Smallholder farmers cooperative development in northern nigeria, west africa
Opportunities
ICT deployment for open development presents promising broad opportunities to inform policy for sustainable agrifood systems. Examples, m-agriculture, e-agriculture, agtech app etc. through transparent knowledge/policy advocacy interface, monitoring, evaluation.....etc.
Strategic consolidation and transition of ICT new generation into knowledge bearers and policy appraisal entities in agrifood systems development. It can be possible through capacity building for decentralized knowledge transmission to policy instrument. Focus on new generation political candidates, advocacy NGOs, private commercial knowledge packages for agrifood systems policy reform.
Russia/Ukraine conflict negative impact on global agrifood systems; covid19 lockdown that redefined food order/delivery as well as shortened information dissemination time through virtual online meeting like zoom and intensifying negative impact of climate change such as flood and bush fire are all informative warning that should reverbrate in policy listening devices for agrifood systems redesigning..
In my view that is..
Barriers
In ideal situation, cohesive agrifoods systems policy requires articulated knowledge evidence for a secured practice; at the same time knowledge-based agrifoods systems require strong policy backup for smoother operation hence the need of an official platform to abridge the knowledge-policy information synergy. A structured synergy comprising knowledge holders, agrifood systems actors and policy instruments sufficed to operationalize interests and responsibilities in the abridged synergy model. In developing nations however, there are barriers for this ideal situation to materialize:
Disorganized market system. Market provides basis for quick introduction and absorbtion of new knowledge and for adoption of new technology in order to meet business obligations. This implies that best practice knowledge-driven agrifood mechanisms hold significant promise from the bottom-up to vividly inform policy.
Lack of technical and management skills. Upstream system operators (smallholder farm producers) in their position as focal point community targeted by policy are unable to initiate demand of policy that will take good care of their interest particularly when they are aware of useful knowledge that which requires coast clearing policy. Typical issue here is the menacing activities of middlemen monopoly in Nigeria where the farmers (primary losers) cannot organize advocacy moves for collaboration with the knowledge holders in the bid to inform the policy.
Very slow digitalization process (in developing countries). This barrier is responsible for the existing huge gap between knowledge holders and the policy due to absence of many infrastructures (products and services) for real time consultation, harmonization and synergy.
Eroded public extension service. Virtual research and extension communication has a means of collecting feedback from the extension service beneficiary farming communities as evidence-based knowledge to leverage agrifood systems policy. In the absence of this vital information flow the policy is unable to sufficiently adjudge the needs of the communities. Aggravating this situation is the absence of alternative decentralized commercial extension service that would have developed commercially organized information delivery on demand by policy.
I think.
Culinary Lesson for Women – CL4W
Little effort by FNVC with significant promise to control food waste and make more food go round in the household
Lack of functional knowledge and skills on food and nutrition among housewives is responsible for their careless attitude to hygiene in food handling; excessive food loss and waste especially during kitchen preparation, and their inability to prepare and serve balanced nutrition meal to household members despite abundant food items around. All family members are affected but critically affected are new born and weaning babies, school-age children, pregnant and lactating women, the sick and elderly. This is the prevalent situation in most sub-Sahara countries that pose great concern towards achieving the SDG2 by the year 2030 (only 11 years a head). For some countries, communities and even families, culinary knowledge and skill is paramount priority now to contain hunger and malnutrition challenges within tolerable SDG2 levels where the remaining years to achieving the desired goal appears just impossible. In a community that is bedeviled with poverty, corruption and poorly enlightened yet naturally with vast food resources, vocational culinary lesson becomes most feasible option particularly for core actors (women) in the household food value chain to empower them for efficient and effective handling of food and nutrition issues in the family. It is on this premise that Food and Nutrition Vocational Center (FNVC) which is an adult education NGO provides short intensive weekend vocational training on food and nutrition for housewives in a densely local government area of Kano metropolitan in northern Nigeria. Three hours per day in borrowed classroom from local primary school within the housewives’ close surrounding area. Training focused on food hygiene and safety; household food loss and waste control, recipe innovation and homebound food business management. It is free training that lasts ten weekends and turned out 20-30 housewives every quarter (three months). An immediate opportunity that availed to the trained women is school meal business, preparing high quality safe and affordable meal to primary school pupils during morning break period. Been highly concerned caregivers to school-age children the trained women were quick to relate acquired knowledge with emerging opportunity in the ongoing official school feeding program and they are making tangible impact.
