TACKLING RURAL POVERTY THROUGH INNOVATION PLATFORM

TEMITOPE MUSOWO writes on a new concept of reducing rural poverty in the face of worrisome rapidly increasing population of the country, without proportionate increase in food production, due to the current threat to food security across the country, resulting from the incessant herders/farmers’ clash

Discovery of oil

It is no longer news that before the discovery of oil at Oloibiri, Bayelsa in 1956, agriculture was the mainstay of Nigerian economy. But after the discovery of oil, the groundnut pyramid in the northern part of the country, cocoa plantation in the West and palm oil in the South parts, respectively, once boasted of now exist in our history book.

Focus on oil as the major source of revenue to the Nigerian government, took attention away from the agricultural sector. And to make things worse for the country, there is a gradual shift away from oil all over the world, probably to mitigate the effects of climate change. What this means is that a new reality confronting the world had set in- attention is gradually shifting from oil to renewable sources of energy. Of course, this accounts for the dwindling oil price at the international market, even when there were rise in oil price as is the case now, the federal revenue accruing through sales from oil do not really trickle down to the grassroots, hence the pervasive rural poverty.

Pervasive rural poverty

On the sudden realisation that building national economy based on oil revenue in this century would not guarantee a sustainable economy, the renewed effort towards the agricultural sector which cannot produce immediate result, because revamping our moribund cocoa industries, our oil mills, textile industries and other agricultural industries would not happen overnight, becomes necessary.

Feeding 195 million Nigerians and looming hunger

According to the latest United Nations estimate as at Wednesday, July 4, 2018, the current population of Nigeria is 195,851,811, making it 2.57 percent of the total world population.

It is very worrisome that as the country’s population increases rapidly, there is no proportionate increase in food production. As a matter of fact, there are indications that food production in Nigeria is certainly nose diving.

Unfortunately, most Nigerian farmers merely engage in subsistent farming to provide food for their families while very little is made available for sale in the market. This corroborates the fact that majority of these people who engage in farming in Nigeria don’t have access to modern implement.

Local farmers’ challenge

These local farmers who still rely on their crude implements are largely dependent upon to feed both the rural and urban population. This is made worse by the large number of young farmers who are fast migrating to the urban centres in search of greener pasture leaving the aged farmers with hoes and cutlasses on the farm to feed the nation.

Unlike in the past, farmers today are confronted with sudden collapse of government services such as input supply, credit provision and purchase of output, little intervention from government to support these local farmers through the Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industries and other programmes end up in the hand of political farmers who do not have even a garden in their backyard, little wonder government’s claims on agricultural supports and interventions do not add up.

Frequent farmers/ herdsmen clash threat to food security

More worrisome is the new challenge the nation has to grapple with- the frequent clash between farmers and herdsmen, which has made many farmers left their farm land. This is experienced particularly in Benue state which is regarded as the Food Basket of the nation, other agrarian communities in the country are not also spared in the herders’ attacks. These are clear threat to food security, foster by the dry Lake Chad region and the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, the horizon is fast becoming ominous.

Combating rural poverty through agriculture

Agriculture in Nigeria has a potential to contribute to poverty reduction and economic development. Agriculture contributes up to 20 percent of Nigerian total GDP. In 1990, it was speculated that about 82 million hectares out of Nigerian’s total land area of 91 million hectares were found to be arable, and merely 42 percent of this was farmed, this depict the agricultural potential of the country.

However, growth in the agricultural sector has persistently been lower than the levels required to reduce poverty significantly and to improve the livelihoods as well as living standards of the majority of the population.

Over 60 percent of Nigerian population still live in the rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. However, for agriculture to become a tool for economic development, a revolution in smallholder productivity is necessary.

Majority of Nigerian farmers are smallholders who cultivate less than three acres of land, these people are faced with numerous challenges, ranging from poor land tenure system, lack of modern implements, lack of credit facilities, inadequate farm inputs, improved seedling to lack of access to market among other challenges.

