‘Our aim is to put our farmers on the international market’

Mrs. Oluranti Sagoe-Oviebo, is the State Project Coordinator of Lagos State Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) project. In this interview by NURUDEEN ALIMI, she speaks about the project, agriculture in the state, funding and use of technology, among others.

WHAT are the core objectives of the Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) project in terms of the value chain target on Lagos State?

The core objective is to enhance productivity of our products. We also have to increase process output and to improve the livelihood of our farmers. But beyond that, we have the food security aspect of it that is to improve food security in the country. We are also looking at ensuring that Nigerians eat good food. So we are looking at nutrition-sensitive technologies and then export potentials. I think it is high time for our farmers to get into the international market and that is one of the objectives of this project.

In terms of the three value chains: poultry, aquaculture and rice production; what would you say has been the biggest intervention across those value chains for farmers in Lagos State?

For every one of them, it is been unique. For rice production, part of the things we have been able to achieve is the aspect of ofada rice. What we have been able to do in APPEALS Project is to look at a pure strain of ofada rice that will give our farmers good money. We are looking at having the likes of Basmati rice for ofada rice. What we have done is to look at the strain of ofada rice in Lagos, and we looked at the ones that is having a high yield and we have done that working in collaboration with IITA. So, that is one area that is so exciting and I know that this year, we will get a better result because we are already working with out-growers to get our foundation seed and all of that.

What can you say about the the cage culture of which you adopted in aquaculture value chain?

First of all, it is actually an initiative of the Lagos State Government because there is a project for young people in cage culture. The project looks at how we can align with the state government’s initiative. We built on that and today we have cages in over three water communities where we have had over 40 cages in each of them and this year we would even do more. And for me, that is one area that has been so good. And then in the area of fish crackers, our dream is that before the end of this project lifeline, we don’t want any fish crackers made in China (imported). It is high time for us to empower our own people. And when you look at the nutrition-sensitive technologies, the fish crackers most people eat are actually flavoured. But the one we have been able to introduce in Nigeria is the real fish turned into cracker. So, that is something that when a child eats it, you are sure that the child is eating a wholesome food as snack.

For Poultry, the few months of the closure of the borders helped us to look inwards and today, you will find out that a lot of our poultry farmers are doing so well in the poultry sector for broilers’ production. Over time, our farmers in eight weeks were attaining 1.8kg but with the improved technology we had, we introduced a technology on pelletised feeds and nipple-fitted drinkers. The pelletised feeds allows for poultry birds to eat wholesome food, so when they eat a pellet, you can be sure that they have eaten everything they need in that diet. And so in six weeks, we are attaining about 2.2kg-2.3kg as against the eight weeks to 1.8kg. So, that translates to more cycles for our farmers and that means they will make more money. We are not stopping at that. We are looking at business alliances because when you talk about sustainability, if there is no business alliance, you have done nothing.

We have looked for off-takers that would buy from producers and it is a continuous exercise. In fact, we have supported some farmers who have gone over three production cycles since we started the project. That is one area of the project that is very encouraging, as well. We are also looking at the egg powder, which is one area that I know we would make a big impact in the industry, because overtime, our farmers, once in a year usually have glut issue. And we thought about what we can do to address the issue and so we are converting the egg to powder so that it eliminates the issue of glut and loss for our farmers. So, that is one area that we are really doing so much.

Talking about the uniqueness of Lagos, for people who are not residents here, there are perceptions that Lagos do not have farmers; what we have are eaters, people who are just ready to consume, the huge market. From that perspective, how will you say the Lagos APPEALS have harnessed the huge market in Lagos particularly the farmers who are producing?

Lagos has farmers and under the APPEALS project, we have been able to identified over 10,000 farmers already that we have verified. It is not like we have farmers that are not there, they are real-time farmers. We have facts and figures, if you can go on our website, you will find them and their locations. You can go and verify on your own and you can find all their details on our website.

It is not true when they say Lagos doesn’t have farmers. Lagos farmers are high-tech farmers. Lagos farmers are not the regular type of farmers. With our little space, we maximise space, it is all about efficiency. It is not about the space that you have. That is why when we talk about high technology farmers, they are found in Lagos. We also have market and that is an advantage for us. We are maximising all of these things and with the support of the APPEALS Project, I think we are bringing out the best in our farmers.

Talking about the markets, access to market is one of the challenge for farmers across the country, which is why we have huge post-harvest losses because some of them can’t access the farms to the markets in real-time. But what we found unique about Lagos is the e-commerce dimension, the wara.ng and EKO APPEALS’ website.

What is it about these two platforms for e-commerce and how would you access the products in enhancing farmers’ access to market in Lagos?

I know they call Lagos farmers, the laptop-carrying farmers and during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, that was what actually spurred us into e-marketing when a lot of farmers complained that they could not sell their produce. It got us thinking of what to do to add value to what farmers were already doing. At that time, we could not really do a lot of things and we thought to partner with e-marketing platforms and we did a lot of research work and we discovered wara.ng who happens to be a merchant that deals more on agricultural produce and we partnered with them. As I tell people, knowledge is power and one of the things the project does is building capacities and based on experience we had with wara.ng, we went to create EKOAPPEALS CONNECT, where we control our own platform.

