Objectives of the Assignment

(SCPZs) (Adani-Omor, Bida-Badeggi, Kano-Jigawa and Kebbi-Sokoto). The Processing Zones (PZs) are specially delimited contiguous expanses of land in areas of high agricultural potential where the localized provision of a well-developed physical infrastructure such as access roads, electricity, as well as water are necessary for private sector led production, processing and marketing activities for strategic commodities such as rice, sorghum, cassava horticulture, cotton, cocoa, oil palm, livestock, fisheries, etc. The four PZs have high potential for rice, sorghum and cassava production and are among the 13 PZs established by the Federal Government as part of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA).

The specific objectives are to improve food and nutrition security, promote employment generation and increase, on a sustainable basis, the income of smallholder farmers and rural entrepreneurs that are engaged in the production, processing, storage and marketing of the selected commodity value chains. The direct beneficiaries are the 45,300 economically active small-holders living in the rural areas who are already participating in commercial agriculture. This number is expected to increase significantly when other economically active value chain entrepreneurs enlist in the Program. The indirect beneficiaries include existing or potential small, medium and large-scale entrepreneurs and business associations who provide services to rural households. Among the target group, women and youth play a major role in crop and animal production, processing, small enterprises operation and marketing. They will be specifically targeted for Program activities and benefits.

1.3: Objectives of the Assignment The objectives of the study are to: i. Identify the farmer clusters, farmer groups and farmer cooperatives in the four Staple Crops Processing Zones (SCPZs) of ATAPS- 1 intervention. ii. Determine the various crop enterprises that are grown in the seven participating states of Anambra, Enugu, Niger, Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto and Kebbi, stating the dominant crop having comparative advantage, mean farm sizes of farmers in the targeted LGAs/communities of focus for the study. iii. Identify and prioritize farmers' needs for rice, sorghum and cassava production, harvesting /storage, processing and marketing. iv. Analyze and triangulate field findings with other documented farmers' needs. v. Compile detailed and comprehensive needs of targeted farmers and make recommendations to ATASP-1 and its outreach program for intervention.

More specifically, the needs assessment addressed the following tasks: Task 1: determine production needs of the farmers. * Identify farmer groups by location with their membership composition on state basis with cognizance to gender inclusion. * Determine land ownership/access to land for production. * Identify dominant farm enterprises with emphasis on rice, cassava and sorghum in the states. * Determine average farm holding/farm size being cultivated by the farmers and average output on crop basis across the state. * Determine production requirements per hectare for seeds, fertilizers, agro- chemicals and labour cost. * Determine varieties under cultivation and yield per hectare * Determine the most common land preparation and cultivation methods and their labour requirements per hectare. * Determine the prevailing extension services that are available to the farmers, * Determine the credit facilities accessible to the farmers for farming across the state. * Recommend best agronomic practices that could be extended to the farmers

Task 2: harvesting /storage needs of the farmers * Determine the labour requirements for harvesting commodity per hectare. * Identify the transportation needs to move farm produce from farm to the markets and from farm to village * Determine the types of storage facility used in the community * Determine the storage facility needs of the farmers. * Recommend the type of acceptable storage facility to use

Task 3: processing needs of the farmers: * Determine the Agro – processing activities being carried out by the farmer. * Identify Agro – processing facilities that are used in the community * Determine the agro- processing challenges by the farmers group. * Determine ways to improve agro- processing activities by the farmers.

Task 4: marketing needs of the farmer. * Identify the market opportunities for rice, cassava and sorghum in the state/ zones. * Identify the off-takers for rice, cassava and sorghum in the community * Suggest ways of collaboration between off-takes and farmer with a view to mopping up the produce after harvesting. * Identify marketing challenges facing the farmers