Heifer Nigeria to empower 1m smallholder farmers

As part of efforts to end hunger and poverty in Nigeria, Heifer International Nigeria, yesterday, said it would empower one million smallholder farmers.

The Country Communication Manager, Chuba Ezeigwe, disclosed this during a visit to the The Guardian.
According to Ezeigwe, the goal is to unlock potential for food self-sufficiency in the value chains of tomato, poultry and rice that will enable smallholder farmers to reach sustainable living income by 2030. He noted that in the days ahead, value chain opportunities in small ruminants and cattle would also be explored.

He said Heifer would help smallholder farmers have access to premium market, finance, insurance, innovation and farming techniques.
“Heifer Nigeria aims to assist more than one million households, largely women and youths, reach a sustainable living income by 2030, through strategic private and public sector partnerships, unlocking demand and market opportunities, investing in priority value chains and leveraging innovation and emerging agricultural technologies to reach transformational scale.”

He explained through a holistic approach, Heifer Nigeria is “collaborating with stakeholders within the Nigerian agricultural ecosystem. These include young technology innovators/entrepreneurs, tech hubs, agribusinesses and farmers groups, investors, and financiers.

“This is aimed at developing and scaling more inclusive, commercially viable, and sustainable agribusiness models and innovations capable of increasing productivity and competitiveness of Nigeria’s agricultural sector to curb food insecurity and poverty.”

To motivate youths towards agriculture, Heifer International instituted Africa Youth and Technology (AYuTe) to identify, nurture and support innovative, relevant and technology-driven agric-centric enterprises that grow, scale and help smallholder farmers to thrive in Africa.

The winner of the competition, Ifeoluwa Olatayo, who is also the Founder, Soupah Farm-en-Market Limited, was part of the visiting team.

Olatayo disclosed that as a distribution company, they help connect rural farmers to the market, especially, off takers. She said with the intervention, smallholder farmers get paid 32 per cent higher, compared to going through middlemen.