IMPACT OF COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (CADP) ON FARMERS’ EMPOWERMENT IN KADUNA STATE (2010-2015)

Abstract

In recent years, attention has been drawn to the need to improve the business environment for agriculture to become more successful by gradually shifting from subsistence to commercial agriculture. Several agricultural empowerment programmes have been introduced to reduce abject poverty among rural farmers in Nigeria and also improve their standard of living, but it seems that these efforts have yielded little or no impact. The Kaduna Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) has assumed a different approach with objectives to strengthen agricultural production systems and facilitate access to market for targeted value chains among small and medium scale commercial farmers. However, despite the claim of provision of matching grant amounting to over $3 million to empower commercial farmers in Kaduna State, the extent of farmers‟ performance is still below expectation. Against this backdrop, the study was carried out to assess the impact of the Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) on the empowerment of farmers in Kaduna State. Survey and documentary methods of data gathering were employed and data sourced was analysed quantitatively and qualitatively i.e. using numerical and non-numerical data. The study revealed that CADP has positively impacted on the lives of commercial farmers by empowering them through provision of matching grant, technological training and developing market opportunities/linkages which is manifested in the improvement in standard of living and the income of farmers. However, some essential facilities are recommended to further strengthen agriculture in the State which includes among other things the provision of storage facilities (i.e. storage cans) in strategic areas; modern farming machinery like Tractor, and enforcing a good price for farm products.

Background to the Study

In recent years, attention has been drawn to the need to improve the business environment for agriculture to become more successful by gradually shifting from subsistence to commercial agriculture. Commercial transformation of subsistence agriculture is an indispensable pathway towards the development of the agricultural sector of any economy. Commercial agriculture stems from the need to improve food production, engage more farmers and enhance sales of agricultural products. Hence, the need for empowerment programmes to support farmers meet up with the increased demands of commercial agriculture.

Empowerment has assumed a prominent role in rural and agricultural development with support to farmer groups and organisations entering the dialogue between donors and governments in Asia and Africa (Mohammad, 2012). A central argument used by donors for supporting farmer empowerment is that there is a strong relation between farmer empowerment and such development outcomes as poverty reduction, improved agricultural opportunities for growth and better governance. More so, is that empowerment can give greater ownership to a project and to a particular direction in development. The UNDP document (2002) states that ownership is the acceptance of responsibility through the process of stakeholder participation, empowerment and concensus. In the words of Rifkin (2003), empowerment is a mechanism or process through which individuals, organizations and groups can work on things and have more control over what they are involved in. So that individuals, organizations and groups with a high power could control the resources, build confidence, make capacity and have an active participation in managing their life.

Hence, the concept of farmers‟ empowerment is an integral part of almost all intervention programmes by government, international and non governmental organisations. Intervention in the area of farmers‟ empowerment is necessitated by the prevalence of food scarcity, abject poverty and low standard of living among rural dwellers, mostly farmers. All these factors or indicators are reasons behind the unsatisfactory nature of the performance of the agricultural sector and farmers in Nigeria. However according to Alsop (2005), the indicators which directly affect the empowerment of farmers include having access to the inputs, credit, infrastructures, information and taking part in social decision making. Training is also an essential component in the empowerment process (Fleming, 2000). Farmers‟ empowerment goes hand in hand with the modernization theory of development as both concepts are related to agricultural development. Modernization theory assumes that agriculture progresses from being oriented towards subsistence farming that occurs on small plots to commercial farming of large scale; one that is characterized by the availability of mechanized production, improved seeds, storage facilities, access roads, market opportunities, modern equipment, etc. These empowerment opportunities have immense potentials for enhancing the productivity of commercial farmers in the State towards a greater impact on the society.

Nigeria‟s agriculture remains largely subsistence-based with 90% of agricultural output coming from rural farmers/small farms (Oluwatayo et al, 2008). However, successive administrations ignored agriculture and failed to expand the economy beyond overdependence on oil sector and even if effort is made, with the initiation of strategic programmes and policies for agricultural transformation, it falls short of being realized as adequate measures are not taken to sustain such programmes.

As articulated in its National Economic and Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), Nigeria is seeking options to diversify into non-oil sources of growth and away from over dependence on oil and gas. The agricultural sector is seen as one of the main sources of growth and important option for the diversification. Development of commercial agriculture affords at least in the short-to-medium term, the opportunity to increase employment and reduce especially persistent rural poverty. Diversification into commercial agriculture is important for making growth sustainable, to diffuse its benefits to rural areas, and to hedge against the shocks from a single resource dependence on oil.

Agricultural productivity in Nigeria has not grown sufficiently due to under-investment in new technology, slow adoption of existing improved technologies, constraints associated with the investment climate, and lagging infrastructure. Public interventions to accelerate agricultural growth such as the Fadama programme have targeted poor farmers engaged in largely subsistence production with modest interaction with the markets to the detriment of commercialization.

Recently, government is well disposed to empowering small and medium-scale commercial agriculture with assistance from the World Bank. This translates into the ongoing Commercial Agricultural Development Project (CADP) which is being piloted in five states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria including Kaduna State. It is expected that the project would help to promote access of participating small and medium scale commercial farmers to improved agricultural technologies, infrastructure, funds and product markets. It will also provide an investment climate through policy or regulatory mechanisms and other appropriate complementary instruments.