Rabiu Auwalu Yakasai
Founder/Director
FNVC
Kano Nigeria
Facilitator,
It is clear evidence during the period of ramadan fasting in Kano eggs become scarce commodity with inflated market price simply because of the flash rise of demand of the egg commodity at the on set of the fasting. In fasting period there is need of tasty, highly nutrtious food ingredient that combines easily with several other ingredients to prepare variety breakfast (Iftar) meals. Egg is one of them.
In another example, one of the states in Nigeria was informed of the benefits of egg particularly to school children, the head of government decreed every school child in the state must be served school meal that contained an egg. That contributed to increased egg demand which drive proliferation of egg production farms to meet the demand. Nutritional literacy is a good precursor of increased egg consumption, at least in this part of the world.
Thank you.
I am with Cedric point of view. Please don't drag innocent contributors to the forum into eggpolitics to make global winning views perhaps for a cornered business proposition elsewhere? I hope we are not ignorantly making good case for egg powder invasion of developing countries to the detriment of their natural egg potentials.
Rabiu Auwalu Yakasai
Stimulating Egg Demand through Upgraded Household-level Food and Nutrition Knowledge, Kano State Nigeria
Hello forum members,
Eggs are high potential food for improving maternal and child nutrition; that is if you know what it is, what it can do for you in terms of body nutrition and how to go about exploiting the egg potential. We are talking about egg and generally food knowledge and information something that is lacking among vulnerable household women who are mostly responsible for managing maternal and child nutrition at the household level in our part of the world.
One of the feasible options to increase egg demand particularly among grassroots communities in northern Nigeria; Sub Sahara West Africa is to intensify vocational training of household women on food commodities and nutrition. By tradition these category of women are shouldered with responsibility of feeding the family despite the fact that majority of them have little or none food and nutrition knowledge such that is required to make tangible impact. They don’t take good nutritional care of themselves, the babies, school children, adolescents and the aged in the family. There is a situation where head of the household is a poultry farmer producing eggs for sale only and not a bit of the egg is consumed in the household as it is mythically considered luxury that is meant only for the rich. Another sad story is of a rural-based pastoralist community that practice free-range poultry farming producing meat and egg with organic potential but they don’t consume the chickens and eggs, only to sell them while their pregnant women and underage children clearly move around with severe symptoms of chronic malnutrition. Both cases are clear testimony of food and nutrition illiteracy among grassroots communities which could be successfully tackled through learning by training. Training household women on how to differentiate egg recipes and diversify egg utilization especially for maternal and child nutrition holds significant promises for checking diet-related health conditions as well as improve business for upstream actors in the egg value chain.
Stakeholder involvement
Stakeholders such as GAIN et al. need to have direct connection with grassroots community effort in problem areas such as Kano state in Nigeria in order to provide constant guide that will align food and nutrition vocational training with national and international nutrition agenda. For example,
Food and Nutrition Vocational Center (FNVC) in Kano metropolitan is non-governmental not-for-profit adult education outfit that mobilizes household women most of them secondary school terminated and married with children now; train them on food entrepreneurship and organize them into food cooperative to promote community nutrition. Please see attached FEED program.
There are challenges but the success indicators are remarkable. Sustainable intensification of the successes is achievable by collaboration with government and agencies such as GAIN, SUN (scaling up nutrition) in areas of food cooperative management, next level nutrition training and community engagement to address maternal and child nutrition problems on wider scale.
Kindest regards,
Rabiu Auwalu Yakasai
Director
Food and Nutrition Vocational Center (FNVC)
296/3rd Av, FHE Sharada Phase 2
Gwale LGA, Kano State
Nigeria.
