Глобальный форум по продовольственной безопасности и питанию (Форум FSN)

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Д-р. Taibat Moji Yusuf

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Организация: Kwara State University, Malete
Страна: Нигерия
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i am currently working on economic analysis of Moringa oleifera technology an alternative bio compatible and biodegradable fertilizer for maize production in Guinea Savannah. The aim is to replace the inorganic fertilizer ( which is scarce, expensive and injurious to both soil and environment) with a bio-fertilizer which is cheap and is soil and environmental friendly. This is hoped to increase the soil fertility without stress, increase the maize output and consequently increase the the income and livelihood of the rural farmers

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    • 1. Under what conditions can agriculture succeed in lifting people out of poverty? particularly those households with limited access to productive resources

      Agriculture can succeed in lifting people out of poverty through contract farming,

      1. Contract farming: There are many constraints facing small farmers in developing countries including Nigeria that limit their potential to increase productivity and income. First, they lack information about production methods and market opportunities, particularly for crops that they do not normally grow. Second, even with sufficient information about profitable investments, small farmers often lack the necessary financial reserves.  Access to credit is limited by the lack of collateral and/or by the high interest rates demanded. Third, small farmers operating near subsistence are more risk averse than large farmers. They generally prefer to assure themselves a minimum supply of food before expanding commercial production for an uncertain market. (Bijman,2008).

      One institutional form which deals with many of these constraints in an integrated manner is the  contract farming (Minot, 1986). It constitutes a potential way of overcoming market imperfections, minimizing transaction costs and gaining market access by smallholder farmers.

      Contract farming as defined by Will (2013) is a forward agreements specifying the obligations of farmers and buyers as partners in business, specifying farmers’ (sellers’) legal obligation to supply the volumes and qualities as specified, and the buyers’ (processors’/ traders’) obligation to off-take the goods and release the payments as agreed and buyers providing embedded services such as: upfront delivery of inputs (e.g. seeds, fertilizers, plant protection products)); pre-financing of input delivery on credit and other non-financial services (e.g. extension, training, transport and logistics)

      In many developing economies, contract farming has been recognized by both policy makers and analysts as a new development model or paradigm for linking small-holders to markets. (ActionAid, 2015). It has become an attractive policy instrument to assist small farmers to gain access to markets, information, credits, and necessary services to manage their risk.(Minot, 1986). Nigeria is one of the developing countries where contract farming practices has been gaining importance, as agriculture remains critical economic sector in terms of its contribution to the economy and employment opportunities. The agricultural sector in Nigeria is dominated by smallholder farmers who operate at the subsistence level with minimal level of commercialization while producers with larger landholdings may have access to capital, marketing information and institutional support.

      In this view, contract farming can help farmers move from subsistence production of low-value staple foods to commercial production of higher-value crops, allowing them access to the wider economy and raising their income (Eaton and Shepherd 2001).

      2. What is the role of ensuring more sustainable natural resources management in supporting the eradication of poverty?

      Poverty is more dominant in rural area where a larger proportion of population depends on natural resource such as land, water, forest and livestock for their livelihood. Unproductive use of resources has led to resource degradation which appeared to be major cause of poverty. Sustainable natural resource mgt leads to growth of food and also enhanced income of poor. Income is one of the most important routes to exit from poverty

      3. Can those without the opportunities to pursue agricultural production and to access resources such as fish, livestock, forest, find pathways out of extreme poverty through these sectors?

      The answer is yes. They can find pathways out of extreme poverty through participation in agricultural value chain. An agricultural value chain is a way of describing the different ‘links’ required to take a product from the farm to the end consumer

      A basic agricultural value chain involves a Production – Distribution – consumption schema

      Production is concerned with producing agricultural produce which may be  crop, fish, livestock or forest by farmers with adequate access to productive resources.

      Distribution is concerned with many activities including: gathering, transporting, sorting, processing, packaging, preserving wholesaling and retailing among others before the product finally gets to the user.

