'WHY AMAECHI BROUGHT SONGHAI FARM TO RIVERS'

In the early 1980s, a small group of people led by Rev. Father Godfrey Nzamujo determined that the level of development in Africa was grossly insufficient and sought to restore dignity to the African people. The result was the creation of the Songhai Center, Porto Nove, Republic of Benin.

Songhai is a center for training, agricultural production, research and development of sustainable agricultural practices.

This model seeks to develop new approaches or new trajectories and farming systems that rely heavily on the combined inputs from local experiences, indigenous knowledge base on one hand and business communities and research institutions on the other hand. The result is a robust, zero-waste, integrated agro-allied model promoting rural growth through training, technology adaptation and strong business and commercialization strategy.

The Songhai Rivers Initiative (SRI) is an update and larger version of the Songhai model in Porto Novo. A project conceived in 2008, to provide sustainable alternative livelihoods in agric & agro based practices with a special focus on the rural areas and urban slums of rivers state. In Partnership with Songhai International, Porto-Novo, republic of Benin; as Technical partners, its major objective and adaptable technologies in agriculture make the people socio-economically viable, self-reliant and help to charge the perception that agriculture is an occupation of the poor.

The SRI model is designed as a robust zero-waste, integrated agro allied model promoting rural growth through training, technology adaptation and research with a strong business and To date, 110 youths from 23 LGAS of the state received an 18 months training in various specialized agric & agro based areas at the Songhai Headquarters at Porto Novo, republic of Benin. 50 of them have currently been absorbed into the center as Junior animators. They shall eventually progress to start their own business in their communities with the support of the center.

The Songhai Rivers initiative serves as the nerve center of the RSSDA Agricultural Development grogramme. Recognizing that over 70% of farmland in Rivers state rests under 2 ha; the initiative focuses on the development of such smallholder farmers from subsistence 'no-income' earner to active commercial entrepreneurs and generating sustainable incomes.

The SIR agricultural development strategy is not a standalone deal. It shall operate within a cluster industry. To be directly linked to 6 regional farm through the application of innovations. We spoke with the man who runs the farm:

Can you introduce yourself Sir?
My name is Nobel Pepple. I was seconded to the Agency right from Shell and currently functioning as the Executive Director of the Agency.

What is the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA) all about?

The agency was established about 2 - 3 years ago, as a special intervention vehicle by the state government to help direct the focus of development on poverty alleviation, on youth empowerment and rural development. Basically we were established by an act of the state of House of Assembly and the act also provides the areas that we cover and the source of our funding. Currently, even though the act has not restricted us to any limited number of coverage, we have chosen some priority areas in which to focus our attention and our resources. In human capital development, we want to offer a lot of scholarship to young Rivers State men and women. We also focus on agricultural development. So, we have a number of agric programmes that we currently carry and finally the third area of focus for us is the area of creation of employment opportunities. So, those are the three key focus areas for us at the moment.

With the kind of fund, the Federal government is sitting on, isn't it possible to build a world class farm settlement like the one I just saw at the Rivers State Songhai farm settlement, in each of the Senatorial Zones, even in Federal constituencies and give them to consultants like you to manage?

First of all, I am not a consultant. I am the Executive Director of the Agency and not a consultant. The agency is an institution of government, set up by the Rivers State government to focus attention on these critical areas.

Secondly, Songhai which you just visited; – I don't think the Songhai model lends itself to be replicated in all the senatorial districts in Nigeria.

Why?
The way the model is established is that you have a mother Songhai farm in the country and then you have a number of satellites that operate in a network around the mother farm. This is the model. And the question is: Can we have more than one Songhai farm in a country? Oh, certainly, you can. I believe you can. And again, the capacity that is required, to build more than one Songhai in a country will stretch the ability of any country to have more than one Songhai .

I think if we can get an effective and functional Songhai in Nigerian, other senatorial district or other states can build a similar rural city project, which Songhai represents, from the mother farm, which is the one here in Rivers State. The Rivers Songhai farm you've been to is the most modern and the largest in Africa. Even the regional Songhai farm which we have in Porto Novo is much smaller, compared to the one we have here in Tai.

And it's built by the same people and that's the reason why I said it's going to be quite capacity challenge to have one Songhai in every state. What makes it effective is because it is managed and run by the same management from Porto Novo. The capacity to build one Songhai in every senatorial zone in Nigeria is almost going to be impossible. What they are going right now is try to establish one Songhai farm in each of the interested African countries, and I have to say, of all the African countries that  have  shown interest in this model, the one here in Port Harcourt  is the one that has gone most mileage - we are far more advanced than all the others. So, we see a possibility in future where many of the other countries are going to be coming to Rivers States to understand and learn the Songhai model. It's not just getting the farm. It's actually operating the model. And that is where the challenge lies.

