Nestlé Helps Nigerian Farmers Grow Healthier Grains
Nestlé Nigeria PLC, in collaboration with International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC)/ 2Scale, is helping farmers improve their livelihoods by empowering smallholder farmers on sustainable farming practices under the initiative, Nestlé Nigeria and IFDC/2Scale Project Sorghum and Millet. The partnership aims to improve grain quality and productivity.
Nestlé, together with its implementing partners, has made significant impact in the past two years, training over 7905 sorghum and 1069 millet farmers on good agricultural pre-harvest and post-harvest practices. 22 per cent of these farmers are women. The farmers testify to a significant increase in income. This change is due to an increase in productivity, improved crop quality and the availability of a ready market, which eliminates the negative influence of middlemen.
Before Nestlé Nigeria and IFDC/2Scale Project Sorghum and Millet’s intervention, the yield per hectare was 0.9 tons.
In the first year of the project in 2015, the yield doubled to 1.3 tons/hct, and reached 1.8 tons/hct in 2017. The target is to reach 2.20 tons/hct in 2018 farming season, progressing towards the maximum yield capacity of 2.35 tons/hct of the crop varieties.
Another contributor to the increase in income is the improved negotiating skills of farmers, an outcome of the business training and coaching they have received. The coaching sessions have led to farmers becoming much more confident about their position and the quality of their products. For women producers, this has had an especially strong impact. One example of this can be found in Mrs. Hanna Musa, one of the two women in the negotiations team. Prior to the coaching, she had been too shy to speak up, but the opportunity to participate in the negotiations on Nestlé’s terms of delivery and payment, helped her grow into her leadership role.
Speaking on the drivers of the outcome of Nestlé Nigeria and IFDC/2Scale Project Sorghum and Millet, Mr. Maxwell Olitsa, Project Manager, IFDC said, “We achieved the results in the field by empowering farmers to adopt best practices and new technology. Showing in addition to telling also made a lot of difference. 27 demo plots were established; six of them managed by women, where best farming practices are demonstrated. The demo plots are always accessible to the farming clusters to provide continuous technical support and coaching in the field.”
To ensure crop integrity from farm to factory gate, the project also trains aggregators, pesticide spray providers and input suppliers. This 360-degree approach has significantly reduced post-harvest losses.
While helping to improve the livelihoods of farmers within the project, Nestlé projects that the continued intervention with its partners will result in sustainable supplies of high quality grains required for its production sites. Emphasising on the impact of the project on the livelihoods of farmers and on the company, Mr. Mauricio Alarcon, CEO/Managing Director, Nestlé Nigeria said, “Today, we source about 80 per cent of our agricultural raw material in the country. As we work towards increasing this percentage, we remain committed to working alongside our partners to further improve the quality and quantity of grains and legumes”. 2/2
“The results we have achieved so far with Nestlé Nigeria and IFDC/2Scale Project Sorghum & Millet is an example of what is possible when we look at the agriculture value chain holistically from the farm to storage, to transportation, and right down to the factory gate and take definite measures to close the gaps,” he concluded.