FARM AWARENESS FOR FOOD PRESERVATION INITIATIVE (FAFPI)

An Overview Of Our Solution

Farming for Biodiversity Solution search is a great project which will really shape the the global agricultural community to build an eco-friendly sustainable agriculture practices. This can be achieved if the right people work in this great important goal. Farm Awareness for Food Preservation Initiative (FAFPI) is a Non-Governmental Organization which has been established since 2012 by a general meeting of young minds with the common aim of advocating for diversification into agriculture as a source of livelihood for women and unemployed youths. Our purpose is to create awareness on the need to invest in farming, reaching the grass root farmers and working with them and partners to bring about the desired positive revolution in the Agriculture sector, reduce poverty/unemployment and post-harvest loss.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

非盈利

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Grasslands

Population impacted

5,000 people

Size of agricultural area

215 ha

Production quantity

6500kg/ha

People employed

19 people

Describe your solution

We aim to give solution to this post-harvest loss challenges. We are targeting to train the farmers on using traditional ecofriendly practices to preserve their harvest for a longer time which will really help them to sell their produce at a reasonable price and also make more profit. This will also encourage young people to venture into farming when they see an increase in profit and less losses. The issue we are addressing includes adopting eco-friendly farming methodology that will reduce hazards to crops human beings and the environment. This is a major challenge because bush burning, chemicals and are posing great damage to our habitat which needs to be check mated before it goes out of hands. The scale of our work covers training on merits of nature preservation, the methods to achieve it and also practical support to aid the people achieve it. We hope to achieve a practical system of farming which will not harm the environment and grow green trees, conserve species to better the environment. The awareness created by our organization especially towards youth inclusiveness and participatory in agriculture is really helping us to realize the significant positive change needed in transformation of agricultural sector in Nigeria. We have over 126 volunteers in the 774 local governments in Nigeria rendering extension services and venturing into farming.

Describe your implementation

We initiated a project FARMING FOR ECOLOGY PRESERVATION which centers on doing farming in an ecofriendly method. As member of IFOAM Organics International, we campaign on ecological agriculture which is farming for the future. We believe that to build a future for our children we have to create a friendly environment. We went into rural community which is where most of our farming activities are done in Nigeria to train the farmers on best global practices to maximize our food output. We employed most unemployed graduates to help as volunteers to train our rural farmers on best practices in farming for global food security. With that we were able to reach different communities and support them to do their best in adopting better farming pattern. This project made many people in the community to embrace agriculture the more due to support and care being giving to the farmers. The head of communities were of great assistance in mobilizing their subjects and relaying our messages to them which was a beneficial to the success of our project. Our staffs were so dedicated to making our mission of global food security a success and trying to compete favorably with global statistics on food production. We were able to be identified with Central Bank of Nigeria, West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), National Programme for Food Security etc. due to our work in Nigeria. Funding always pose a big challenge to implementation of our objectives but we are strong knowing fully well that we have to work to attract sponsors to bring about the desired change needed.

External connections

We are so focused on curbing post-harvest loss which is one area that is really a challenge to our farmers. Our farmers end up selling their produce at a giveaway price due to lack in preservation methodology. We have to partner with National Crop Research Institute Umudike, Nigeria to bring about natural ecofriendly method of preserving the farmers produce. We used neem based solutes and traditional preservation methods to increase the shelf life of harvest. We have to replicate these in different communities and needs volunteer extension workers to make it possible. This made us come into partnership with Edusquare &Company Nigeria Ltd which manufactures organic liquid fertilizer and pesticides that our farmers uses. We started the construction of local silos in communities which are built with mud stick and raffia (Palm fronds) that creates a cool house for storage. Our project have really helped the Department of Forestry due to the awareness created by us to farmers to stop practices of bush burning and deforestation in the course of their agricultural activities to save our environment.

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

Awareness for ecofriendly Sustainable Post harvest Preservation: A situation where 1/3 of the farmers harvest are reduced due to post-harvest loss, improper preservation methodology and training makes the farmers discouraged about farming and lose millions of Naira as a result of this. Post-harvest loss is a menace to the African farmers especially in Nigeria because mostly the farmers are not equipped with the training and right information to secure their food after harvest. In Nigeria the people sees farmers as poor people and are not encouraged to farm, this is mostly as a result of post-harvest loss. Most farmers in a bid to curb these menace have fallen prey to the use of preservative chemicals that are not ecofriendly and hazardous which causes many harm to the environment and leads to death if the residue of the preservative chemicals are still found in the harvest