In itself, is it self sustaining?
It is very self-sustaining. Like every other agricultural facility and programme, there is a lot of some end capital investments that have to be made.

So, why won't they spread it to every senatorial zone, since it can sustain itself?

It becomes self-sustaining after you have established the programme itself. And remember, I said, programme and not project, when you are constructing it the project is simple. The project you can construct, because it is infrastructural and all of those things. The programme is the culture, the philosophy behind Songhai . And that is what is difficult to replicate easily. I give you another example. I understand we are not the first in the country to make an attempt in establishing a Songhai farm. The Delta state had earlier started one. I'm not sure how far they have gone, because at a point, they had to cut loose the connection with Songhai international centre, and tried to run it on their own.

Frankly, I do not know where that experiment is today. We believe that to make it successful, it is not just building the infrastructure or having the crops, or having the animals or the fish in the place, which makes it integrated farm which it is. It is having the Songhai method of doing things - the Songhai culture, which focus a lot on self-help, focuses a lot on zero waste - How  one stream of output can lead into another stream as input. How it is all integrated and the culture of the people who are supposed to work there. sometimes, it is a bit different from the traditional culture and mentality you have in many of our communities today in Nigeria.

So, what it is one thing to have the project, and programme here, the opportunity to succeed and survive are two things' One, before we even put the first  stone in the ground, we send a group of young Rivers State men and women to Songhai centre in Porto Novo 105 of them to train for two years, so that they understand the philosophy and what the place really is about. And when that group returned, we deployed half of them into the Songhai centre right now. So, its' not just building brick and mortar or planting crops, but it is how to understand the culture that makes Songhai what it is.

The number two thin is that we have an agreement with the Songhai International Centre that they will run the Songhai Rivers, for five years. So they are not building and running way. They will build, they will stay and they will run for five years. During those five years, we will also employ appropriate experts and professionals from Rivers State, who are going to work behind them and understudy them, so that by the time they are leaving in five years, that culture has permeated the entire way in which work is done in Songhai Rivers.

See, that is not something you can replicate easily in the 36 x 3 and be successful.

Our agricultural productivity is where it was in 1960 because less than 1% of GDP is being ploughed  back into agriculture what policy framework do you think should be put in place in order to attract private investors that will come and replicate this dynamism you people are doing in Songhai?

There are a number of things that are not yet in place in agricultural sector in the country. One of the biggest challenges we have is infrastructure. If you are successfully going to run a farm, you will have a number of things to be in place to make that happen. You will need good roads to evacuate your products. You need power, even if you are in a rural setting, you will need power to run your machines for processing, for preservation and other things. Infrastructure is key and we don't have that very much in abundance now. Some state governments have understood that and even the federal government and they are working at it. That's number one.

Number two: the access to credit and investment in agriculture has been lacking. Most times, because of the way agriculture programmes and products are, the typical banks are reluctant to provide loans and funding for agriculture programmes and project. Because it is something that takes time to deliver returns on investment, and most banks want to see the funding they provide return dividends, return profits very quickly. Now in agriculture, you have to invest and it takes little longer for that to happen.

Number three: If you take a state like ours - Rivers State, land is a challenge for us here, and the way the land ownership system is in an area, can be an impediment to owning agriculture businesses and running successful agricultural businesses for a number of potential investors. Again, in many of our communities, even in some of the land communities in the country in the North and other places, you find that the land needs to be prepared in a number of ways. We need fertilizers. We need inputs that will help to make your products to grow to improve productivity. Our soil management system has not been at its best and finding the right experts and expertise to make that happen has not always been easy. Because if people do not see agriculture as viable, the tendency for people to train and focus early is usually stunted.

I am not an agricultural experts, but some of these things are fairly open and visible things, and you know that the challenge and ability to make agricultural businesses profitable and thrive in these areas. So, many of these things need to be addressed and if they are successfully addressed, I think we will see much more positive changes in agricultural systems. One of the big ones I haven't mentioned of course is market. Because market is where you create value. If you produce and there is no market to sell, it goes to waste. Take cassava as an example. Cassava is one of the biggest staples and domestic products of this area. But from some account and statistics, over 30% of the harvest from cassava goes to waste. It goes to waste because we don't have the processing system that can take advantage of the massive production of cassava that we produce in the country. Now, in RSSDA, and Rivers State by extension, are trying to do something about it.

