Encouraging Farmers Through Cottage Industry

Source from:  This Day (Lagos) January 31, 2006  02/06/2006

For farmers to produce enough food for local consumption and export, there is need to assist them in capacity building. Recently in Amaokwe Item, Abia State, a cassava processing industry built by BATN Foundation, was commissioned, writes Agha Ibiam Item, a community in Bende Local Government Area consists of about nine villages. It is not far from Umuahia, the Abia State capital. With a relatively good road that leads to Ohafia, it is about 50 minutes drive from the capital. The community's main occupation is farming and trading. To assemble the villagers during an important occasion is not a problem to the community. In one of such events, one elderly woman, who wore a different cloth from other women, picked an ogene, a constructed talking metal used either in music or getting the attention of the village people when there is need to disseminate information. She hit on it repeatedly without a word and the Amaokwe women began to converge at the direction of where the sound emanated from. That was during the day British American Tobacco Company Nigeria (BATN) commissioned the first cassava processing cottage industry for Amaokwe Item community. The event was not only for the women. The men on that fateful day also observed the commissioning. The project was in continuation of BATN's agricultural development programmes which form part of its social responsibility initiative. The industry was built at the cost of about N2 million and donated specifically to the Amaokwe Item Women's Wing Union who already have an existing cassava processing industry. Cassava, which is regarded as king of women's farm produce in some parts of the country has many uses. This explains why even the Federal Government is making frantic effort towards massive production of the product to support not only for consumption also for the production of other goods both local and international. However, BATN Foundation's Agricultural Development Project objective is to assist farmers improve their social and economic well being. The objective is being achieved in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan by improving the quality and yield of food crops such as maize, cassava and watermelon. The idea for the agricultural programme was conceived in July 2003 to intervene in the areas of improved agricultural information dissemination and training, input linkages and facilitation of markets. At its inception, a total of 100 rural farmers consisting of 50 male and female farmers were enlisted in the programme. The male farmers were mobilised to cultivate cassava and maize, while the women cultivated watermelon, a crop that was introduced to the community for the first time. To kick-start the cassava production enterprise in 2003, 34 male farmers were selected. Each of the farmers was assisted by the Foundation to plough one hectare of farmland and they were provided with improved disease-resistant and high yielding variety of cassava stems. All the farmers were also assisted with herbicides to apply on their individual farms. From all indication, the cassava production is aimed at improving the productivity of farmers through the introduction of improved practices. This is expected to result in improved income for the farmers. To ensure that they got better value for their produce, it became necessary to establish cassava cottage processing industries in some places to produce garri and some other derivatives. During the commissioning of the industry at Amaokwe Item, a director of BATN Foundation, Mrs. Flora Okereke, who represented the chairman, Chief Olu Akinkugbe, noted that the industry was the first to be commissioned and donated in the eastern part of Nigeria by the Foundation. Okereke explained that the choice of Amaokwe-Item was as the result of the fruitful end of mutual and constructive dialogue sessions BAT Nigeria had with stakeholders in the south east zone. "When we were doing the social stakeholders reporting dialogue in the eastern region, something came out that we needed a support in this kind of agriculture. We have to identify a community in terms of processing that already has some uniqueness where if you place it, you are most likely to succeed. "Item, during our verification exercises conducted on the field by our project management team, was discovered to be a cassava processing community that is focused on cassava production. We also discovered they have women units who work and farm together. So it was a natural choice because they fitted perfectly well to what we were looking for. This is a starting point and I am sure that other communities will probably get this kind of treatment in future", Mrs. Okereke said. With the focus the Amaokwe women group already has, she said it shored up its comparative advantage in the production of cassava with a critical need for a processing cottage industry. As a community populated by industrious and hardworking people and endowed with resources, Okereke urged the women to productively utilise the cassava processing industry to enhance their economic well-being. The industry donated to the community is fully equipped with a cassava grater which is to be powered by an eight-horse power diesel engine, two units of heavy duty hydraulic pressers, stainless steel sifters and a fryer. In addition to the cottage industry, BATN also sunk a borehole for members of the community. It is also reticulated for the processing of cassava and for domestic usage of members of the community. Apparently admired by the courage with which Mrs. Okereke conducted herself while she made her speech, the chairman of the occasion and chief host, Eze Chukwu Udensi, advised Item women not to fail in sending their children to school so that they could be like "Director Flora." On the reason for the industry, he said the women were the brain behind its location in the community. He therefore, encouraged them to put in more effort and be more united to enhance their productivity. On how th