International and Local development partners have asked for a business plan for transforming Africa. In line with the commitments of the Federal Government of Nigeria FGN via her 7 point agenda, we have attempted to meet this demand, in such a way that the results would positively affect the most ardent needs of our rural community dwellers.
Like the proverbial two pronged approach of the carrot and the stick, NICA’s value proposition leverages on both agricultural transformation and rural development at the same time.
Tagged “Rural Women Farmer Aid”, the project aims at equipping Grass Root Women with relevant Agricultural equipments for harvesting ,post harvesting and grain processing activities in the crop production process.
The initiative makes the acquisition of these agricultural equipments an achievable venture for rural women farmers. The intended Target Beneficiary of the project, Rural Women Farmers, is justified historically by the allocation of the responsibilities of harvesting and post harvesting activities largely to the women folk. Besides, the gender disparity in past attempts at poverty eradication informs the need for an alternative model which we offer in the RWF-AID.
Built around the much applauded and highly effective Tractor Leasing structure pioneered by NICA and currently being implemented in the country, the initiative will make available at an affordable cost, and under a very flexible payment plan, 4 basic harvesting and processing implements to organized women groups who can put them to productive use.
By the benefit of in-depth knowledge of agricultural technologies specially adapted to the needs of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), NICA has set up a principal product map covering Nigeria; segregated by crop production regions. We have also selected cost-effective world standard implements and machinery that would uplift the productive efforts of women in their crop specialties. This would be backed up by a rewarding capacity building plans, supervised by our skilled extension assistants as well as equipment specialists.
Networking for development
We have realized that for optimal value presentation, synergetic partnerships are inevitable.
As a forward looking organization, we have designed flexible funding options that are most attractive to international donors, angel investors and social entrepreneurs. All that is required is for identified partners (IP) to propose a fee based contribution to her target population segment(if they have such, else they could work with NICA’s well researched segmentation) and NICA would deliver the implements after contracts are duly endorsed to ensure sustainability.
A development partner, investor or donor would provide complementary funds as a direct investment in the identified gender segment. Social investors would recoup invested funds over a time frame of 1-3 years except the funds are denoted as development assistance. Our expertise and proven experience ensures that the funds are used by the verifiable beneficiaries since we have developed a dynamic coverage of over 26 million farmers. We also possess the experience and track record to establish strategic investment relationships with the investor and/ ‘donor’ on one hand and the recipients of the RWF-AID benefits, to guarantee a payback period of between 1-3years.
Full and Part sponsorship is welcome.
It would interest you to note that all our implements and machinery are backed up by a local service agreement delivered by our network of service centers for the lifespan of the equipment. In the medium to long term, we intend to setup local production facilities for essential implements in successful regions. This would positively impact on local employment and human development indices.
NICA’s unique global foot print also ensures that beneficiary farmers are provided with value based information to ensure profitability of their individual crop ventures. This is especially true as the crop profiles we have earmarked for this pilot phase are in Nigeria’s comparative advantage with definite global trade destinations.
The resulting impact on the wealth, health and opportunities available to a greater segment of the population is invaluable.
This is the change we need now.
For all interested development partners, we have a full feasibility study report prepared to enable adequate comprehension of the economic and developmental viability of this vision.
For More Information, Email us at adekunle@nicanig.org |
