How Kano govt is using $95 million IsDB fund to strengthen food, nutrition security — Coordinator

In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the project coordinator of the Kano State Agro-pastoral Development Project, Abdulrasheed Hamisu, speaks on how Sasakawa Africa Association used $95 million loan/grants acquired from the Islamic Development Bank to promote sustainable agriculture models to improve farmers’ livelihoods and achieve food security across the 44 local government areas of the state within five years.

Excerpts:

PT: What is the Kano State agriculture project about?

Hamisu: Kano State Agro-pastoral Development Project (KSADP) is a project conceived and actualised by the Kano State government through a partnership with the Islamic Development Bank and the Lives and Livelihoods Funds. The project has a life cycle of five years and it is about a $95 million project which has different components. There are livestock, irrigation and infrastructure components and also the crop productivity component.

The main goal of the project is to achieve poverty reduction by strengthening food and nutrition security of the most vulnerable population in Kano State and these would be achieved through livestock and crop productivity enhancement as well as the economic diversification of agriculture in the state through the value chain approach. Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), being a reputable international organisation that has been operating in the country for 36 years now, partnered with the state government to implement the crop value chain of the project which is about $19.3 million.

The major mandate of SAA is to support 450,000 direct beneficiaries across the 44 local government areas of Kano State and the farmers in these value chains are those growing cereals like rice, maize, millet, and sorghum as well as vegetables which comprises tomatoes, onions and cabbage. That is the mandate given to SAA. We are expected to complement the government extension efforts by improving these farmers’ productivity, increasing their access to input and technology, supporting them to have agri-business development and the last but not the least is to transform the extension efforts by dissemination packages across the farmers groups to ensure they achieve an incremental metric tonnes annually, that is equal to 850,000 metric tonnes annually as a result of the activities.

So, SAA has its own approach to getting that mandate achieved. We have three strategic pillars that we work with: regenerative agriculture, nutrition sensitive agriculture, and market-oriented agriculture.

In regenerative agriculture, we support farmers to increase their crop yield by inducing activities that support them to reduce the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere and increase carbon concentration in the soil. We as well support farmers through those activities to increase the microorganisms activities within the soil so that they can cultivate and also reduce the effect of climate change through the regenerative agriculture.

In Nutrition sensitive agriculture, we support farmers to cultivate nutritious foods and as well support women to understand the value of nutrition and also to use nutrition as a source to generate income.

For the market oriented agriculture, of course, there has been a very serious problem on the side of the farmers where they do farming not as a business but they cultivate it as heredity trait. Here in SAA, we support them to grow to sell, which means to consider farming as a business. We support them (farmers) to actually understand the concept of group dynamics to achieve the collective market action and to also source input collectively and to also do business as expected to recultivate the same land that they actually cultivate and achieve greater results because of the market-oriented concept that we are training them to apply.

The last but not the least, we have some cross-country issues which include gender mainstreaming and also the climate-smart agriculture now going by the trend of the climate change across the globe. It has really become imperative for any organisation that seeks to support farmers to induce activities that are directly related to climate-smart agriculture so that we reduce the effects of climate change, we also reduce the effect of soil deterioration and at the same time have them be safe and also the environment.

For gender mainstreaming, women’s role in agriculture is very key. A lot of them are into processing and different segments across the value chain done traditionally. We now mainstream them into production activities so that women can also own land and produce like the men do without also violating their societal norms and values.

In the areas where they are known, areas regarding the processing and other things, they are doing it traditionally and they have no access to resources, capital or equipment that will enable them to achieve greater heights and a sustainable income. Here in this project under the SAA, we developed packages of practices that actually empower more women, we train women and we give them all the necessary support free of charge but based on the criteria because we need sustainability.

So based on that sustainability criteria, women are drawn from across the 44 LGAs of the state and within the value chains for which we are intervening. They received different sets of trainings and at the same time we provide support for them to go and continue their business in their localities and get others within their communities who will also be trained and also earn their living through that value chain. Actually, this is what we are doing, and now we are in the third year of the project implementation.

Within the first year, the major target that was given to us was to reach 112,500 farmers. We succeeded by reaching 114,719 farmers who were directly touched by the project which is above the project target. For the incremental metric tonnes, we were expected to support the farmers to achieve 850, 000 incremental metric tonnes, we succeeded in supporting them to have achieved 839, 778 metric tonnes, which is 98 per cent of the project target.

