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To achieve food security in Nigeria, ensure that farmers move away from subsistent to commercial agriculture and take farming as a business, Springboard Nigeria has adopted a cluster farming techniques.
Under the system of farming, 50 farmers in each of the six states Springboard Nigeria is operating are organised into clusters and trained in organic farming, agro forestry practices and agribusiness enterprise.
Afterwards, the farmers are facilitated with key input such as seeds, tractors, micro credits, low cost irrigation tools for dry season farming and access farmlands to commence their organic farming. Also, farmers are linked to premium market for their produce.
“We are empowering young people and rural farmers to start farms through our cluster farming initiative. Currently we are working with over 1500 farmers in Nigeria. In 2018, we are supporting additional 300 farmers selected from 6 States in the country. In 2019, we are scaling to over 1000 new farmers” Lawrence Alaba Afere, founder and CEO of Springboard Nigeria told BusinessDay.
“We provide them with inputs and micro credits and market for their produce by off taking from them. We are currently operating in 6 states and looking at more opportunities in other states. We also deploy extension workers across the demonstration farms to provide expertise to these farmers.
“This will help improve the livelihoods of the farmers and create an additional over 1000 jobs for other people who may likely be employed by these farmers,” Afere said.
He noted that with the cluster farming program, farmers will be able to move from subsistent agriculture to commercial farming, take farming as a business thereby increasing their productivity.
Afere also stated that the cluster farming projects are being sponsored by the Luis Dreyfus fondation, adding that over 2000 rural women and farmers have benefitted from the projects since three years of its flag off.
He said that through the cluster farming project over 10,000 trees have been planted in Akure during the Akure Green city week marked in 2017.
Currently, Springboard Nigeria is working with farmers in Ondo on beans and maize production, Ekiti on rice production, Oyo and Kano on tomato production, Benue and Akwa-Ibom on the production of vitamin A cassava, the organisation said.
In 2019, Springboard hopes to extend the initiative to other states in the country reaching over 1000 new farmers.
Josephine Okojie