Hello once again members,
It is true and based on scientifc evidences that climate change has great deal of impact accelerating poverty-driven agriculture. Climate change has different effect and impact on different regions of the world. In northern Nigeria for example, may be only the learned know about the practical effects of climate change on local agriculture that leads to extreme poverty. But critical xray of the trend will highlight lack of practical knowledge and skill for managing associated agriculture-related extreme poverty. Two simultaneaous approaches are very vital with each depending on point of application and economic status of recipients:
a) Organized rural-urban farm produce marketing. This approach holds significant promises to reduce extreme poverty suffered by farm producers that have production resources yet suffer business shortcircuit. To those actors lacking production resources but can bridge the production-market demand they also have sustainable means of checking extreme poverty.
b) Strengthen agriculture-nutrition linkage. The link between agriculture industry and nutrition in our part of the world is very weak despite enormous potentials for reducing extreme poverty and improve nutrition particularly at the household and community levels.
The connecting element for these approaches is knowledge and skill given in the form of vocational training in AgFood and small food business development. Postharvest loss is very high especially perishable farm commodities. Non-perishable farm commodities are greatly underutilized with limited benefit. Both postharvest loss and underutilization of commodities occur on huge scale that made negative effect of climate change seemed irrelivant or even non-existent. But we know it is there. So the challenge really is to first of all overstretch obtainable benefits of ongoing harvests from field to market, to kitchen and table to be able to differentiate the real impact of climate change on local agricultural production and emerging associated extreme poverty. This is our situation.
Rabiu Auwalu Yakasai
Director
Food and Nutrition Vocational Center (FNVC)
Kano Nigeria
Dear Moderator,
The age range 15-17 is a crucial short transition period that comes and goes with new entrants so fast that program design and implementation must be coherent and accurate for any meaningful achievement to be made. Scale, communities and governance environment are the specifics to watch. One of the most feasible options in my opinion, for securing decent employment opportunities for 15-17 is to intensify agriculture education and skill development during the youth’s rudimentary years in school. There is now global paradigm shift to ‘Newagriculture’ consequent of climate change, bio-fuel research, rising food price, food production shortfall and globalization that is effectively enhanced by ICT phenomenon. By implications of positive and negative impact on local agriculture say in Nigeria, it is very important to equally redesign the traditional agriculture curriculum and incorporate diverse practical aspects for intensive skills development.
Tradition
In Nigeria, the traditional education system that a child must pass through consists of the followings:
1) Common Entrance Examination designed to filter primary school pupils for secondary education
2) West African Examination Council (WAEC) examination is to certify secondary school completion
3) Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination to validate WAEC qualification in preparing for university registration. 4) National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) examination is designed for career pursue by youth with entrepreneurship indications
Present-day Approach
Due to increasing youth population and corresponding mounting pressure to create employment opportunities for the 15-17-18, an index new-agriculture examination (INDEX) is urgently required to filter out apt secondary school agric-entrepreneurs for special advance training and or engagement by industry operators. Underage may bear legal problem but in such a dire food insecurity and unemployment situations it is far better to engage the 15-17 in agric-industries than to be allowed to drift into the crime industry. The choice is really ours.
Piloting INDEX examination
A ten to twenty-year experiment could be launched in developing countries to pilot INDEX examination concept for 15-17 agric-entrepreneurship development. INDEX curriculum designers should bear in mind the different skills demand of 15-17-18 for securing decent employment. Decent agriculture-based employment hinges on capable knowledge and skills.
Starting point
The starting point for INDEX launching bears in the core activities of the young farmers club (YFC) in primary and secondary schools. In fact, INDEX examination designers should be urged to provide training modules and classroom learning activities for YFC development. ICT contribution to pilot networking, scaling and replication of the INDEX system through m-agriculture, e-farming and Open Data management, the Internet and Mobile phone can be made highly available in rural primary/secondary schools to accelerate the effort. It may be worth trying.
Thank you.
Dear Moderator,
I hope I am not getting to the nerves by appearing to be making excess inputting into the forum. If so, please bear with me for I cannot help it because as per as I am concerned the issue on hand is equivalent to designing new molding machine to produce building blocks for rebuilding the failed Nigerian state. I am so happy to be part of it all with the hope things will pick up for better of future Nigeria.