We have gone into a partnership programme that will create or establish a processing facility in the state that will process virtually all the cassava that are available to be processed in the state, apart from the ones that will go to the table for food. So, by so doing, we want to harness the 30% waste as well as help local farmers to have ready market for all their cassava So, if you create the market and people have where to off load their produce and create value, that will keep them in business as agricultural entrepreneurs, then they will be in business.

So, market is really crucial. We had the marketing boards which were in existence a few years back. Many of them have gone moribund. So people grains that they produce and they have nowhere to market them and they watch their produce waste.

Fourthly, if I am a farmer and I have a bounty harvest, and watch half of it go to waste, I will invest somewhere else, may be start selling sugar.

You talked about small-scale farmers, processing cassava in order to minimize the waste. Is there any other modality where the Songhai farm is going to be of assistance or a link whereby you'll be of assistance to the small scale farmers?

Songhai is built on the pivot of support to small-scale farmers. There is nothing about Songhai that is focused on commercial large scale farmers, although we will like to see small-scale farmers grow to become entrepreneurial of even commercial. But the whole purpose of Songhai is to support the small scale farmers and how we do that is that you find yourself at the hub or centre of a network of farms.

Around it are six other farms, each one measuring about 500 hectares in size. Each of these farms is called the regional farm centre and is strategically located in different parts of the state. When they are fully developed, these farms will take the new technique, the new variety, the new method of farming that come out of the research done in Songhai and replicate same in their respective farms. These farms are where the support will be provided for the catchments of L.G.As around each of these farms. So, all the local farmers forming co-operative within a geographic area in the state, will receive their  mechanization in helping to prepare their plots in terms of farm inputs to seedling, to fertilizers, herbicides and all of that, will be supplied from these regional farm centre. And also market access will be provided to the local farmers from those centres, so when they harvest, they will sell their products if they wish to go through those farm centres, to wider markets.

So, that way, we help the local farmers to get the inputs they require to improve their yield and also provide them access to sell their produce. That's what makes the Songhai system unique and that's why I said it's not easy to replicate these farms. They don't stand alone. The Songhai centre is not just a farm; it's an on agricultural system.

Most of the small-scale farms who were making it possible for agricultural to account for 42% of our GDP are rural dwellers and the bank as you mentioned will normally request for landed collateral in the city, which these farmers don't have. Is there no way to make the banks or the financial institutions to become partners within the duration of the loan they are giving to the farmer?

I love that to happen, because that's what we hope we provide a change. Let me talk to you about another programme, the agency is running which displays what you just said. Because we belief, this is the power belt and we want to ensure that all the cassava that is produced is harnessed, and put to good use, we have entered into a partnership with a Dutch company called DATCO.  This company has patented the technology for processing cassava in toto at the point of harvesting, so that two-day of 48 hour threshold between harvesting and damage can be reduced. Part of this partnership is also the oil company - Shell and the International Fertilizer Development Centre which is helping and working with the local farmers to improve their yield and also Union Bank. We have a bank which is part of this partnership and that bank currently is Union Bank.

The role o Union Bank in this partnership is to provide access to credit for all the farmers who are involved in this initiative. For example, if I am a small farmer, producing or willing to produce cassava, and I register for this initiative, under the basis of the plot of my farm, let's say a one hectare farm to produce cassava  becomes my collateral for accessing loan form the Union bank. Now that loan could go to provide input for the farm or it can go to pay school fees of my children. So, all that the bank is asking for is that I have a plot of cassava that is intended to provide supplies for this programme and I will receive loan from them for this purpose, and the loan can guarantee. For it's a way which we hope we can get farmers of cassava to stay, be able to  access the credit they need to improve their, and to improve the work on their farm, but also improve their livelihood , by not going through too much stress, to provide their basic needs while the crops are coming through. I don't know how much such schemes exist. I'm sure there could be a few like that also exist. But I think innovations like that can help to get local and small farmer to actually stay in production as well as have access to credit.

The Songhai farm at Porto Novo, you have been talking about is owned by an individual, right?

No
I though an individual owns it?
No. it was founded by an individual but is owned by an organization, with a board of trustees.

It is run as a limited liability company, isn't it?

It is run as a business, yes
Now that brings me to the question, I want to ask: is there any plan on ground that after five years when this Songhai management consultant working with  you might have left, the farm will be self-sustaining on its own as a sign that it is going to be a success programme?

