet, rice, sorghums. We also rear goats, rams and cows.”
With the proceeds from their chains of businesses they give out loan able funds to members at little or no interest.
Many other women groups mentored by RUFIN including the Baraya Women Foundation, Al-Heri Women Group both in Bauchi and several others scattered across the length and breadth of northern states of Kaduna, Kano, Benue, Adamawa to mention but a few are doing well for themselves.
Agriculture-driven initiatives
There are many agriculture-driven initiatives that have helped to revolutionise agriculture across the value chain. One of such initiatives is RUFIN.
RUFIN is a loan agreement of US$27.2 million between the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Federal Government of Nigeria. The central objective of the programme is to develop and strengthen Micro Finance Banks (MFBs), other member-based Micro Finance Institutions (MFls), by enhancing the access of the rural populace to the services of these institutions in order to expand and improve agricultural productivity and Micro-Small Rural Enterprises.
The goal is to alleviate poverty with a particular focus on the rural poor and especially women, youth and the physically challenged.
The programme is being implemented along with four participating institutions namely: the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB) and the Federal Department of Cooperatives (FDC).
The FGN and IFAD supported Rural Finance Institution Building Programme (RUFIN) has within one and half years of the implementation impacted on the stabilisation of the rural microfinance sector in collaboration with the CBN. The programme has been mentoring some selected MFBs, financial NGOs, financial cooperatives and the informal /community credit and savings organisations in the 12 participating states.
Shedding more light on the RUFIN initiative, Mrs. Mrs. Unekwu Ufaruna, Deputy National Programme Manager, RUFIN, said the programme has helped in no small measure to alleviate the sufferings of the rural poor, especially women in terms of providing empowerment for those engaged in farming.
“Before the advent of the programme there was dearth of credit facilities for women, especially the rural poor. But so far we’ve helped to facilitate the women into groups and also linked them to financial services providers.”
Besides, she said: “On the side of the microfinance banks, the programme intervention has led to an increase in clientele, expanded rural market for the microfinance banks. Many of the microfinance banks have graduated from being unit banks with N20million capital deposit to state banks with N100million because of a programme intervention. And the rural areas that didn’t have microfinance institutions before many of them have at least three in some local government areas.”
She readily cites the case of Sheleng, a local government area in Adamawa state which had no single microfinance bank or any commercial bank for that matter. “It’s a very large local government. But now they have at least four MFIs within the area. And the women that have assessed credit from these institutions from up to three to four times, their lives have changed. They’re very happy and they now contribute to the upkeep of their families. Their income has increased and life is going on smoothly for them.”
Speaking further, an elated Mrs Ufaruna said the level of success so far recorded with initiatives like RUFIN has been overwhelming.
At the risk of sounding immodest, she said RUFIN has done a lot in the last few years.
“It has actually enhanced the flow of financial service credit to the rural communities. Just last year alone, we trained over 400 microfinance banks on how to prepare rural business plans. They prepared their own plan for three consecutive years. They were able to make a projection of how much savings they will generate from the rural communities, how much credit they will extend to break even. And many of them have started implementing. And just six months of their implementation many of them have hit their targets and gone beyond the targets.”
To ensure sustainability, she says there are ongoing discussions as to how the states government can take ownership of the programme since RUFIN has a limited lifespan.
“That’s what we’ve been discussing with the state governments. We hope the state governments would be able to draw budget allocations for the programme even when we exit so that they can keep the work going. Thankfully, the response has been tremendous.”
Source: The Nation
This is Mira Mehta - a young American's who is a tomato farmer in Nigeria. She is a Harvard Business school graduate who is passionate about entrepreneurship and has decided to pitch her tent in Northern Nigeria, cultivating tomatoes.