I concur with Mr Robert Kibaya of KIRUCODO Uganda on youth lacking seriousness. You see, In Nigeria youth negative attitude to agriculture is also a product of ‘LIVE GOOD WORK LESS’ system that was perpetrated by unpatriotic corrupt leaders. Generally, youth of the age in focus are at two-barrel social-gun point. One barrel is leadership system that flourish corruption of the highest order and it radiates from petroleum fortunes of the country but not agriculture or taxpayer’s. The second barrel is life style demonstrated by off-springs of the corrupted leaders and their cohorts. The effect on up-coming youth is loathing agriculture, its practitioners and advocators alike. Corrupt leaders are all over the place rural and urban hence their off-spring too who cannot hide their gaudy life style of riding latest car models at under 18, dressing in exquisite movie-styled local attire, distorting marriage folk norms and living in electricity wired tall concrete fenced house often referred to as ‘private prison’ by victims of the system.
Poisoned minds of ‘normal youth’ suddenly develop into a rush to make money and live similar pseudo life style. In school they pursue accountancy and banking courses with the intension to become cashiers in secured employment but certainly not interested in pursuing agriculture-based courses or become owners of farm business. Those that failed to continue schooling because the social disease has become serious canker worm boring deeply inside them, such youth can list all the team members of Manchester united football club off-head with no mistake. But for sure ask them to differentiate maize and bean at germination stage you will be disappointed.
Whether we like it or not, these youth will by next 30 years be children bearers and leaders by design or mistake, let us work towards the positive. Majority of all religious disaster in the country have large youth content. Just recently, youth of the lower post 18 are found involved in kidnapping for a ransom (emerging fast money making industry in Nigeria), latest involving woman senator that which has now prompted national and state assembly debate to pass a bill with heavy penalty - to hopefully contain escalation of the crime?
The challenge is herculean. Restoring youth mindset on agriculture, give them knowledge and skill, encourage legitimate productivity, create sustainable opportunities for them and strategize to retain them on the job to the point they become mentors and advocators of agribusiness to new upcoming youth generation.
Thank you.
Dear Jacqueline, the moderator
Please find attached an article on what Buhari [Muhammadu Buhari, President of Nigeria, Ed.] said about Youth employment.
I just came across it in my inbox. Take the relevant part of the information on youth, agriculture, stakeholders, productivity etc and throw away the rest. What a timely coincidence, FSN Forum on youth empowerment and Nigeria's verbal insinuative search of solutions and direction. Please intervene ASAP
Happy link reading
Rabiu
Dear Jacqueline, the Moderator
There is one approach that provides inbuilt answer to the interesting rather ‘digging out’ questions that you set
The answer could be embedded in the third inquiry you made on education and vocational training and you was searching for cases? How about this
Typical Case
Education and agricultural vocational training used to go hand-in-hand in young farmers club (YFC) program that was famous and effective in Nigeria from colonial era to post independence years spanning up to the 80s when the YFC started disappearing in primary and secondary schools. YFC is collaboration between ministry of education (curriculum management and garden site) and ministry of agriculture (agriculture policy and expertise input) is typical case where policy and programme design deeply rooted. But policy, design and implementation in today’s dispensation all need to be redesigned to accommodate contemporary social and economic changes in society.
The new changes will bring in students of tertiary institutes (universities, poly-techniques, colleges) to prepare the youth towards accessing financial services, join or form producer associations and participate in national agricultural programmes. Thus, in tertiary institutes there is need to have Students Agribusiness Club (SAC) to complement members of the YFC that are on the rise in the education system.
The Required Changes
Hello everyone, kindly check the attachment as promised earlier on regarding 15 to 17.
The youth can be source of problems to their own survival when they fail to harness their potential resources together. Typical example is trust, confidence and unity among themselves. In a setting where production factors (land, water, climate) and government support work in favour of the youth it is only the youth’s attitude and ability to grab the opportunities would salvage them from bad policy, political polarization and misrepresentation in development programs mostly designed for them. Youth input through advocacy for program planning, execution and monitoring is vital to ensuring maximum benefit.