      Those without access to productive resources can become  actors in any of the distribution schema and make substantial income

      4. What set of policies are necessary to address issues connecting food security and extreme poverty eradication

      Education reform which aims at enhancing skill acquisition of rural dwellers will lead to adoption of improved technology and enhance all farm employment

      1. Monitoring of special poverty eradication intervention  programmes to ensure full implementation
      2. Protection of natural resource management though integration of activities of ministries such as agriculture, health, environment and education.
      3. Promotion of cash crops in the primary sector
      4. Adoption of integrated farming system (agro forestry with animal rearing))
      5. Can you share any examples of experience that succeeded in reducing (or eradicating) extreme poverty through an agricultural pathways 

      Out- grower – Scheme organized by AMO a poultry industry in Nigeria. The scheme is centered on broiler production and has many registered farmers. AMO supplies  day old chicks , feeds and other supports such as equipment,  drugs and vaccines and extension education to interested members who will rear the birds for six or seven months and then return them to the company. The birds will then be weighed in kg and the farmer will be paid according to the agreement made. The group has made millionaires out of many poor farming households  in Nigeria including; the transporters, the distributors of the chicks, people working in the feeds, drugs and vaccines  sections of the industry among others.

    • Introduction.

      I wish to thank the organizers of this programme for allowing us participate in this valuable discussion. I wish to share Nigeria experience on similar issue under discussion -  The National Directorate of Employment (NDE)

      In 1960s and 1970s, the Nigerian economy provided jobs for the teeming population and also absorbed considerable number of imported labour in the scientific sector. However, following the oil boom of the 1970s, there was a massive migration of youths to urban areas in search of wage employment. The downturn in the economy in the 1980s exacerbated problem of unemployment. Since then successive government s have made several spirited efforts through policies to create jobs and reduce unemployment in the country. One of such efforts is the creation of  the National Directorate of Employment NDE in 1986 to empower the unemployed graduate and unskilled youths to acquire marketable skills that would help them set up their own farm business. The program has recorded both successes and failures.

      What are the biggest challenge youth in Africa face after going through development initiatives in agriculture?

      The biggest challenge faced by the benefactors of the NDE program is lack of infrastructure.

      The decadent state of infrastructure in Nigeria limits the youth effectiveness and remains a barrier to success

      Infrastructure such as good roads, good drinking water, electricity, health faculties, and markets are necessities in any agricultural business. Machinery, equipment and farm inputs have to be moved into the farms along roads while the products from the farms have to be transported to areas where they are required in other to make profits and therefore remain in business. The processing, preservation and storage of the products of the farm before marketing require electricity at times. The youth who are the benefactors of this program, like their counterparts also have great attraction for social amenities like good drinking water, schools and good health

      Another challenge is that of the pest and diseases which cause the following damage.

      a) Large quantities of farm produce are lost both in the field and in the storage

      b) They spend extra money in supplying to the farm and in the purchase of chemicals to control the pest and diseases

      c) There is reduction in quantity and quality of the farms’ product

      What are the examples of existing post capacity development sustainability initiatives for youth in agriculture in Africa? What works and what do not? Are there good stories and good practices that can be shared?

      Presently in Nigeria government is developing business centers like Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agencies of Nigerian ( SMEDIAN ) in some states of the country to  provide basic training on needed tools to do business, on how to raise finance and how to manage their personal resources.

      The program is effective in the states where it is established

      What post – capacity development support do the youth need? What can the youth do to support each other in developing their skills and capacities?

      • They need finance to continue in the farm business. More SMEDIAN centers should be established in all states of the federation
      • They need regular education which will improve efficiency on the farm
      • The youth can support themselves through networking, attending Agricultural days,  workshops, seminars and conferences

      What enabling environment is needed to ensure sustainability of youth I agriculture capacity development initiative?

      Agriculture is capital intensive, agencies that are saddled with the job of empowering the youth in terms of training and financial support should be provided with enough fund to perform their duty

      Good roads and other infrastructural supports should be provided

      Unfriendly tax regime is affecting the performance of the youth in agriculture. to encourage more investment  agricultural activities should be tax free for some years until agriculture  occupies its rightful position of proving food for man and animals, raw materials for industries and revenue for government

      Government could review the curriculum of the nation’s higher institutions and universities to inculcate functional entrepreneurship/ agri-neurship skills in the graduates so that they can become employers rather than employees

      Is there a role for modern technologies, including information and communication technologies in sustaining capacity development initiatives?

      Yes. The honorable former  minister of Agriculture Dr Adesina introduced the use of mobile phones to contact farmers directly-  He used this medium to provide farmers with fertilizers, improved seeds and finance and technical training on their farm production.

