Advancing Farm-to-Table Agriculture in Nigeria through Renewable Energy
Zainab Alaga**
Since the inception of Nigeria, agriculture has always played an important role in the socio-economic activities of the country. The sector is one of the major contributors to the nation’s economy, accounting for 26.95% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In addition to livestock rearing and fishing, crops such as beans, rice, sesame, cashew nuts, cassava, cocoa beans, groundnuts, gum Arabic, coolant, maize (corn), melon, millet, palm kernels, palm oil, plantains, rice, rubber, sorghum, soybeans, bananas and yams are cultivated across the country. In the past, Nigeria was world famous for the export of groundnut and palm kernel oil, but since the discovery of crude oil in the 1980s, indigenous agriculture has been on a decline. In 2019, the International Labour Organization stated that only about 34.97% of Nigerians were engaged in agricultural practices as against 48.75% in 2000. This situation has led the country to rely heavily on the importation of agricultural products to feed its growing population.
Not surprisingly, this unsustainable practice has led to increased calls for the promotion of indigenous agriculture or farm to table agriculture in the country. The farm-to-table agriculture model has witnessed a resurgence globally in recent times, this approach came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s and encourages the direct acquisition of farm produce from indigenous farmers by restaurants, schools, and households. The first restaurant to adopt this approach is the Chez Pannise in Berkley California in 1971. This approach has several benefits — consumers have increased access to fresher food products, and are more aware of the origin of the food they are eating.
Despite measures of the government, donor agencies and other key stakeholders to catalyze and drive local agricultural production in the country and in particular the farm-to-table approach–local farmers still remain plagued by several factors that have hindered the growth and development of this important sector in Nigeria. These include lack of awareness, high level of poverty, inadequate and behavioral change. The high level of poverty in rural communities makes it difficult for the farmers to switch from manual farming practices to RE technologies given their low-income levels. Another setback is the post-harvest losses experienced by farmers as a result of poor cultivation and small scale farming.
Several of these barriers are currently being addressed using clean energy solutions such as solar cold rooms, mini-grids, solar water pumps, solar dryers, and solar milling systems amongst others.
Solar Cold Rooms: This technology can help local farmers store and conserve perishable farms and can either be mobile or be situated in a fixed location. In Nigeria, Solar providers such as Cold Hubs and Food hubs install these systems in major food production and consumption centers majorly markets and farms. This technology has been proven to increase the shelf life and freshness of perishable foodstuff from 2 to up to 21 days.
Solar Mini-Grids: These technologies are increasingly being deployed across the country in off-grid rural communities and economic clusters to provide them with reliable and clean energy to power their activities. Agrarian rural communities in the country are being targeted for the deployment of these solutions as they have the potential to boost irrigation, agricultural processing and storage. The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) under its National Electrification Project (NEP) has supported the deployment of several of these mini-grids to power such communities all over the country.
Solar Water Pumps: These are being used to irrigate farms in remote areas as well as provide water for livestock and is particularly useful in the Northern part of the country which is extremely prone to drought and water shortages.
Solar Dryers: these technologies are being used by farmers to dry their farm product and greatly improves on the conventional method of food drying which usually involves spreading foodstuff in the sun in the open which makes it prone to contamination. Sosai Renewable Energies Company through its Matan Arewa Social Initiative (MASI) provides solar dryers to rural women farmers to aid them to efficiently and effectively dry and preserve their agricultural produce.
Solar Milling Systems: Solar milling systems generate electricity to power a mechanical machine used in grinding agriculture replacing the use of manual grinders. These technologies have allowed farmers to greatly improve their food processing efficiency.
The increased promotion of local farming especially the adoption of the farm to table approach has the potential to help Nigeria achieve food security and economic growth as well as becoming one step closer towards achieving several of the Sustainable Development Goals including — Goal 1 (No Poverty), Goal 2 ( Zero Hunger), and Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth). Renewable Energy in particular can play a huge role in catalyzing the indigenous agriculture in the country particularly at the grassroots levels if several measures are introduced. Such as:
Integration of Renewable Energy into National Agricultural Initiatives and Programmes: The Nigerian government has over the years introduced several initiatives aimed at boosting the agricultural sector of the country with varying results of success. Given the great potential renewable energy technologies can play in improving local agricultural production, it is very important for key government agencies such as the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to integrate these technologies into their formulation and implementation of their various initiatives and programmes. This will involve close collaboration with other government agencies such as the Federal Ministry of Power and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), donor agencies, renewable energy providers, and influential local farmers unions.
Increased Awareness amongst local farmers about renewable energy, its usage and benefits: Despite the great promise the productive use of renewable energy for agricultural production shows, a lot of rural farmers remain largely unaware of the availability of these technologies and how it can be acquired as well as how it could increase their farming practices. There is therefore a need for increased advocacy activities aimed at enlightening rural communities’ farmers about these technologies. Clean Technology Hub has carried out these awareness creation programs aimed at farmers in Delta, Ondo and Ebonyi states in 2020, which resulted in several farmers that participated adopting these technologies and reporting great improvement in their activities.
Increased Access to Funding for Local farmers: Renewable energy technologies have very high initial costs which could make it beyond the reach of a poor rural farmer. Although there are various flexible payments available such as the Pay-As-You-Go, Energy as a Service models there is a need for the government to provide financial support to farmers that will enable them to easily acquire and adopt these essential technologies.
With the increased attention of the world in promoting farm-to-table agriculture, Nigeria possesses the potential to be at the forefront of this movement due to our fertile lands and large human capacity, particularly with the integration of renewable energy technologies. It is therefore important for the federal government and all relevant key stakeholders to adopt measures that support and empower indigenous farmers especially through increased access to renewable energy technologies to produce high quality food produce for will help the country achieve food security, economic development and its National Determined Contribution (NDC) in line with its commitments to the Paris Agreement.
Zainab Alaga* is a Junior Research Analyst, Cross Cutting Practice at Clean Technology Hub.
Daramfon Bassey* is the Manager Cross Cutting Practice Group at Clean Technology