Regarding their productivity, we really support farmers to understand how to cultivate a small piece of land and also get higher results. We have the baseline study actually from the commencement of the project, which clearly showed us that rice farmers achieved an average of 1.5 metric tonnes and maize farmers achieved an average of 1.33 metric tonnes. Over the past two years, we have succeeded in supporting the farmers through the demonstration plot and community basic multiplication technologies that we have taken to the communities. We have succeeded in supporting them to achieve 5. 1 metric tonnes in the rice field as against the 1.5 metric tonnes for the baseline studies report. Also for maize, we have succeeded in supporting them to achieve 4.2 metric tonnes as against the 1.33 metric tonnes contained in the baseline report.

This has clearly indicated that agriculture within the five years life cycle of the project in the state is going to be boosted and at the same time the smallholders farmers that are peasant in nature, those that do not have access to the modern resources, would definitely be great and they would contribute their own quota, in making the state self-sufficient in term of food production and also help the state in diversifying the source of revenue because they would also be earning money and they would be transacting here and at the same time they would be paying taxes to the state. At the same time, they would also provide more employment to the other indirect beneficiaries of the projects. We would also give you the report of what we have achieved with empirical evidence.

PT: Over these periods, what are the key challenges encountered in the process of implementation of these projects?

Hamisu: For everything you do there must be challenges. There are a lot of challenges but that is why we are here. As the challenges come, we have the risk metrics even before we start the implementation, where we have actually listed some expected challenges. When the challenges come they do not take us by surprise, we already have the mitigation measures. For example, there is a very serious problem regarding climate change. We have actually encountered a very serious challenge of late commencement of rainfall and early seization of rainfall. That has really affected farmers seriously, most especially those that are into rain-fed production, because the majority of them are into rain-fed cultivation. These challenges were actually anticipated by us and we made a plan for them. But the farmers that do not actually make adequate plans for it have suffered and those farmers are under our networked farmers. This is the number one challenge that we usually encounter. We devise a lot of means to support farmers to also mitigate the effect before it happens.

Another challenge that has actually impacted on the project and also on the farmers is the high cost of input over the last year. When we were developing our budget, we developed a budget of the price of the equipment based on the prevailing market price at that time. But as at last year, there was very serious inflation across the globe, not only in Nigeria, as it was like a global trend, that has really affected us seriously. Because for fertiliser I could recall our budget was N16,000 and at the time we were to buy it, it has skyrocketed to almost N25,000 and we do not compromise quality. That fertiliser that we have budgeted N16,000 for was the highest then, in terms of quality. Not only fertilisers but I mentioned fertilisers because I want to cite an example. So based on that global trend in terms of inflation, we were faced with the challenge not only on the project but also including the entire farmers we worked with. These are the two major challenges that I can say ever since we have started the project that we encountered. And I can say they have had a great impact, though the normal and operational challenges are inevitable. We tend to be confronted by certain challenges every now and then, and as project management professionals, we do device a means using our risk metrics to counter any operational challenge that actually might have come across our operational desk. All the operational challenges are surmountable.

PT: What are those climate-smart models introduced to these farmers in the course of this project? What is your strategy towards making sure that the farmers adopt climate-smart models?

Hamisu: The climate-smart concepts that we are taking to the farmers include sensitisation in term of activities that they need to continue doing or that they need to start even if they haven’t started. Concerning the issue of afforestation that you talked about, giving them a kind of value proposition of using economic trees, telling them what they need to avoid in term of destroying the ozone layer, and lots of things like that to make them understand the practices that they need to adopt and the ones to be stopped.

Secondly, the issue of practicalising the concepts, we do source early maturing seeds and also climate-resilient seeds that can withstand drought and then we diffuse them across the communities where the farmers cultivate as part of our training, because seed is the foundation. We source for climate-smart seeds that will enable them to cultivate within the right atmosphere and also grow to harvest within the favourable period. Also, we use technology; we intend on partnering with Ignesia to provide a kind of weather forecast where they will be taught to understand the dynamics of the weather and also the appropriate time for them to do certain activities including planting, fertiliser application and the rest, something that will go in conformity with what they need. And then for the economic trees that need to be cultivated, we have already partnered with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and through that partnership, we have last year distributed lots of fruit trees including guavas, mangoes , lemons and the rest for them to actually cultivate within their vicinity so that they would be an opportunity for that green revolution across the area year round. We also promote the use of urea displacement technology; it is a technology that helps farmers to utilise their fertilisers optimally by dipping it into the soil. When it is dipped beyond the root zone, it will really help the crop by uptaking the adequate nutrients because the practice usually done by farmers is the broadcasting of the fertiliser and during the broadcasting of fertilisers, more than half of that fertiliser is lost to the atmosphere through volatilization because it is gassy in nature and that also contributes to the issue of the climate change. Now with the urea displacement technology that we are actually showcasing across the farmers communities, farmers clearly understood that it contributes a lot in reducing the effect of climate change and it is climate-smart agriculture inclined because it saves their money, the soil and also the ozone layer and a lot of practices that support this climate-smart agriculture so that we can have a climate safe environment and also farmers can have their cost reduced in whatever they are doing within their farms.