Any government or organisation keen on reducing rural poverty must focus on agriculture and how to combat these challenges confronting the smallholder farmers who form a larger percentage of the agricultural sector.

This position was corroborated by an expert in the field of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Dr Fadairo Olusola, who believes there cannot be any meaningful rural development without developing Agriculture.

‘’Agricultural Development is a panacea to reducing rural poverty, any rural development programme that undermines the importance of agriculture is a programme designed to fail, the rural community thrive on agriculture as a major occupation and to develop the rural community you have to give adequate attention to agricultural development

The major are the rural community can feel the presence of government is through agricultural development, the rural dwellers suffer so much neglect in the hand of government particularly in Nigeria since the discovery of oil which has shifted the attention of government away from agriculture and unless we go back to agriculture there cannot be any meaningful development in the country’’, Dr. Fadairo maintained.

Developing agriculture via innovation platform

However, having established the fact that majority of Nigerian farmers are smallholders who are confronted with challenges which still impede their production and economic growth, it is appropriate at this juncture to point out that one of the ways to resolving these challenges is through the innovation platform.

But the question is: What is an innovation platform?

An innovation platform is a group of individuals with different backgrounds and interests: farmers, agricultural input suppliers, traders, food processors, researchers, government officials, among others, who come together to identify a common problem, proffer solution to them, develop a common vision and find ways to achieving their goals.

Problem solving approach

The problem solving approach brings all the stakeholders in the value chain together on a platform, the smallholder producers under their farmers association/groups, the lead buyers/off takers, processors, exporters, input suppliers, financial institutions and all others who are involve in a particular agricultural value chain.

It is a business platform through which stakeholders come together to plan ahead of the planting season, production are done base on market specifications, the farmers and buyers dialogue through pre- season meeting and find out the need in the produce market which will enable them know the input required, the quality/variety and quantity to produce, the financial requirement and so on, all these based on market specification.

At the end of the planting season, all the farmer producer groups bring together their produce through their farmers association and sell to the big buyers collectively.

Unnecessary cost

This model saves the farmers of unnecessary cost of transport, storage, looking for buyers all around, it also saves the buyers, processors, off-takers the overhead cost of looking for produce from individual farmers around as well.

It is pertinent to note that this is an approach developed to improve agricultural productivity and as well improve the income of the farmers through improved market opportunities and increased value addition.

Improved access to markets and information

This will ultimately result to increased incomes of the smallholder producers. The benefits will primarily result to:  improved access to markets and information; reduced transaction costs, reduced post-harvest losses, enhanced food safety, improved product quality and increased producer (farm gate) prices, increased output and productivity, and improved economies of scale among other benefits.

Of course, all stakeholders and governments must do the needful to reduce rural poverty.

ACCESS TO SAFE WATER, THE AGONY OF RURAL COMMUNITIES IN NIGERIA

By Temitope Musowo           Women washing by a stream called  Odo-Iyaonirobo

According to World Health Organization (WHO), safe water means consistent access to and adequate supply of clean water suitable for drinking, bathing, cooking and cleaning. This must be from a source less than 1kilometer (62miles) away and at least 20 litres (5.28 gallons) per person per day.

Going by the above definition, safe water is out of reach of most people living in the rural communities, particularly in Nigeria.

      

Talking about importance of water, the late afro-music legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti described water as an indispensable essential of life that has no enemy.

One of the most crucial natural resources which can make a meaningful contribution to the socio-economic development of rural communities is water. It is widely used for various reasons or purposes ranging from household chores to agricultural purposes. 

However, to most rural dwellers, safe water is a luxury meant for the people in the cities, but sadly enough, despite the rate of rural-urban migration in recent time, more than half population of the people in sub-Saharan Africa still live in rural communities where living standard is acutely poor and primitive.

Nigeria as a case study

This is particularly correct about Nigeria as a county, in the sense that, apart from the 36 state headquarters in Nigeria, Abuja the federal capital, and probably the 774 Local Government headquarters, life in other parts which formed the larger percentage of the entire country is characterized with pervasive rural poverty.

