Wednesday, April 6, 2011
DAILY TRUST
Business/Agri~
Fadama III: Adamawa women make money in agric business;
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From Ibrahim Abdul' Aziz,Yola MALAM Muhammadu Gidado has been a resident here in Chikilo village ofFufore Local Government Area of Adamawa State for decades. He has been raising poultry and growing arable crops for over 20 years. Gidado usually depended on his hard earned money to cater for his fanning activities, sometimes it yields profitswhile in most cases it ended in loss, due to what could be described as "insufficient knowledge of modem farming business." Likeother farmers in the village, Gidado used to obtain assistance in kind from micro-finance banks to run agricultural business like point-of-Iay birds and cages. The cost of these is then repaid installmentally. He later learnt about Fadama II in 2002 when Fadarna facilitators told them that the new phase of Fadama is expanded to include farmers beyond 30 metres from the stream. Of the 20 people in the farm settlement, 17 agreed to form Fadarna Community Assodation (FCA). The remaining persons were said to have opted out At first, he thought that they will begin to reap benefits from Fadama II in about 6months, but it took sometime before they could meet all the requirements. After sometimes, they began to see that definite benefits will accrue from joining the fadama group.In fact, their facilitators are a great asset It was easyforthem to reach out to thern.whenever advice is required. Likeotherbeneff"daries in the 1ahol-Yeso Fadamagroup, Mrs. Grace Bako heard about Fadama project first on the radio and other roadside talks. Then, facilitators came to brief them about Fadama in her own community. The coming of the facilitators gave them some confidence to partidpate in Fadama III. A retired ScllOOI teacher, Mama Grace as she was popularly known has been involved in petty trading and路 she is an active Fadama advocator in Fufore. When the FCA was formed two years ago in her ward, Mama Grace was elected treasurer. Their FUG was originally established as a co-operative sodety for raising money and onward lending to members. When Fadama III came, they raised membership contributions to enable them meet the requirement of contributing a percentage of the asset they wished to obtain. They had a bank account before Fadama and had been keeping minutes of group meetings. "Though \"" did not take the programme serious at theonset, now we do know that the Fadarna programme has come to stay and it is meant for the rural poor like US;' Gidado said gleefully. Gidado who belonged to 1allOl-Yeso FCA in Fufore Local Government Area ofthe state, says that he eagerly awaits the success story to translate to abundance offood 'We aotidpate thatverysooll, the state will be able to produce enough food for its people; tllis project has transformed our rural areas and made us to become active farmers, let it continue;' he has said. Malama Hauwau Fufore is another beneficiary who says that her life has changed significantly. "All members of my team are better offno", We are now able to contribute towards the upkeep
of our families, through payment of our children's school fees, while also engaging in monthly co-operative contributions. We are no longerwholly dependent on our husbands foreveryofour needs as mothers. From our processing mill business, I make a profit ofahout N2S0 every dayand during the fasting period, it is a high as NSOO since we get a lot of things to grind. "It is good that the co-ordinatorS of Fadama acknowledge that fuod security goes beyond the issue of production. The programme pays good attention to matters of disease and pest control, food preservation and controlled use ofagra-chemicals. "Before the project, women had very few opportunities to grow food or earn money for their families but now, they can cultivate, process and sell produce throughout the year~ she says. In Nigeria, the national Fadama programme is one of the schemes adopted by the Federal Government to combat rural poverty. An irlitiative ofthe World Bank, Fadamaaims at the economic empowerment of rural dwellers, who are involved in the different stages of the agricultural value chain. Offidals note that, Fadarna is now In its third phase ofimplementation in virtually all states of the federation, follOwing the success ofthe earlier phases. Initially Fadarna project inAdamawa was striving because majority of the people In the state are farmers. Crops produced include groundnut, cotton, maize, yarn, cassava, guinea com, millet, beans, sweet potato and rice. Cattle rearing is a major occupation, while village commu-
nities living on the banks of rivers Gongola and Benue in the state engage in fishlng and dry season production of vegetable crops like tomato, onion, pepper, arnaranthus, okra, garden eggs and melon using wash bore and tube well irrigation with water pumps. Much of these Fadama crops are in abundance during the dry season and are transported out to neighbouring stateS because ofits availahilitywhich makes the state a majorproduce~ of the crops. . However, startlIng revelations in Adamawa State indicate that the story may soon change insome partsofthe state, follOwing the inability ofsome participating local governments, which include Fufore, to pay the counter funding ofN2,OOO,OOO. During a visit to the area, no fewer than 104 dynamiC Fadama user groups that met the requirement for implementation in the frnancial allocation of over N27 million for the programme in the area are living in an atmosphere of despair and agony, for fear of uncertainty. They therefore call for urgent attention be taken. Corroborating the situation, tl,e Desk officer in the area Mallam Abubakar Siddiqi Haddabi explained that in spite ofthe fact tllat tl,e programme is boosting the income ofcitizens who work on rural lands and water, worst could happen ifcounterpart fund is not paid He describes the implementation of the three phases ofFadama in the area as "a success story'; stressing that it has led to job creation, rural infrastructureal development and conflict resolution, among others. Offidals explain that the programme is operated on a Counterpart fund basis, whereby the World Bank, the federal, state and local governments, as well as benefidaries, jOintly contribute certain percentages to the main operating fund, regretting that the third tier ofgovernment was not helping the situation. He noted that since the inception of the third phase in 2009, Fufore, one of the partidpating local government council has failed by only contributing N 1 million as counterpart fund The desk officer explained further that the partidpating communities and groups do exerose the prerogative to engage in any stage of the agriCultural value chain. While some choose crop cultivation tllat is unique to their environments, others opt for products' processing. marketing. transportation and other related agricultural activities. As all efforts to get the council chairmanAlh.1auro Liman Pariya proved abortive, however, the head ofAgriculture and Natural Resources in tlle council, Mr 10hn Maimu said the council was also concerned about the problem but dearth of funds was their major problem. "The council is battling with payment ofsalaries not to talk of paying counterpart fund~ Maimu has said Observers want the present gains to be consolidated, while urging the state and local governments to promptly pay up their counterpart funds so as to ensure the fulfillment of the programme in Adamawa