Communities in Nasarawa State are recovering degraded farmlands through oil palms, mahogany, cashews and other economic trees to improve their livelihood and checkmate climate change. (Synopsis)
In Nasarawa Eggon local government area of Nasarawa State, the Agunji community’s “Malaysian oil palm plantations” revolution dream is already evolving.
The 1, 500 improved oil palm seedlings from the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) donated to it at the commencement of the wet season last year have transformed from mere seedlings.
Across three farmlands belonging to the community, plantations are gradually emerging with the transplanted sprouts of 2023 in rows running in a north, and south direction, stirring hope of a brighter future for a people whose only source of livelihood was hitherto degraded by flood and other climatic effects.
“I can tell you that Agunji is on the road to Malaysia with this oil palms initiative, and within the next few years you will return here to witness the evolution,” Sarkin Agunji, Abdullahi Yakubu, shared the community’s optimism with LEADERSHIP.
Sarkin Yakubu as it were, is not alone in this enthusiasm, the entire community seems to bask in the euphoria of achieving not just economic independence through the oil palm initiative, but also in stemming the tide of yearly devastation caused by floods, windstorms, and other disasters that climate change has b
Clement Mose, one of the youth leaders, who like Sarkin Yakubu, is driving the community’s prosperity initiative also echoed the same aspiration in his interaction with our correspondent.
“We are not only working to keep the community safe from climate change effect but also to ensure economic prosperity for all members,” he said.
However, by the time it takes an oil palm to mature and bear fruits, the community will have to wait long to achieve its lofty dream.
According to experts, Tenera hybrid variety from NIFOR which is commonly used across the country’s agro-ecological zones for high yield can only begin fruiting 3 – 4 years after field planting.
In the same vain, cashew seeds which is among the economic trees which the intervening bodies like Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and Association of Small Scale Agro Producers in Nigeria (ASSAPIN), among others, support the community to grow will only start bearing after three years of planting and reach full bearing during 10 years.
Similarly, mahogany, a commercially important lumber prized for its beauty, durability, and colour, takes between 20 and 30 years to fully mature and be ready for harvest.
But Mr. Moses said the community is not unaware of the fact that it will take several years for their efforts to start yielding fruits through the oil palm, cashew and mahogany production initiative going by the many trainings and enlightenment they received from YMCA and ASSAPIN and others with support from Oxfam.
He said the economic trees initiative is a long term investment, disclosing that in the interim, the community is also leveraging on other areas of interventions introduced by bodies to keep its people afloat financially while also putting in place measures to check flood and other disasters.
He listed the other intervention areas to include briquette making, village savings and loan, crop rotation, cassava processing among others.
Mose explained that many women and youths from the community have been trained by YMCA and ASSAPIN team on briquette production which now serve as alternative source of clean energy and livelihood for them, even as the gesture has ended the menace of deforestation resultant from logging in the area.
“Our women and youths are making a lot through briquette now. What they realised is being invested and diversify through the village savings and loan scheme,” he opined.
Our correspondent reports that the Village Savings and loan Association is a kind of financial module which provides financial security to members through access to savings, credit, and insurance services. Information on YMCA platform shows that through the initiative members meet on a weekly basis to save and, once each month for lending.
Savings are made by buying shares at the share price determined by the group members. Members buy between 1-5 shares at each meeting; some groups require members to buy a fixed amount at every meeting, while others allow the purchase of a variable number of shares, up to a set maximum.
“After four weeks of saving, members can borrow up to three times the value of their savings, depending on the amount of money available. Members then repay the association within three months, with an interest rate (typically 5 -10% of the value of the loan) that is set by the members.
“While most groups distribute all accumulated savings and interest income at the end of the cycle, some choose to maintain a portion to recapitalize their loan fund for the next cycle. At the end of the cycle, a “share-out” occurs. At the share-out, the accrued loan interest and savings are distributed among individual members according to the number of shares,” it explained.
Mose said women and youths are using the proceeds to invest in vocation of their choice outside the conventional ones.
He equally revealed that because of the inherent potential of the oil palm revealed to them by intervening bodies, members of the community are collaborating to individually invest in the enterprise by buying more seedlings for massive cultivation.
Like the duo of Mose and Abdullahi, Mrs Justina Bala of Bukansidi area of Lafia local government area shared her experiences of how climate change enlightenment and training have been impactful on the lives of the people of the area.
Mrs. Bala, a smallholder farmer, and her group of 20 women have been passing down the training to other groups and individuals in the area on the need to engage in tree planting, income driving initiatives and the need to shun activities that will further worsen climate change effect.
She said the flood incidents that consumed over N500 million worth of rice farms belonging to small scale women rice farmers and displaced about 15 million persons across the state in 2022, was an eye opener of how devastating climate change effect can be. She noted that the YMCA initiative has emboldened them to confront the challenge. “And I can tell you we are better off today courtesy of the interventions,* she opined.
The supervisory councillor representing Ningo/Bohar ward in Akwanga local government area of the state, Mr. Jerry Ibrahim also agreed that climate change effect training and enlightenment has impacted positively not only on his ward but the entire local government area.
He said The oil palm initiative has particularly pricked his conscience and those of other political leaders in the council to replicate same in their respective wards as constituency projects because of its long term benefits. “I have particularly resolved to replicate the module in my ward by acquiring more seedlings for the empowerment of my people,” he stated.
Mrs Nancy Abdullahi from Garaku, in Kokona local government area on her part said the climate change intervention has put an end to tree logging for charcoal making in the area. Kokona supplies the charcoal needs of the state. However, Mrs Abdullahi explained that the briquette making initiative has provided them with alternative source even as she said tree planting has become a cherished vocation especially those with economic value.
She said the oil palm seedlings donated to the community last year have germinated to the level of transplanting and distributed to community members as rain intensifies.
LEADERSHIP reports that YMCA and ASSAPIN in partnership with Oxfam in Nigeria are implementing the African Activists for Climate Justice (AACJ) Project funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, in Nasarawa State in the last three years.
The project has been working to address climate changes in five local government areas of Akwanga, Lafia, Nasarawa Eggon, Kokona and Obi with a total of 13,500 improved oil palm seedlings from NIFOR distributed to communities across the benefiting LGAs as part of the effort to fight climate change and restore degraded lands last year.
The programme has been expanded to include five more local government areas of Wamba, Doma, Karu, Nasarawa and Keana at the onset of 2024.
“Also, between June and July 2024, we will be scaling up the establishment of community nurseries in Wamba, Doma, Karu, Nasarawa and Keana LGAs for 2025 planting season respectively,” Mr Ango Adamu, Executive Secretary, YMCA Mada Hills, had disclosed.
The planned expansion programme will bring the number of local government areas the project is intervening to 10, while the total improved seedlings distributed will rise to 27,000. Mr. Adamu said that in the earlier LGAs, the project has built the capacity of stakeholders in the affected communities on tree planting, and briquette production among other interventions.