So worrisome enough, the government seem not to be in touch with this harsh reality.  These people are completely cut off from governance.

There is hardly government presence in these rural communities, perhaps the only time they are remembered is during electioneering campaign, after that, they cease to exist in government developmental agenda.

Pervasive rural poverty

The ordeal of the rural communities sound painfully familiar to me as I was born in such environment, majority of the villages in Nigeria are where people still trek several miles to the stream, which is  their major source of water,  places where there is no communication at all, they are completely cut off from the national grid.

These communities are where children trek some distance to school every morning and would get completely fagged off and too tired to listen to teachers in class, worst still, many of them would still have to walk several kilometres after school hours to meet their parents on the farm, where they would have their lunch.

 In this day and age, these people have not advanced beyond the use of firewood for their cooking, like in the Stone Age, the use of grinding stone to grind pepper is still a common practice among them. There is just no sophistry to dress up this naked fact, this is the real situation in our rural communities.

Politics apart, this is still the Nigeria of 21^st century, and I dare anyone who sees Nigeria in the light of Lagos, Abuja, Port- Harcourt and other cities to follow me on a rural excursion to see the real Nigeria.  And the question is, what percentage of the entire country call Nigeria are these urban centres?

Water scarcity and the Mamu community example

The condition of people of Mamu community best describe this sorry state of rural life, Mamu, a community in Ijebu-North Local Government Area of Ogun State, located between the boundary of Oyo and Ogun, less than 20 kilometres to Ago-Iwoye ,with an average population of  3000 inhabitants.

People of this community are predominantly peasant farmers and petty traders, Mamu is notable for its market which is a point of convergence for traders across Ogun state and beyond, every five days, a good chunk of the local government revenue comes from this market, yet, the community has not been fortunate to enjoy government attention, much of the amenities that make life worth living in this century still elude them.

                                              Children fetching water from a well

Visiting the village, in this day and age, as important as water is to human existence, the first observation anyone would make is water scarcity, more vulnerable are the children and women who are seen carrying buckets in search of water to meet daily household needs.      

    

                                                                children coming from the stream some kilometers away from home                                                                         

A major cause of water scarcity in Mamu is the government’s failure to redress the colonial imbalances which resulted in rural areas deliberately being side lined as far as water development projects are concerned. The centralisation of power since independence has resulted in bias towards improvement of water availability in urban areas and commercial farms at the expense of rural areas.

Major sources of water in Mamu community

Apart from one or two unprotected wells dug by people for provision of water for their households, the community major source of water are streams and a small river, quite unfortunate, most of these water sources are far from being clean and unsafe for domestic use, many of the streams visited takes their sources from another stream somewhere that flows down to form another body of water somewhere.

Although, there are indications that efforts have been made in the past by government to provide water for the community through borehole, even pipe- borne- water, as relics of broken plastic pipes, rusted tanks and water points were found, yet, scarcity of water remain the current reality of the community.

Tracing the sources of these streams, findings showed one stream called Odo- Idiarika which flows down to form another body of water called Odo-Apata, where people do all manner of washing and the dirty water from washing flows back into the stream, which is not far from another body of water called Odo-Yemoja, that flows down to Odo-Epa, and from there to Odo-Iyaonirobo, all these streams are along the same area.Other stream in other part of the town include; Odo-Olopa, Odo-Gbirigbiri and so on.

Mrs Tumininun nee Osikoya from Yemoja river  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

According to a man called Kunle Alagaode, who lives along the road to a popular river, called Odo-Idiarika, he explained the community's effort in ensuring cleanliness and water availability all year round, he said, " Odo-Idiarika is a major river in this town, people come from even the extreme part of the community to Idiarika , ( the river is named after the street) to come and fetch water, Oloritun (head of the street) is always in charge of the river.