    • Contribution to FAO Discussion on Rural Women: Striving for gender transformation impacts

      By Taibat Moji Yusuf, Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria

      Introduction

      Gender defines how power and resources are shared among females and males. Both rural women and men throughout the world are engaged in a range of activities essential for household welfare, agricultural productivity, and economic growth. However, women’s substantial contributions are marginalized and undervalued in conventional agricultural analyses and policies. Policy makers and agricultural administrators assumed that farmers are men while women only give helping hands on the farm. For this reason most government policies, programmes and services were mainly focused on male farmers. However, the changing rural social structure resulting from male out-migration and wars has drastically changed gender responsibility. Rural women are becoming more responsible for household food security and children welfare as indicated by the increasing number of female headed households in the developing countries. Estimated numbers are 45% in Kenya,35% in Malawi, 30-40%in Zambia and 15% in Nigeria (FAO 2005). The main global challenge now is how to make the female farmers who had no access to education, land and other productive resources and were victims of the harmful cultural practices to do the work of “male” farmers effectively and efficiently and also to ensure gender balance in agricultural development. The rest of the discussion looks at the challenges of gender balance, the consequences of the challenges and how the challenges could be tackled to ensure gender balance when there will be equal participation of women and men in decision making, equal ability to exercise their human rights, equal access and control of resources and benefits of development.

      Major Challenges to gender equality in Agricultural production in Nigeria

      These are grouped under four major headings;

      1) Women Legal and cultural status: these have to do with cultural laws, customs, beliefs and attitudes in some communities which confine rural women mostly to the domestic sphere and limits their participation in politics and public activities. They affect women access to productive resources, services, education, employment and credit. In some regions in Nigeria, girls are not allowed to go to school or are often removed from school instead of boys to help with farming and household work anytime there is a work burden in the family. Also Women are made to handle low-paid tasks in agro-processing and their wages are usually lower than males.

      2) Property rights and inheritance laws: Lack of property right and the patrilineal system of land inheritance operating in most regions in Nigeria, do not permit women to have direct access to lands and other natural resources except through their husbands and male relatives. Since access to land and property right are tied to access to credit and acquisition of capital assets, women often have difficulty obtaining credit or acquire capital like the new labour and time saving farm innovations. Extension service which is to provide agricultural information and access to farm resources is equally tied to farmers’ land title and making women to lose out in important information and training that will improve their farm efficiency.

      3) Gender Role; has to do with behaviours and tasks that a society considers appropriate for men, women, boys and girls. In some societies, male are mainly responsible for commercial agriculture. They prepare land, irrigate the crops, harvest and transport to markets. They own and trade large animals, cut, haul and fell timbers from forest. Women and girls play largely unnoticed, unpaid but important roles in generating family income by providing labour for planting, weeding, harvesting and threshing crops and processing produce for sale. In most parts of Nigeria, women are responsible for maintaining households, raise children, grow and prepare food, manage small animals, collect fuel wood and water

      4) . Financial systems that perpetuate women discrimination; Banks consider women a higher risk because they do not trust women entrepreneurship ability and as such do not provide credit to women. They do not have gender- specific modes of transactions, they expect women to handle voluminous bookwork as educated male farmers and demand for loan collaterals which by right (rural) women do not have. Most of the financial institutions including newly introduced Microfinance banks are concentrated in the urban areas rather than rural areas where are large number of women farmers who seriously need financial assistance.

      Consequences of the Gender constraints; considered under two major aspects include;

      1) Economic exclusion resulting into

      wasted Human capital

      low labour productivity

      low agricultural production

      food insecurity and

      slow development

      2) High Social Cost in terms of

      High rates of under nutrition

      High infant mortality

      and high HIV/AIDS infection among others

      Ways to address the deeply rooted gender norms and involving men and boys to achieve gender transformative impacts

      This aspect is considered under the three tiers of government levels operating in Nigeria including Local Government Authorities (LGAs), State Government and Federal Government levels