You are talking about sustainability.
Yes
This is a very good point first of all, Songhai is not a consultant. They are not working with us as consultants. They are working with us as partners. And that is the model, the agency exposure. Virtually, all our interventions, we try to do in partnership. Now with regard to Songhai farms and the process of sustainability, we recognize that we are government and many people believe that initiatives by government don't last very long. Plan with Songhai is to transfer the ownership of Songhai to Rivers people. So, ultimately as the Songhai international partners prepare to leave, even before they prepare to leave, Songhai will make available, make open to people within the state to participate in, to have access to its ownership, so that by the time Songhai is exiting, you will have not only a board of trustee but an ownership structure that allows a part of that owned by the government and a part of that owned by the indigene of the state, holding, investing and  making sure their investment continues over a long time.

At the 34th governing council of IFAD - International Fund for Agricultural Development, the chairman of the alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Kofi Annan pointed out that exclusion from advances in farming technology, poor management, of resources, weak economic and infrastructural link, imbalanced global trade regime and dramatic decline in aids from oversees as the major issues hindering food production in Africa.

How do we tackle these?
The point is that we have to lean on policy makers. I don't make polices. I implement programmes. We have to go back to policy makers. Where do we see agriculture within the context and range of things we see that will take us to where we want t be as a country? For a long time, agriculture has been negecleted. And we have focused a lot on the oil and gas industry, because we have had a lot of money coming out from that industry. So, we have basically purchase everything that we have. That has been, in the case of Nigeria , and in my humble opinion, the major imbalance that we have. I understand the point Kofi Anan is making and broadly speaking, across African and across the development world. In the case of Nigeria, there are specific issues that have been more pronounced and have caused problems where we are  now, it takes a doctor to decide what his focus will be.

The governor of Rivers State, His Excellency Right Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has said, again and again, publicity and privately that the legacy he would like to leave behind is not so much in wonderful infrastructure projects that have been built over the last three years, people that he has trained, both locally and overseas, building manpower for the state, but in agriculture. The farm estate, the thriving agricultural base that he leaves behind in the state - will be the enduring legacy he wants to be remembered for. Now, it takes leaders and policy makers to make bold visionary decisions of that nature, for things to begin to fall in line and begin to change. Because when you have that as your vision and as your goal to reflect agricultural in your state or in your country, then the decisions and the policies are then tied around that to follow the vision and it is then that you can see infrastructure that will help agriculture to thrive. The access to credit and  funding will make possible, just like the federal government  has recently initiated the agric loan scheme, you can see a lot more research and interest into agriculture programmes in our schools.

In market access, polices are then made that will become favourable to creating the market both in the country and foreign state partners. And where there are bottlenecks, or artificial situations that prevent or impede trade in agricultural product, will be discussed and possibly removed. It starts with the government setting out the plan and the vision, in that direction. I believe the less we pay attention, the less focus we give to the oil and gas sector alone, and the more focus we give to agriculture. Don't forget that agriculture is also one that can drive large scale employment. In that large -scale employment. it provides the raw materials we need for productivity in different spheres of the economy. So, the more we begin to pay attention, and not lip service, but actually follow vision and statement with action, the more we can say agriculture will begin to take its rightful place again in the country.

Two questions in one: Do you see any revolution coming from the Rivers State Songhai and why is it not part of Amaechi's signatory projects? One rarely hears about Songhai…?

(Cutting me off) Okay, do I see a revolution coming on? I would hope so. I don't know what you see, but I would hope there is a revolution coming on - it's a quiet green revolution. And it is not just of  Songhai but the totality of the things that are being done since we set in motion in the agricultural area, and I can spend two hours talking to you what my agencies, including the Ministry of Agriculture, that are also doing a number of things in agriculture. I can see a quiet green revolution going on in Rivers State. And it is deliberate. It is not by accident. Now why it has not been projected as much as it should be- is because one will like our work to speak for us. Just like the former SSG (Magnus Abe-now Senator elect representing Rivers East) asked you to go and see. That's the way we want to ask people to go and see, so we are not simply just talking, but we are showing what has been done.

But also, Songhai farm, you visited today just under a year ago was not  in place. What you saw there has been built over a short period of time. And it shows again that when there is commitment and support from the Chief Executive, in this case the governor of the state, it just shows what can be achieved in a very short period of time.  His Excellency is gong for a second term and we all pray that come Tuesday next week, he gets re-elected. Now when that happens, he has made it very very clear that in his second term, focus is going to be on agriculture. The first term focus was on infrastructure - health, schools, roads etc. He has said his second term is going to focus on Agriculture. And we can only see the foundation for that been laid. So, there will be a lot more profile as we get into this programe. As I said, as an agency, and I think to an extent, as a state, we prefer for our work to speak for us, instead of just carrying placards and saying what we will do. We want to show what we have done.