      A water bearer fetching from one of the  streams     

During the raining season, the rules guiding the river are a bit relaxed, but during the dry season when most streams must have dried up, all attention shift to Odo-Idiarika, but Oloritun will open the river only around 6am, close it by 12 noon and only reopen it around 4 pm again and close it at 7 pm," .

When asked what is used to close a body of water opened and not fenced, he said they would tie palm fronts round the river and nobody dare go there after this is done.

                      

Ensuring cleanliness of the water

As regard cleanliness, he said part of the regulations are that; you put off your slippers/shoes some distance from the river, you do not come to the river with chewing stick or chewing gum in your mouth, you are not allowed to deep your bucket into the river to fetch water, you must use a small clean bowl to fetch into your bucket, nobody is allowed to do any form of washing around the river, if you brought a rag to carry your bucket, you do not take the rag close to the river, you cannot place your legs on the pavement built at the heart of the river, these among other are the rule to ensure cleanliness according to Mr Kunle.

Rules enforcement

Talking of enforcement of these rules, he said, the Oloritun and other elders on the street are always by the river to enforce disciplines, if you flout any of these rules, some people's bucket would be seized, some will be beaten with cane, some would have their bucket broken and asked not to come to the river again if they have been found to be impervious to correction.

                A water bearer fetching from the river (Odo-idiarika)

When we visited the river, things have changed as people were seen flouting those rules, but Mr Kunle explained, "the reason is that there is no one to keep people in check anymore, most of those elders are now dead, others are too old to do all that now, I'm the one (Mr Kunle) who when I see people flouting those rules sometimes rebuke them, but what much can I do?.

Moreover, things have changed now, the kind of respect we accorded elders then no longer exist, more so, we easily believed those myths then, for instance, we were told that if you catch fish from this river and boil the fish from now till tomorrow it will remain raw, if you do anything untoward to the river, the goddess of water will be annoyed with you, all those myths are today being questioned by the younger generation’’, he lamented.

Vulnerability of women and children

In all these, children and women are always more vulnerable, they are at the centre of it all, grappling with the direct impact of this life bellow common standard of living.

A little survey conducted among  the  pupils in primary  5 and 6 of Wesley Primary School, Ipinle, Mamu revealed the negative toll this is having on their education, health and general wellbeing, many of who perpetually come late to school because they have to fetch water before coming to school in the morning, most times missing out on the first 2 periods in the morning, ‘’ I have to fetch water to fill at least 3 drums every morning before coming to school’’, one of the pupils said, when asked what they use that volume of water for everyday, he said ,’’we use it for our grinding machine and other commercial use’’.

                                                 

Another one among the children confessed that sometime she may not take her bath before coming to school if there is no water at home, some of the pupils also owned up to the fact that they pile up their dirty clothes for weeks to save water.

When they were asked if anyone of them have been infected with water borne disease before due to contaminated water, majority of them confirmed this.   

More worrisome is the fact that many of these pupils are sent out by their teachers to look for water for the school use during school hours and for the teacher’s domestic use after the school hours.

       Pupils of St Charles Pry Sch Mamu  fetching water during school hours

The effect on their socio-economic lives

Water and poverty are inextricably linked. Lack of safe water and poverty are mutually reinforcing, access to consistent sources of clean water is crucial to poverty reduction. All businesses rely to some extent on consistent access to safe water and sanitation. Water is essential for growing and processing raw goods for food and other materials. Access to water in the right proportion and close to dwellings will have impact on the income and livelihood of the community.

Women bear the heaviest burden when there is no safe water and sanitation. In most places that lack these resources, women and children are responsible for retrieving water for their families, often spending several hours each day travelling and waiting at a water point. This often puts them at the risk of assault and injury.   

                                                    women working at a local palm oil mill

Some women who spoke with us lamented the impact of water scarcity on their businesses. According to Mrs Akomolafe, who prepares corn pap for sale, she complained about how much she spends on buying water from water bearers who sell water in gallons, ‘’you know the process of preparing pap involves a lot of water, you soak the corn in water for some days, you wash before grinding it and sieving it too you will need water not to talk of the final process of turning it on fire which also involves water, we buy 200-litres gallon of water for hundred naira, how much gain are we making?. The stories of other women working in the local oil mill were not different as they equally lamented the cost of getting water to do their work.