In a situation where government is providing strategic support and creating opportunities for the youth, time and accuracy of implementation of the target program often becomes a means to its conclusive end. General elections cut short political administrations while running good youth program which if the gestation period is not reached in time the required impact would never materialize. Accuracy of program implementation is dependent on community specifics and to lesser extent local environment from start to finish which makes it highly critical in accessing youth chances for improved agro-based livelihoods in the rural areas.
More details in the attached case study on Empowerment for youth-driven commodity chain development (EYDCCD) program
Thank you.
In Kano State, northern Nigeria, rural youth of the 15-17 age range seriously face agriculture-related problems with profound negative consequences on their livelihood.
Suppression
The Youth suffer minority maltreatment particularly regarding active participation in the activities of producer associations/cooperatives. They are considered naïve. This suppressive attitude is mainly coming from dominant elders within the farmers groups many of whom are close relatives to the youth as typified in rural setting. By tradition, local producer association or cooperative societies are heterogeneous comprising age groups, size of farm holding and type of farm operation (crop, livestock, irrigation, fishery, processing etc). This suggests the youth considered here are resourceful in terms of production factors (land and water). Some of the youth exhibit great potentials for good leadership roles while others are undergoing training in computer-based entrepreneurship for self improvement. Possible solution to youth suppression in producer groups is to identify and regroup youth that exhibit high potentials for intensive training in decentralized agribusiness development. Every local government area of the state should have at least an apex youth producer association (AYPASS) that is highly empowered in leadership, financial and agric-venture management in rural setting.
Blocked opportunity
Practicing youth farmers are clearly blocked from accessing agricultural programs designed to benefit and uplift their agric entrepreneurship status. Blocking youth opportunity is practiced by unruly officials as well as highly placed politicians in the corridors of power. Suitable upcoming youth practicing farmers are replaced by relatives and loyalists of the powers that be. Under this trend the affected youth are rendered frustrated, helpless and agriculturally incapacitated and left with no option than to increase the population of rural-urban migrants. Possible solution to blocking agribusiness opportunity for rural youth is to mobilize participants through AYPASS.
Lack of unity of purpose
This is a continuous hereditary problem that is been passed from old to new generation in rural areas. The rural farming communities do not have sense of unity for collective drive to tackle problems that bedeviled their farming occupation. This is worse during farm produce trading and farm inputs procurement as individuals preferred to do it alone and not in group thereby reducing their profit potential due to increased cost of transaction. The situation explains reasons behind collapse of several pilot intervention agricultural projects in the area. Without farmers operating in unison scaling up and replication of project successes within the focal point farming communities cannot be possible. Possible solution is to organize scaling and replication of successful intervention projects through AYPASS.
Mismanagement of group fund
Fundraising in producer organizations seizes to be successful simply because of leadership mismanagement of fund and the culprits normally get away with it unpunished. In fact, whistle blowers in the group end up taking the bashing that which the offenders ought to have received. The awful trend has seriously poisoned the minds of fresh upcoming youth in the system to the extend some of them believe that it is universally an accepted norm while it is not. The cumulative effect is lost of confidence and trust between members of the producer group and most unfortunate among the upcoming youth themselves. Possible solution is to build AYPASS on standard accounting practice together with provision of broad based connection to finance institutes for funding organizational and business programs.
Vanity
Another killing hereditary problem that is continuously passed to new generation youth is disregard to new knowledge that which concerns their traditional way of farming. Most valued items in life as upheld by rural farmers are land, livestock and traditional knowledge of farming passed from ancestors. An agricultural specialist who comes to assist them is gauged on this bigheaded belief and so there is a limit to penetrating their minds with new knowledge and skill brought to them. To break this problem there is need for continuous field demonstrations on commercial farm operations by AYPASS in the local government area. AYPASS can be supported with ICT devices for effective participation, coverage and outreach and AYPASS office complex can also serve as centre for Open Data exchange, digestion and dissemination for local use.
