The
Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture,
Ministry
of Agriculture & Natural Resources,
Edo
State.
Sir,
THE END SHALL TELL
ACFA’S OVERTURE
Appreciation:
We, the members and executives of All
Co-operative Farmers Association, Edo State, (ACFA) sincerely
extend our thanks to you for finding time from your busy schedule to attend to
us.
Preamble:
In our proposition to meet up with our responsibilities
of closing the linkages between the government and those in the grass-root, so
that they can be provided with the key institutional supports they required in
order to succeed in the production and development of the product and services
of the aforementioned group. We proposed these useful suggestions which we
believe will help to eradicate poverty from those considered to be poorest of
the poor (THE FARMERS), hence the need and usefulness of this All Co-operative
Farmers Association.
Our Request From The
Honourable Commissioner
We have elaborated
enough of when, how, and why similar program set up failed. But All
Co-operative Farmers Association, has assured the state government through the
Honourable commissioner that if we are given the needed assistance and freedom
to operate, by empowering us in the under mention ways, ACFA shall make Edo
State a “Really Farmer State”
1. To
help us facilitate the release of one mile square farmland in any government
reserve area in the state through the Ministry of Environment. So that we can
conduct a collective/constructive co-operative farming program.
2. Alternatively,
counter-write a reference document for ACFA which will complement our request
letter to the Commissioner for Environment, for our request of the 1 mile
square from the ministry
3. Assist
this group to intervene before the Honorable Commissioner for Works to help us
Bulldozer/Grade the road to the co-operative farm in Okokhuo village.
4. Help
All Co-operative farmers to receive the newly improved Cassava cutting assigned
for Edo Farmers.
5. Set
up inspection team to verify the actualization of fadama III project in the
state.
Finally Sir, we promised that if
the aforementioned requests are considered, a practicable difference will be
observed in this sector within a very short time. Precisely one year from the date
the road was graded.
Purpose
Of The Program:
The purpose of this program is to present
an overview of the challenges and opportunities for Co-operative Farmers and youths
who choose to venture into agriculture. ACFA also wish to use this opportunity
to make recommendations that will result in encouraging other graduate youths
who may have reasons to embrace agriculture because of the bright and beautiful
picture designed for it, also to be a part of the great change going on in the
agricultural sector around the world today.
It is developed to enhance residual
source of income for communities rather than relying on the discovery of oil
alone or on government’s allocation. The other side is aimed towards preparing
the young people, women and the unemployed among us to have access to their own
means of employment through agricultural development instead of youth and the
unemployed invading the urban area to waste years and constitute nuisance.
It is possible that the chance of
getting a white collar job is very minimal. With reasonable number of youths
and well determined persons in the farming business, ACFA believes they have
set the ball-rolling for the transformation of our locally made product into
finished products and hereby, make for food security.
The Program Proper:
The
All Co-operative Farmers Association (ACFA) Youth economic opportunity
programming has increasingly endeavored to reach young people in rural areas,
in particular to stem the tides of migration, reduce rural poverty, and to spur
agricultural development. While there is a growing body of research and
practitioner experience, there is much to learn. Practitioners, policymakers,
funders, researchers, and educators largely recognize that the characteristics,
assets and needs of young people in urban and remote areas are distinct. They
are looking for proven practices, field-tested tools, and innovative approaches
that can inform the development of higher impact and more scalable initiatives
that can lead to more jobs and business opportunities for the youths, women and
other unemployed in the rural areas.
Because
of the efficacy of this design, similar projects were initiated by some
regional governments in Nigeria and was a critical element of Western Nigeria
Policy of Agricultural and Natural Resources of 1959. The main objective of
this scheme is actually to make for food sufficiency and also to supplement the
unemployment problems being faced by the various governments. It is also
expected to address the rampant insecurity problems being faced by the citizens
of the states respectively and the nation in general.
The
structure of the program
This
program is geared towards helping to bring well determined and serious minded
farmers together in a way that they will be able to complement themselves in a
convenient and suitable environment. It will also help to settle young school
leavers in a
specified area of
land, making farming
their career thereby
preventing them from
moving to the urban areas in search of white collar
jobs. These settled farmers will be able to design and develop a model in good
farming systems. So that farmers residing in nearby villages can also
emulate.