Describe the context in which you are operating

In our country Nigeria with a population of about 180 million, farming is left in the hands of the old people mostly with the average age of 65 years. This group of people managing the food produced in our great nation is dangerous and will affect us in the long run if not corrected. The environmental practices of the oil exploration companies have also contributed in removing the attention of the people from researching and developing our agricultural sector. It also has an advert effect on the ecology where we see water and environmental pollution. The rigorous ways of farming which is through manual methods is so discouraging and reduces anticipated production. Unstable Government policies which comes as a result of different political parties not continuing with past administration and quest to do new things has greatly affected agricultural development and have led to much abandoned agriculture projects in Nigeria. In all these Nigeria is blessed with arable land and human resources which we can harness to minimize post-harvest loss and bring about food security that will sustain the nation.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

Our project team members trained the farmers on the need to preserve the ecological system for sustainable food security and better health for the future generation. We started with providing organic seeds and agro inputs to the farmers. We started opening up mixed farming system for our farmers so we can take advantage of the ecology cycle that revolves from the animal, plants, poultry farming being done in a place. Using our site at Ohafia Abia state,Nigeria as a case study, shifting cultivation is being done there because of vast arable land there, so the land fallows and are rich in nutrients. We then channel the river to the farm which provides all the water needed by the plant and animals all through the year. The dungs of the poultry and animals are used as manure which bring forth bountiful harvest and protects the environment from the hazardous process the farmers are used to. We do monitoring and evaluation to make sure we achieve desired results and thus impacts positively on the environment. The most important part of our project to reduce post-harvest loss. We researched with research Institutions to bring out method of locally preserving farm harvest for a longer time to avoid spoilage. We initiated the traditional ways of using ash, leaves and good solutions to preserve the farmer’s harvest which have greatly improved the longevity of their harvest before sales or consumption

Language(s)

Which language(s) are spoken in the area where your solution is implemented?

Water

Most of the rural communities have rivers around them. What we do is to support them in getting pumping machine and pipes for channeling water down to communities. This have helped the farmers to do round the year farming irrespective of the season. We experience lesser mortality rate in the animals and birds. We are trying to build reservoir tanks which we can use to store up more water so we would not have to be running the pumping machine daily.

Food Security/Nutrition

The project have attracted more people to become farmers in the communities because we made the various FAFPI Cooperatives to look more like a social gathering while we train and support them on their farming process. This have increased the food production of the community from what it used to be because more people have joined to produce food for community. The have turned out to produce more nutritious farm produce because of our training and guidance as they implement what they learnt.

Economic/Sustainable Development

The standard of living have increased which have brought development in the communities. Off takers are every ready to buy up the farmers products as we (FAFPI)) organizes out growers scheme between the farmers and the buyers which makes it more easy to sell their harvest. This concept have encouraged the people to go into farming knowing fully well that the demand for farm products by the off takers are great so they have to work more to meet supply.

Climate

Our climate have never been so good in terms of our new practices. The farmers have adopted ecofriendly system of farming in all our project communities. Bush burning and other processes that are not environmental friendly have been abolished. We make sure that the cycle is not altered and have been seeing positive results in our yield and the community.

Sustainability

Our solution will greatly reduce post-harvest loss which is as a result of unavailability of storage facilities for harvest and late purchase and consumption of the farmer’s harvest. This solution to the problem of post-harvest loss and providing market for the farmers have reduced loss that discourages the farmers from farming. Instead it has maximized the profit realized from doing agriculture business. More also our solution creates employment for the youths in communities who volunteers to work as extension officers in the communities. The solution relies on grant funding and market based revenue support to sustain and develop its scale in other communities.

Return on investment

Below is our cost for implementing our project in Euro conversion: 15,500,000 Naira about 30,000 Euros. It was used for constructing of local Silos in communities, cost of providing water from the river to the rural communities. Paying the extension workers for monitoring and training, purchasing of Ag Grow organic solution for use in preservation of fruits and vegetables, Transportation and Logistics. Our project results are highly beneficial when compared to the investment. The farmers realized more profits from there harvest because they did there farming irrespective of the climate because water was available.

How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

Replicating this solution elsewhere is our paramount objective to reduce food loss and adapt an ecofriendly system of farming. To successfully replicate the solution elsewhere, all you need to do is carry the farmers along in terms of training them on the need to adopt the system of farming enlisting the merits and its benefits to the community. Provide and support them on all that is needed to achieve objective, Work with them as you monitor the implementation of the project. We have done the solution in a small scale in some selected communities but we believe with partners, we can increase the scale at which we are operating. This is a project that can be invested in a community once and the dividends gotten can be used to sustain it. To replicate this project in other areas, factors like climate, resources available may affect the cost. These factors have to be considered to know the cost but approximately it will cost 30,000 Euros per 200 hectare.

Overview