Making Agricultural Constituency Projects Work for the People
What we can learn from Kaltungo-Shongom constituency
— Chidindu Mmadu-Okoli, Joshua Agama, Gabriel Eze
“I am quite aware that billions of Naira are being sunk into the rural areas. But as far as I am concerned, I have not directly seen, benefitted or participated in any constituency project.” These were the words of Sani Dalhatu, one of the smallholder farmers in Kaltungo-Shongom constituency in Gombe State, Nigeria, who shared his opinion on the state of constituency projects in his community.
For most in rural Nigeria, the measure of who is fit to run or re-run for elections in their constituencies, is the politician or government leader who knows how to ‘do something’ for his people. These constituents often limit their barometer for rural development to a few kilometres of tarred roads, bore-holes, building or rebuilding of council halls, schools, markets, hospitals, sharing of items like monies, pieces of wrappers, bags of rice, salt and fertilizers, to mention a few. Long after the launch of these projects and initiatives, and numerous pictures shared via traditional and new media, the bone of contention still remains: “How far, so far?”. What is the direct impact of these projects to the livelihood of the community members, most of whom are farmers?
Sustainable rural development through agriculture
Modern agriculture is the easiest path to rural development and a long-lasting improvement in the livelihood of its dwellers. As such, the rural economy depends largely on it. Constituency projects nominated by lawmakers to their various constituencies to improve infrastructure, livelihood and eradicate poverty at the grassroots levels, is a reflection of one of the fundamental functions of the government.
In some African (Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Rwanda) and non-African (India, Malaysia, Nepal, Jamaica) countries, agricultural constituency projects for development have gained credence. In India, for instance, the government kicked off the PM-KISAN initiative, since 2018, where 120 million marginal and smallholder farmers who had little access to credit facilities, received a minimum income support of 6000 Rupees (in three installments) per year, to boost their productivity and improve their livelihood. The scheme reached one-third of the farmers in the first three months of implementation with more than half the beneficiaries spending more money on agricultural products especially during the peak farming season. Additionally, the investment has paid off, having its benefit-to-cost ratio of expenditure range from 8 to 12, while increasing agricultural households’ economic welfare.
First conceived in 1999, as an important means of providing visible evidence of the dividends of democracy, Nigeria has budgeted trillions of Naira on constituency projects in the last two decades. Yet there is still an outcry over non-existent and incomplete constituency projects proposed by some lawmakers. A 2018 report by Bugdit shows that out of 1,497 zonal intervention projects approved for constituencies, only 32% have been completed, 10% are currently ongoing, whilst 58% were either undone, abandoned, untracked or in unspecified locations.
The major challenge? Solving for what farmers actually need
The execution of agricultural projects comes with its own challenges: unchecked sabotaging of capital projects, lack of monitoring to ensure full implementation and use, engagement with farmers/rural stakeholders for critical needs assessments, as well as lack of insight on the way forward for these projects. Of these, a major hindrance is the use of unconcerned contractors and/or lack of grassroot engagement to actually identify needs. Why “throw” fertilizer at smallholder farmers, when what they actually require are soil health and crop health optimizations?
“Policies and decisions are only made by people who are in authority.” Sani Dalhatu lamented, implying that the same people in charge of the projects are the ones benefiting. “Government should ensure they remove all kinds of barriers, especially those who manipulate systems and divert the programs to cities where they live, leaving the rural dwellers behind.”
Whilst agricultural constituency projects are gaining prominence in Nigeria, a fragment of the population who ought to have benefited directly or indirectly through these projects are oblivious of the projects. In a similar instance, a 2015 report reveals that the National Root Crop Research Institute Umudike, completed a Cassava Processing Centre at Okwuabala, Orlu, Imo State. This project was worth the sum of N20,000,000. However, it was reported that the centre was not in use, as the community members were not aware of its existence. Also, the road leading to the centre was not motorable.
Embracing sustainable agricultural solutions for rural development.
Agriculture is a top-priority, not just for the survival of rural dwellers, but as a springboard for the infrastructural development and economic growth of communities; as such, it is the greatest and most fundamental of industries. By collaborating with stakeholders, we find a joint effort channelled towards the agricultural transformation in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.