PT: How do you source beneficiaries of the project?

Hamisu: We have 270,793 networked farmers across the 44 local government aress of Kano State. Firstly, at the beginning of the year, we have what we call community mobilisation and sensitisation, where we entered into the target communities within the local government areas where we work, and we meet the gatekeepers (traditional leaders) of these communities. We also meet with farmer organisations of that community where we sensitise them on the objectives of the project, rationale behind developing the project by the state government and what the state government and the banks wanted them to achieve. The government of Kano State and Islamic Development Bank and Lives and Livelihoods Funds developed this project because they want to reduce poverty among the agrarian communities of Kano within the 44 LGAs. We introduce ourselves, we seek collaboration with the leaders of the community and also the masses because the project is time bound and sustainability is needed. So, after they learn about the objectives of the project and our expectations, they also tell us about their expectations. We go based on the project document and then we relate with them and then move to communities of intervention where we select farmers based on the set criteria. Before we go into any communities, there are criteria that we developed for the project. We inform leaders of any community visited of these criteria and based on the criteria, they also link us up with the farmers that meet the criteria and those farmers that meet the criteria were later interviewed by our field agents and all their details were entered into our database. All the farmers that we work with were interacted by the project team first and are also part of the project with their consent. They participated in all our training activities and they contributed greatly, that is why we even have the record of achievements that we have so far gathered across these locations.

PT: Is this database something we can see?

Hamisu: Yes, it is something you can see. It is not something hidden, you can see our database.

PT: Can you mention a few criteria used in the selection process of the farmers that are beneficiaries?

Hamisu: Firstly, we are intervening across the seven value chains. The beneficiary must be a farmer, and the farmer must be among those cultivating one of the seven crops I mentioned and must be a practising farmer not just a political farmer, because there are some that were registered as a result of one intervention or the other but practically they are not practising farming. No, you must be a practical farmer. How do you become a practising farmer? You must have farmland within the community of operation and the farmland must be seen because we geo-reference the farm of the beneficiaries. Also, you must be willing to participate in the project activities because it is not by force. You must be willing to participate in the activities like training and every other thing that we do to support them. These are part of the major things considered before enrolling the farmers and you must also be an indigene of Kano state because the project is meant for Kano State people because it is funded by the Kano State Government through the Islamic Development Bank.

PT: Why did Islamic Development Bank choose to carry out this in Kano state?

Hamisu: It was an idea of the Kano State Government to support their people. The government designed the ideas, developed the ideas by themselves and then approached the bank with it. They wanted to support their people because large populations of inhabitants in the state are actually farmers. Most of the people in Kano State are farmers by profession, and they do cultivate crops in a very conventional and traditional manner, and now, technology has evolved. There are so many things that people (farmers) can do and they can enhance their productivity and also increase their commitment.

It is through passion and commitment and political will of the state government that they developed the project. In this I can say Kano State is one of its kind across the 36 states that we have in the federation. It is only in Kano State that this kind of project is being implemented, so it is out of their passion, commitment and political will that they convinced the bank to key in and support the state and implement the project. Part of the funds is grant, not loans, and then some part is also loan.

PT: How much is the fund?

Hamisu: It is about $95 million and for SASAKAWA , it is about $19.3 million for five years .

PT: We understand that farmers across the country last year, for instance, were severely hit by flood. How was the flooding in Kano? Were your farmers affected?

Hamisu: Yes, some of our farmers were affected by the flood. Even before the flood, part of what the project we are doing is to sensitise farmers to avoid the flood-prone areas. Those that heeded the advice were not hit by the menace of the flood while those that do not have options due to dwindling resources tend to take risks and grow their crops there. But those that have options avoided flood-prone areas and were not hit by it. We are sad by the incident and it is a development that we do not pray to reoccur again in subsequent years.

PT: What are the strategies used in carrying out this sensitisation process?

Hamisu: If you want people to take ownership of the project, you get them transparently involved. That is by involving the community in the entity and involving them in the project implementation process throughout the project. We work with leaders of the communities; they are keen to make things happen. We make sure the gatekeepers are fully acquainted and informed of the project objectives. We also state out our expectations and they also do the same. So since there is transparency, a sense of ownership driving, a kind of sustainability plan, definitely the farmers would be sensitised because we work together by seeking their input, advice and so on which will therefore make sensitisation easier.

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