Girl youth of 15-17 age range
Traditionally girls of this age range are either under preparation for marriage soon or are considered approaching expiry time for marriage as it all depends on many social considerations. Major farm activities they engage upon include post harvest operations such as maize picking, cereal winnowing but certainly not crop management in the field. They are not accepted to participate in producer organizations even when the organization is exclusively for women because of their tender age and the family development role expected of them. Before the marriage and in many cases in post marriage, girl youth of 15-17 have active role in home-bound food business for selling to various outside customers. Examples include boiled/roasted maize, traditional snacks, roast peanut, boiled cassava, and cooked Moringa leaf, fresh vegetables, in front of the house, house to house or in schools, maternity clinics, ministries, Motor Park etc. Girl youth food hawking is a long tradition that can descend to great grand children in a family. Girl food business in food value chain consists of value addition; marketing and servicing that could be refined to benefit wider community members in the rural setting. Because it is a long time tradition with a market value and very important means of stable income to matrimonial women the girl food business has significant potentials to reduce household level poverty and increase self-reliance jobs if properly organized.
In an attempt to reduce the negative impact of these social and economic problems facing Kano state youth, the government introduced new program in 2011 tagged: Empowerment for Youth-Driven Commodity Chain Development (EYDCCD). The program started with camping youth (both gender) in various institutes for three months intensive training on different food commodities that are locally produced.
Case study on the government program will be posted soon.
Thank you.
Hello Stefano. Good topic of high relevance to facilitate on global level. I just hope a more relevant strategy would be the outcome to be in favor of the group in focus. Most of your questions are answers to themselves when read in reverse being they are revealing and create awareness about a salient issue which seem to be helping authorities but with little policy incentive to address the issue, at least in developing countries.
Pl check my little contribution as attachment below.
Thank you.
Dear FSN Forum Coordinator, It is a good timing for this particular topic at least for us in Nigeria because it presents opportunity for everyone in the policy corridors to see the global trend affecting cooperative societies. May be that would trigger action in the direction most considerate for the required cooperative development. Kindly check the attachment for my contribution.
Mr. Rabiu Auwalu Yakasai
Q1. How can FAO and CSOs work together to regain the momentum lost and work jointly to "leave no one behind”?
Soften the country-level approach and action to be
- producer-focussed in the grassroots
- driven by community specifics such as culture and religion
- aware of digitalization process level
- highly considerate of communities abilities, aptitudes and attitudes
- realistically concerned about information dissemination and level of awareness about the SDGs.
Also FAO et al to encourage farmer groups to develop leadership structures from the bottom-up and ensure participatory-producer project appraisal and planning at the different leadership structures i.e. community, ward, local government, district, state and region. It is a herculean task to achieve in Africa, my region in particular, but then it is either this approach or let it be "business as usual" on the control of the central power corridor and forget the SDGs progress, nothing else. After all no time, considering the Question 1 context and needed direction.
Mr. Rabiu Auwalu Yakasai
Q2. What and how can CSOs contribute to such transformation to boost impact on the ground?
In northern nigeria sub-sahara west africa where agriculture system is smalholder driven, farmers cooperatives need to comply to good agricultural practices (GAP), good agronomic practices, food safety standards and best practice cooperative good governance so as to enhance sustainable food systems transformation, improved food security and job creation for the youths...men and women. To achieve these elements, capacity building (knowledge and skill, good cooperative governance, organization procedures and equipment for administration and value addition to farm produce) is required to upgrade the farmers cooperatives to make them suitable agribusiness partners with external investors, academic, finance and research institutes, commodity exchange markets and ppp venture with government atleast if only for collective tax revenue to the government other benefits aside.
To set the ball rolling, starter catalyst funding is required to activate resident consultant to work with the farmers and set up best practice cooperative governance and commercialization processes that will eventually drive internal capitalization (InCap) from the members to fund subsequent needed capacity building in collaboration with appropriate agencies.
All food, local raw material and export farm produce should have a regional or state pilot envisioned model cooperative for scaling up vertically and horizontally across local government areas. Concept note applicable to the areas under focus (over 100 million smallholder farmers) can be available to demand.
Thank you