Today, I got to meet with Mariga’s farmers, one of the three farming communities I have been partnered with during my placement.
Breakfast Nigerian style
My co-volunteer, Amar, and I left the VSO offices at seven am to beat the scorching Nigerian sun. We stopped off on the way to grab some food. Long gone are the days of Weetabix and an espresso for breakfast – instead we picked up rice and raw vegetables accompanied with a red hot potent sauce that had two lumps of cooked cow mixed in. Tasty….
After enduring the usual pothole challenge, we arrived in the village of Mariga and got straight to work speaking to the farmers. Everyone even understood my 15-20 words of Hausa (the local dialect), which was an added bonus!
Quizzing the farmers
The farmers were very enthusiastic when I questioned them about their farming practices, the costs incurred, how and where they borrow money from, and how easy it is to find markets to sell their maize and soya bean crops.
Visiting some of Mariga's crops. Can you believe how dry it is?
My plan is to ask the same questions when I visit the other farming communities, Rafi and Mokwa, to discover their biggest challenges. By working with local farmers, and supporting their work, we can create the lasting impact that all VSO volunteers strive to achieve.
The farmers have a tough time
Some of the problems farmers told me they were facing really surprised and saddened me.
As the farmers need the money from their produce straight away, the crops are sold when the harvest is over and market price is at its very lowest. If they could afford to wait just three more months they could sell their crops for at least double the price. This struggle for a regular cash flow is definitely an issue I’ll be tackling head on during my time here.
Another big issue I spotted when talking through costs of growing crops, is the huge prices paid for fertiliser, herbicides and insecticides, taking up at least 70% of their expenditure. It’s mainly because each farmer is buying small amounts of the chemicals at sky high prices, so I’m very keen to get the farmers in this region talking to one another about buying fertiliser together in bulk for a cheaper price.
Reducing these costs will mean farmers will be able to buy more equipment like tractors to help farm the land. I was amazed to hear that because no one can afford a tractor, the planting of the seeds is all manual. It must be back-breaking work. Though farmers in Mariga own around ten hectares of land, the real punch to the stomach is because they are farming manually they can only manage one hectare. So being able to increase the size of crops through machinery will have such a large impact on their income each year.
The roads take some getting used to
I had been warned about the Nigerian roads in VSO’s pre-departure training, but it was so crazy that I made you a video so you can see for yourself. Let’s just say traffic lights haven’t taken off here!
I hope I’m still in one piece for my next update, so I can keep telling you how much I appreciate your amazing support – I’ve got really high hopes that big changes can be made here in Nigeria to improve farmers’ incomes. With around 70% of people relying on farming for their livelihoods, together we can improve whole families' and communities’ futures.
Cheers,
Ian