ACFA
Team believes that this community farming scheme will create a Spotlight on
Opportunities for mainly Rural Youth. And it will highlight some of the
critical issues facing youths, the women and other farmers in the rural areas; it
will also address Urban/Rural migration. And the roles stakeholders must play
in order for more young people living in rural areas to have access to (formal
and informal) employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. Since this will
break the cycles of poverty and transform rural economies.
It
will also bring to the understanding of all, that if the various stakeholders
in the agricultural industry support this development, they have lots to gain
from working to support the youths. Additionally, this point up will convene a
diverse group of stakeholders, ranging from youth development specialists, to
agricultural specialists, to value chain specialists. These distinct
communities of stakeholders will tackle complex challenges together, often for
the first time, and define next step needed to be taken to increase the
knowledge and technological advancement of the various
participants/beneficiaries. While promoting a cross-sector collaboration.
The
farm will include the following facilities;
1. A
warehouse
2. Cassava/starch
and plantain flour processing mill
3. Administrative
blocks
4. Drying
room
5. Conference
hall
6. Packaging
room
7. Relaxation
centre
8. Sport/Recreation
centre
9. Others
Spotlight On The
Opportunities of this program For Rural Youth
All
Co-operative Farmers Association (ACFA), Youth economic opportunity program has
been planned to reach young people in rural areas, in particular, to stem the
tides of migration, reduce rural poverty, and to spur agricultural development.
This will also make room for massive and well nourished farm products. While
there is a growing body of research and practitioner experience, there is much
to learn. Practitioners, policymakers, funders, researchers, and educators
largely recognize that the characteristics, assets and needs of young people in
urban and remote areas are distinct. Therefore this will give them the
opportunity they have been looking for to prove this field-tested tool, and
innovative approaches that can inform the development of higher impact and more
scalable initiatives that will lead to more jobs and business opportunities for
the youths, women and other unemployed in the rural areas.
Part of the focus in this design will be
on agriculture development, improvement, and the restructuring of the sector
through this program (both on-farm and off-farm); the opportunities and
challenges associated with youth employment in non-agricultural sectors such as
tourism, manufacturing, and services. The generating of TAX from the
beneficiaries of these facilities by ACFA Team. This is a critical issue as
agriculture alone is unlikely to provide enough employment, enjoyment and
entrepreneurship opportunities for young people.
If
this ACFA Community Farming and Educational Development Program (ACFEDEP) eventually
Kick Off, the following questions may require answers.
They
are:-
v What
are innovative approaches ACFA intends to apply, in order to increase the
quality and relevance of different types and levels of education in rural
areas?
v How
can young people be more effectively integrated into agricultural and other
rural value chains in this scheme?
v How
is the government going to benefit from it, after the support?
v What
are some of the broad trends we observe in rural-urban migration, and what
implications do those trends have for the economic opportunities young people
have today and in the future?
v How
does ACFA intends to create farm, non-farm, and non-agriculture jobs for youth
in the community?
v How
can different stakeholders be directly involved in the program, and what are
some of the benefits they should expect?
v What
behavior change models exist for influencing young people’s (and their
families’) perceptions of agricultural work? And how will ACFA prepare youth to
undertake rural livelihoods?
v What
is the appropriate role for practitioners and Policy makers in this area?
v What
approaches have proven to be effective for improving the quality/relevance and
interest of agricultural extension work for youth?
v How
will this program address the insecurity problem being faced in our societies
today?
v How
are young people in rural areas engaging in decision-making related to policies
and programs that affect them (at the community and national level)?
v How
do/could young people use technology in order to improve their employment and
entrepreneurship opportunities? And how will stakeholders support in this
regard?
v How
can we help protect young people in the rural workplace (especially in terms of
their health and financial safety), and help them know their rights?
v How
will ACFA Community Farming Scheme address the causes and effects of migration,
especially by looking at the pull-push factors that lead many young people to
move from rural areas to the urban cities ones?
Aims And
Objectives;
This Co-operative
Farmers Association which was registered by the Ministry of Youth and Sports,
has successfully meet up with all requirement by Law to be set up as an NGO
with primary interest to bring together and coordinate, represent all
co-operative farmers in the state.