                       

Effect on their Health

WHO report has it that Over 40 billion productive hours is lost each year to fetching water in sub-Saharan Africa. About half of the developing world’s hospital beds are occupied by people with water- related illness.  

The health of the community members is largely dependent on water and sanitation, improved water and sanitation would result to reduction in cases of diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases. Communities are vulnerable to health and sanitation risks due to the unavailability of clean water.

Mrs Akomolafe  wrapping her pap with leaves  

There is a high risk of communities being exposed to water borne diseases, this cannot but happen in a community where people scoop water from holes in dried-out rivers, unprotected wells, and rainwater ponds, as in Mamu community where water is susceptible to contamination, this will definitely lead to diseases and ailments.

A visit to the only private Maternity home in the community ( Marian Maternity Home, Idi-Arika, Mamu) and a Primary Health Centre situated in an area called Ipinle in the community lend credence to this fact, many patients were seen receiving treatment from water related ailments.

Effect on children’s Education

Studies have shown that in the world’s poorest countries millions of children are unable to attend schools due to household chores and responsibilities for collecting water, and health related problem caused by unclean water also cause student absenteeism.

According to a UNICEF report, an estimated 443 million school days are lost each year from water-related illness. In many cases, children are too sick with diarrhea and other water-borne diseases like typhoid, cholera, or dysentery to go to school or must care for sick family members instead of going to class.  

The response from the pupils of Wesley Pry School who were interviewed as sample frame corroborate the above fact, this is equally true of the pupils in the two other primary schools in the community namely; St Peter Anglican Primary School, St Charles Catholic Primary School Mamu.

Agricultulture

Farming productivity has declined over the years in Mamu due to water scarcity. Many of the people in this village are subsistence farmers who only grow crops for the benefit of their families.  This has had a detrimental effect on the livelihoods of majority of the households who do not have other source of income apart from farming. These are the words of lamentation coming from many farmers that were interviewed in the community.

           

Government failure to provide water for the community

After the demise of the Rtd. Major Jimoh Onawaye, the late Baale of Mamu, who passed on some years back, Mr Adewale Miliki, a retired headmaster has been holding sway as the head of the community.

Mr Adewale has this to say about the neglect and abandonment being suffered by this community, ‘’Mamu is has been suffering neglect in the hand of successive governments of Ogun State for years, reason being that everything that is supposed to come here is always being hijacked by Ago-Iwoye, because Mamu is seen as a village under Ago-Iwoye, meanwhile, this town generate more IGR  than most towns in Ogun state because there is no where within the state where they don’t  come and do business in Mamu market, apart from the market, this town produces more cocoa and cola nut more than most towns in Ogun state, it was this huge production of cocoa that led Queen Elizabeth to visit Mamu when she visited Nigeria in 1956.

Even politically we are always short-changed here, instead of appointing a councillorship candidate from Mamu, they will go and appoint from Ago-Iwoye, meanwhile, majority of the votes would come from here, Only God will remember us in this community, we have been neglected for long’’, he lamented.

As regard the issue of water, he said, ‘’during the time of former governor Olusegun Oshoba he tried to give us pipe-born water but I am not sure it worked for a month when everything packed up, after that, other government also

                                                                  The community head,Mr Adewale Miliki

tried but to no avail, you can see the water tank by the   present House of Rep member but these cannot even serve one quarter of the town, how many litre is the tank you see. May god help us in Mamu my son’’, Mr Adewale concluded.

It remain to be seen if the government of Ogun State will open the book of remembrance concerning Mamu community soon, however, government attention may continue to elude them in this community given the fact that they don’t really have a substantive community head who can be their mouth piece for now as comments from some members of the community shows Mr Adewale Miliki is a self appointed leader who is not even recognised as the community head in some quarters.