By Ishaya Ibrahim
The Kogi state government has partnered with a non-governmental organisation, Solidaridad, to improve the productivity and livelihood of smallholder oil palm farmers in the state.
Solidaridad is an NGO that promotes productivity through responsible use of the environment. It operates in Nigeria as Solidaridad West Africa, (SWA) Nigeria and currently involved in the project – National Initiatives for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Oil Palm Smallholders (NISCOPS).
The project is aimed at building farmers’ capacity to implement the best management practices in palm oil extraction using climate-smart practices for increased productivity.
After meetings and dialogues between officials of the Kogi State government and teams of Solidaridad, the state government recently showed its commitment to the project through an intent letter expressing its readiness to partner with Solidaridad in its capacity building initiatives of smallholder farmers in the state.
Dr. Samuel Ogallah, the Solidaridad’s Senior Climate Specialist for Africa, said the intent letter from the government of Kogi state shows the willingness of the state’s governor to revitalize agricultural practices in the state for the benefit of the people.
He said the state would benefit from the expertise of Solidaridad in the area of climate-friendly agriculture which the NGO has demonstrated around the world in the last 50 years of its existence.
“The capacity of farmers will be enhanced through increased productivity and better livelihood, the project will build adaptive capacity and resilience to the impact of climate change, and with adoption of climate-smart technology, the emission of Green House Gas, (GHG), will be reduced in their practices both at the farm and milling level,” he said.
Kenechukwu Onukwube, the SWA, Nigeria, Oil Palm Programme Manager, said the recent buy-in of Solidaridad’s NISCOPS programme by the government is the right step towards revitalisation of the state’s oil palm sector, as the state is vital in the production of the commodity in the country.
“Kogi is one of the states in Nigeria with rich oil palm belt. However, most of the oil palm are overaged, and in the wild or semi-wild grooves with poor fresh fruit bunch yield and low quantity and quality of palm oil, inadequate financial support; lack of good policy direction and other incentives to boost palm produce economy which the NISCOPS programme will address,” he said.
Onukwube praised the government of Kogi state for being the first to partner with Solidaridad through an official letter among the three other states of Enugu, Cross River and Akwa Ibom .
He emphasised that NI-SCOPS’ objectives align with the state’s ‘New Direction Blueprint Agenda for the Agricultural Sector.’
“Generally, the smallholders and the state government have confidence that the oil palm growth due to deforestation will be halted while the livelihood of NI-SCOPS’ beneficiaries will be enhanced,” he said.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Kogi State, Idenyi Emmanuel suggested that Solidaridad looks inwards to other commodities such as cotton, cassava, cashew, soya beans, as well as minerals like gold, iron ore, coal, which are in abundance in the state.
Dr. Ayode Arike Folashade, the Secretary to the Government of Kogi State, SSG, promised that the government will do whatever it takes to facilitate Solidaridad’s operations in the state.
She assured that her office will facilitate the enabling environment for efficient execution of Solidaridad’s NISCOPS program in the State.
The king of Enek’ojokpuche, His Royal Highness Ujah Sani Simeon, promised Solidaridad all the necessary support needed. He assured that the NISCOPS programme in the state will alleviate poverty in his community and strengthen the participation of youths in the agricultural sector.
Solidaridad is presently executing its NISCOPS initiative in the states of Akwa-Ibom, Enugu, Cross River, and Kogi which are among the largest producers of oil palm in the country.
These states have the largest concentrations of independent smallholders, accounting for 89 percent of the palm oil production in Nigeria. They provide a viable avenue to trigger smallholders’ embrace of sustainable climate-smart agricultural practices as the norm in oil palm production among the smallholders.
Using NI-SCOPS resources, corporate and public match funding, Solidaridad aims to support smallholder oil palm farmers and to promote access to financing, agro-inputs, climate-smart technologies and markets so as to increase productivity sustainably, build resilience to climate change and to reduce GHG emissions in Nigeria.