1.
To create avenue for peaceful coexistence
among all its members and individual Farmers in the State.
2.
To engage in any agricultural undertakings
that will spur up the interest of all members of this Association into
developing more concentration for this venture.
3. To
assist small scale businessmen/women with micro loan to boost their Businesses
by organizing them into clusters to form co-operative entrepreneurial groups.
And to bring the women together to form groups in order to care for the need of
all women, affiliated to this Association.
4.
To undertake simple processing, packaging and
marketing of co-operative farm products.
5.
To primarily operate on the principle of
self-help in every aspect of our economy.
6.
To stock and distribute consumers commodities
to the communities at reasonable prices. To engage in import/export, act as
manufacturers’ representatives and to operate transport services.
7.
To provide effective and profitable
agricultural services to all farmers in the state, by representing them
appropriately. And to market/distribute fresh and original foodstuffs direct
from the farm to interested customers, in our HOME service transactions.
8.
To be
present in every Agricultural and Co-Operative Meetings, Seminars, Workshops
and Summit organized/held in the
instance of promoting the welfare of all co-operative farmers in the state.
9.
To
become a member of any National or international Association whose objectives
are whole or similar to the objects of the Federation.
10.
To
print, publish and distribute to members newspaper or other publications
designed in the interest of promoting co-operative principles and practices.
11.
To Organize
and Congregate, Represent and Protect the Right and Privileges all co-operative
farmers in the state, by assisting them to Acquire Lands/Building for use, to
affect the life of the general public positively too, and to undertake any
civil works.
12.
To
protect and defend all co-operative farmers in the state, by making meaningful
representation to the Legislative, Executive and the Judiciary.
13.
To carry
out any other activities designed to encourage the spirit and practice of
cooperation, and to promote the business and lifestyle of all members of this
Association.
The fact is that the
Association is expected to operate in all 18 local government areas of the state;
only about 7 local government areas have been fully represented. And they are: Uhun-Ode, Oredo, Egor, Ovia South West,
Ovia North East, Esan Central. We hope to cover the entire state in style.
Why
ACFA Can Be Trusted
In
both developed and developing countries, there are examples of innovative
producer organizations and cooperatives that have proven successful in helping
small producers overcome different constraints. However, they too often remain
limited in scale and scope. The main challenge is to build on these success
stories, in order to achieve sustainable rural and agricultural development.
For this, relevant stakeholders need to come together, with clear roles and
responsibilities, to define the enabling environment where producer
organizations can fit in.
National governments, international
donors, development agencies, non-governmental and inter-governmental
organizations, and research and academic institutions all have a role to play
in supporting the development of strong, efficient and equitable cooperatives
and producer organizational project like this ACFEDEP Youth Empowerment Design.
Governments can provide
favourable policies, transparent laws and regulations that are based on
consultation with the developer of this beautiful poverty alleviating tool.
They can provide the right business environment, and consultative forum. They
can also support with the scaling up of successful and innovative cooperative
models, provision of kick off grant. The donor community and NGOs can assist
existing cooperatives through this Association, with other relevant materials,
rather than create new organizations. Interestingly, experience has shown that
it is better to support existing cooperatives than to create new organizations
that may lack grassroots commitment. [See box in the last page]
As
earlier written, similar program has previously been initiated by some regional
governments in Nigeria and was a critical element of Western Nigeria Policy of
Agricultural and Natural Resources of 1959. The main objective of this scheme
was to settle young school leavers
in a specified
area of land, making farming
their career thereby
preventing them from
moving to the urban areas in search of white collar
jobs. These settled farmers were also to serve as models in good farming
systems for farmers residing in nearby villages to emulate. Unfortunately, the
dream of this
scheme was not materialized because
some of the
settlers were too
young and inexperienced
in farming thus
causing a high percentage of drop-outs among the
settlers (Amalu, 1998). Secondly lack of understanding of the meaning and
implication of the
scheme by some
settlers who assumed
that through their
participation in the
scheme they would eventually get
paid job. They were discouraged and some withdrew as soon as the allowances
were not given any more. Thirdly, the cost of establishing a viable farm
settlement was too high in terms of cash and staff (Amalu, 1998). Finally,
expenses made on the scheme was incurred
mainly on installation of infrastructure like construction of houses, schools,
markets, roads etc for the settlers which did not directly bring about increase
in agricultural output by the
participants as targeted. Most of such programs that were not sustained
are:
1. National
Accelerated Food Production Programme (NAFPP)
2. Agricultural
Development Projects (ADP):
3. United Nations
Development Programme
(UNDP).