However, most regional governments, big agribusinesses and industries are unable to forecast and properly deploy the right amount of intervention support required by farmers. This lack of resilience to prevailing farming challenges (using big data analytics) is responsible for why food price is the main cause of rising inflation across Nigeria’s economy, and by extension, several economic regions in Africa.
For agricultural zonal intervention projects, a big data analytic product like VillageChief™ creates ease in the decision making process. By using satellite data, VillageChief™ will reveal important patterns, trends and associations, in real time, to help agribusinesses, industries and government know active farm locations, crop growth stages, harvest time and yield expectations. With these pieces of information, stakeholders can leverage this tool to address system-level challenges that affect them, one of which is how to locally source for farm produce for industrial use efficiently. Moreso, for governments, it will help them address challenges faced by millions of farmers such as how to correctly predict how much food they should import or export based on yield forecast, how to correctly estimate fertilizer requirement on a village by village basis for intervention support; and most importantly, how to collect these data remotely while keeping staff safe from a pandemic.
Tackling the challenges that hinder farming and food security, require much more than human efforts. Solutions powered by technology and data-driven precision farming methods play very vital roles in initiating, planning, executing and monitoring agricultural zonal interventions. By leveraging remote sensing technology, the fine-grained data derived will help government officials and project consultants to meet each farmer’s unique needs efficiently and cost-effectively.
In the same Kaltungo-Shongom constituency, led by Hon Karu Simon Elisha, we find a clear difference in the reaction of farmers who are recently registered on Capture, under the constituency’s smart farming program. “I have benefitted from this initiative, compared to other previous activities, even though this program is currently ongoing, and we believe the results will bring out the best in our farmers.” Pukma Daniel shared his experience so far. Other beneficiaries like Ismaila and Shagari, also look forward to accessing fertilizers and microcredits to sustain and/or increase their yield.
A knowledge of the unique needs of the smallholder farmers in this constituency informed the need for the technology-driven agricultural project. The leadership of this constituency understood the needs of the farmers and matched it up with a solution that was different, concrete and sustainable. “We never came into politics to do the same things again. It’s been tried for the past 20 years and very little results have come out of it. By introducing technology, we are training our farmers to understand that there are newer ways of doing things. We also felt that the solutions that were given by Rural Farmers Hub are far more superior and sustainable. The promise of 20–50% yield is far better value for whatever investment we are going to make into the current project,” added Alhamdu Yaro, Aide to the Honourable Member representing Kaltungo-Shongom constituency, as he speaks on the steps taken to meet the needs of the constituents through smart farming. “Before the project kicked off, we conducted a needs assessment via several town hall meetings with focus groups made up of selected leaders and representatives from all over the constituency to make sure that budgetary provisions were based on the needs of the people. They were asked questions around the current problems and nature of solutions/projects they would like to see. The highest feedback we received was around agriculture and food security.” Alhamdu continued. “This spiralled us to find a lasting solution rather than a one-off intervention that would be good for our campaigns but might not be the best for the farmers.”
In over 24 months, Rural Farmers Hub has worked with over 5380 farmers in 269 communities across 9 African countries, where they have helped farmers leverage agritech tools, to become proactive and resilient, whilst improving their lives and those of their families. Some of the observations from working with these rural farmers are the invaluable benefits that come from data-driven precision farming: sustainable food production, adaptation to climate change, and the rise in the use of digital technology by farmers.
With the increasing need for food security and availability, some nations in the world are succeeding in scaling up agriculture through constituency projects. For Nigeria to catch up with the national and global standards for stepping up the agricultural sector, she must devise means to facilitate a shift from traditional to data-driven precision agricultural methods. This can be achieved through appropriating constituency funds, and collaborating with agricultural tech-based platforms to ensure that projects prioritize the people, especially smallholder farmers in rural areas, who are the main beneficiaries.
To learn more on how you, your organization, ministry, department or agency can attract this smart farming methodology to your community/constituency, please send us an email or chat us via WhatsApp.