With wara.ng, it was a partnership where we had access for 500 farmers and we had more than 10,000 farmers. So we created EKOAPPEALS CONNECT, where our farmers can actually come on board and upload their produce. So far it has been success all the way. A lot of farmers have been encouraged. In fact this morning, a farmer called saying it has been a mind-blowing experience that their marketing strategy has changed. I know that with e-commerce, a lot of young people can actually come on board. Marketing is the area where you make a lot of money, value-addition and that is the way to go. That is one of the things that spurred us and even this year would be better where a lot of farmers based on the success stories we have been able to achieve. A lot of people will come on board and benefit from this particular platform.

APPEALS Project is concerned about young people. Lagos is a land of opportunity; we have millions of young people across the country trooping into Lagos for opportunities. What does Lagos APPEALS Project have for the youths and what kind of opportunities can they look out for?

The target of Lagos APPEALS is actually 10,000 beneficiaries but the 10,000 does not say that they can’t be young people. Even though, we have a special component for Women and Youths and the target audience there is 1,700; we also have People With Disabilities (PWDs), five per cent of 1,700, which is 85 but we still have about 9,000 which is the minimum. Who says 50 per cent of them cannot be youths? Basically, it is just making the whole business attractive and that is one of the things that APPEALS Project has been able to do to make agriculture attractive. We are looking at technologies that are simple, adoptable, technologies that are interesting. We are looking at aquaculture, cage culture. It doesn’t have to be the old way of doing things. With the new modern way of doing things, you will make more money. It is so easy, knowledge is power. It is not necessarily the physical power; it is the ability to think outside the box, that is what makes the difference. And so this has made agriculture very attractive to a lot of our young people.

Could you shed more light regarding the implementation of women and youth under the APPEALS Project?

For the Women and Youths component, we have identified 1,621women and youths who have gone through intensive screening. Initially, when the expression of interest advert came out in 2018, we had over 11,000 applicants who filled the forms but we had slots for just 1,700. Then a lot of screening processes came into play and we came down to 1,700 and at the end of the day, there was an interview where we had 1,621 who had gone through the trainings in the three different value chains for two weeks. They have gone through how to write their business plans, because if you train somebody and they cannot develop a business plan, then you have not really done so much. They were trained on the economic and financial aspect and some of them have developed their business plans and the projects have been registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), because we want them to start a business. It is not just to go into farming as the normal farmer; we want them to know what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Part of the trainings they had was entrepreneurship skills. Till date, we have received approvals for 302 Women and Youths out of 1,621 and we are still counting as it is a continuous exercise. For the 302 Women and Youths, quite a number of them have started implementation, some have collected their point of lay birds and their birds are already laying eggs. Some are going into processing of poultry products and some have started their fish farming. It has been wonderful. One of the areas I found very interesting was one particular young man who came here and said, “I have never done anything in agriculture” but immediately after the training, he started producing smoked fish even before we started empowerment and today, he is already exporting outside of Nigeria. When you talk about empowerment, it is not necessarily when you give money, a couple of them have started based on the trainings they had and I think that is a major breakthrough for us. It is a success story. And it is also telling young people that you can actually do it. We have so many potentials inside of us, we just need to explore and I am sure the sky is the limit.

Every of our women and youths beneficiary have an average package of N2million to kick-start effectively. It is a start-up package of which includes for Poultry: broilers, day old chicks, feeding, housing and other things; for aquaculture: pond construction, fish, fish feed, labour cost, etc. One thing that is very interesting is the fact that, for every youth that is empowered, it is expected that the youth also engages somebody that the project will pay for. So at the end of the day, you are not just empowering 1,621, it is actually multiple the number directly because that person is also going to earn a salary from the project. Indirectly, you are empowering thrice the actual number of beneficiaries; hence, the impact is huge.

We also follow them through with mentorship as it is not enough to just empower them when they have no one to look up to. We check up on them and encourage them because without doing that, success of the process will not be achieved. We attach them to mentors in the industry they can learn from, encourage them even when they make mistakes. I tell them that their first mentors are their project officers because every one of us has had one or two experiences on the field and we are hands-on people who are there to encourage these young people.

The counterpart funding from Lagos State Government for APPEALS project is a huge statement of intent. How do you see the collaborations between Lagos APPEALS and the Lagos State Government?

The Lagos State Government has done so much. I keep telling people that if not for the encouragement we get from the state government, I honestly don’t know what we will do because there are times that it can be tough but we have a Mr. Governor (Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu) that is very passionate. Lagos State is the only state that has 10 per cent People With Disabilities (PWDs) that are going to benefit from this project. Other states are five per cent but Lagos State is going for 10 per cent and the remaining five per cent is going to be funded by Mr. Governor himself. I think that is one thing we should appreciate him for. He is always paying the counterpart funds timely. In fact right now, the fund is ready. The moment the project’s budget is approved, the money is going to be released. And because we are aligning with the Lagos State initiative, it is a Lagos State Government’s project. Lagos APPEALS Project is for Lagos State because the loan will be paid back by Lagos State Government. He is giving us all the support; we are just foot soldiers ensuring that we deliver to the people.

On the completion of the APPEALS Project, what for you makes a successful project? How would you want to summaries the success of the project when it winds down?

When there is food in the nation and all the Project Development Objectives (PDOs) are met as well as when you are looking at real 10,000 beneficiaries benefiting. When there is food and there is market. For me, I believe I have been able to do a lot of things and I have been able to achieve the reason why I was employed.

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