4. Integrated
Agricultural Development Projects (IADP)
5. Operation
Feed the Nation (OFN):
6. Green
Revolution (GR)
7. Directorate
for Food Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI)
8. River
Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs).
9. Social
Dimensions Of Adjustment (SDA)
10. Better
Life Programme (BLP)
11. National
Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA):
12. Family
Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP)
13. Family
Support Programme (FSP
14. National
Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS).
15. States’
Economic Empowerment and
Development Strategies (SEEDS)
16. National,
Special Programme on Food Security (NSPFS)
17. Root
And Tuber Expansion Programme (RTEP)
18. National
Fadama Development Project (NFDP)
Why
Failure Previously?
Most of these programs fail to succeed
because the primary beneficiaries (THE FARMERS) were never part of the decision
making. They were called the basis for the program but treated as pets,
immediately the program commence. The main request of the farmers are not meet.
Instead, the civil servants decide and dictate how the program goes, without
finding time to see to the welfare of the beneficiaries. Some persons who enjoy
this benefit are not majorly a true farmer. They possibly don’t even have the
interest of the farmers at heart. Most time the grants, loans or other
incentive to this regard, goes to the pockets of those that are suppose to see
to the success of the program. Other possible reasons are:-
a. Farming
was done on any available piece of land irrespective of its suitability for
agriculture.
b. Majority
of the participants in the program had little or no farming background and
there was no formal or informal preparatory teaching or advice given to them on
how to manage their farms.
c. They
practiced mono cropping instead of mixed/relay cropping and their cultivation is done in little piece
which may not enhance rich produce. This led to reliance on hired labour to
carry out their farming activities, which resulted in high input and low output
/yield per unit of land.
d. Preference
was given to government establishments and individuals in authority/administration
over the poor farmers (real producer of food) in terms of input supply.
e. There
was abundance of food in the market and less demand for the food because many
people produced part or almost whole food they consumed without proper
marketing design.
A TARGET SET
To speed up the reformation process
which will in turn translate to the sustainability of agriculture as real
business, the purpose ACFA was established for. The initiator/founder and other
pioneers of this group are persons representing various co-operative societies
in the state. So, it will be very easy for the body to operate in the principle
of co-operative.
We
are very confident that you will support this venture. There is no doubt that
we are not making maximum use of our land. As most of the food we consume is
imported from the neighbouring states. For example, we have a very fertile land
that can be used for the cultivation of tomatoes. But because or farmers are
not given the required assistant, it now seems or farmers are not qualified to
produce the crop. The issue of yellow yam in our market has become a thing of
the past. But is it really true that if our farmers aided that they cannot keep
producing the yam (Ikpen). It’s like a dream to many that water-melon consumed
in the state is produced right in this state. Before this era, Edo Farmers were
deceived that water-melon cannot do well in the state. But with required
support, farmers now cultivate water melon here, and they are ever willing to
flock the market with this product at a cheaper rate, with the support of ACFA.
Benefits Expected.
We envisage a lot of benefits once this request is granted as this will enable
the farmers in the area to be well organized. This can only be achieved if all
farmers are encouraged to work together as a team. Be inform sir that in this
proposed farmers community, every co-operative society operating within the
local government area will be allotted a portion in this proposed Organized
Co-operative Farm (OCF) in the farmers community farmland. The synergic impact
of this cohesion will thus lead to increased output.
It will enable the farmers in the state access this land which in turn will support
their re-organization for better produce.
It will help the farmers realize the reason(s) they must live within the farming
environment.
It will enhance mass production, of agricultural products; thus leading to
increased food supply. Which will in turn help in the eradication of middlemen
from the agric marketing strategy, in foodstuff price.
It will help attract foreign investors to the state, to assist in our urge to
project agriculture.
It will project the image of farmers in the area and also help them be fitted
in their place in the scheme of things, as farmers from the most fertile land
in the country.