      Local Government Authority

      The property and land inheritance law which inhibits rural women from having direct access to land and other natural resources could be addressed right at the local government level. All it takes is to encourage formation of separate cooperative societies among men and women. These societies are to be registered in each local government areas (LGAs) of the country. Since women do not have right to property, the local government authorities should acquire large parcels of land, clear and prepare the land then distributes on legal basis amongst the registered women cooperative members. Similar treatment should be extended to males without access to land (this group can be known through farm analysis). Those male farmers with land asset should be encouraged to pull their assets together and work as registered cooperative groups to benefit from the transformation agenda of the government. The separation of the groups will make it easier for women to participate actively in agricultural production without any fear of being molested or shortchanged by men. It will also provide the opportunity for women to own land and better bargaining power in the purchase of farm inputs and selling of their farm produce. Education and training which has always been the main problem of most women, preventing them from accessing credit, productive resources and use of modern technologies could also be handled through this arrangement using staff of the extension units of the local government authorities. The legal status of women could be addressed by the inclusion of Government / policy processes in the extension programme. This will help men and women to know their rights and how to fight for their rights.

      In a nutshell a well coordinated and managed LGAs is the solution to problems of property right and land law, education and training, legal status and better bargaining power in buying and selling activities

      State Government Level

      Because of the very low level of education, culture and norms , rural women in Nigeria still depend largely on hired labour on their private farms for land clearing and preparation ( to complement their personal labour) at exhorbitant prices because they have to compete with the male farmers in this regard. They also supply labour on their husband farms in the area of planting, weeding, fertilizer application, harvesting and processing in addition to the domestic workload thus, making their work more over whelming and less attractive. To tackle the labour problem, Nigeria Government established national center for agricultural mechanization (NCAM) in two states Ilorin in Kwara State and Ibadan in Oyo State to provide simple improved farm tools for rural farmers. Although the gesture is in the right direction, NCAM products are few, expensive and not gender friendly. Most of their products are constructed for male farmers.

      For the purpose of gender equality, a gender specific tool which will save labour, cost, time and can be easily handled by both men and women should be provided. The centers may be provided with recommended specifications and funds to produce large quantity.

      To ensure usage and patronage, the centers should be replicated in all states. The earlier formed farmers’ cooperative societies in each LGAs should register separately with the centers in their states. Gender specific tools produced by the centers should then be distributed to the different groups of farmers on loan to be paid back after harvesting. Each society should be made to sell their produce directly to the centers since the centers have various storage facilities such silos, cribs and cool room to their credit. This will allow the centers to deduct their money and pay the farmers their dues. The produce bought from the farmers can be supplied directly to the processing companies for value addition Thus NCAM could be used as an assembling centre for farm produce as well as collecting center tor processing companies to ensure fair transaction devoid of the harmful practices of middlemen

      However the centers need initial funding ,for replication in each state and large production of their products. The initial funding should be in form of revolving loan which should be paid back as soon as the centers find their feet. The refund of the loan should be made on yearly basis as they collect their pay from the farmers. The cooperative farmers and the processing companies also need funding for their various initial take off.

      Positive transformation to farm mechanization, active participation by individuals in the society and value addition food chains will be made possible through this arrangement and will later translate to increased food production, farmers income, food security and poverty reduction.

      Federal Government level

      National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme is a Nigerian programme organized for young graduates to serve their fatherland after graduation. It was established by the FG several decades ago to foster unity among the youths and provide man power where such is lacking. Right now the program seems to have outlived its usefulness, because the youths in some states are been used as sacrificial lambs for the purpose of politics. The program can be rebranded and made more functional by diverting the energy and interest of the vibrant youths towards productive agricultural activities. Doing this will engage both the boys and girls in productive activities where they can acquire entrepreneurship skills which will prepare them for real life experience and curb the problem of youth restlessness resulting from idleness and unemployment which often lead into various vices in the country. In addition the arrangement will provide plenty of agricultural produce for home consumption and exportation.

      The Procedure for engaging the youths

      The government needs to procure large area of land in each state, Provides tractors and implements for land clearing and preparation, farm inputs, improved seeds and seedlings, storage facilities, processing facilities and regular payment of the corps allowance. The corps members in each state should be grouped according to their fields of interest to handle various aspects of agriculture. For instance ,those in education and extension may be made to handle extension education, those in medicals to take care of their colleagues, those in animal science to take care of animal management, the veterinary to take care of animal reproduction and health, those in economics to coordinate the farm activities and handle the issues of trading (buying and selling) . The few youths who are not educated could be absorbed at the local government level.