We no longer beg food – Abia LIFE-ND homestead farmers

Marizu Godswill and Violet Obunna

…But broken down water pumping machine stifles dry season farming in Isiala Ngwa

Violet Oluji Obunna, a widow and primary school teacher, was freshly retired when a federal government agric intervention scheme came to her rescue.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) had partnered with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to source $60m to embark on a massive agric revolution in the Niger Delta through a special purpose vehicle called the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Project in the Niger Delta of Nigeria (LIFE-ND).

She was recruited to attend a nutrition training in Calabar, Cross River State in June 2022, after which LIFE-ND supported her to start innovative homestead farming activity in her Omonta village in Obingwaobi autonomous community in Isiala Ngwa South Local council area.

Now, she says she no longer begs for food. She told newsmen inspecting LIFE-ND projects in the Niger Delta that she easily pays school fees for her children and that life has been kind to her at last.

Yet, Obunna faces one major challenge. The scheme has ended but sustainability seems to be an issue. For instance, capital expenditures such as replacement of a pumping machine that waters the dry season farm has broken down but the N1.5m needed to handle it seems impossible because LIFE-ND officials tell them the project had ended.

Officials of LIFE-ND in the head office in Port Harcourt say the first phase has ended. The second phase may be merely for mop up, but beneficiaries with huge repair costs seem stranded, raising questions about sustainability mechanism of the project. A vegetable farmer can hardly save up N1.5m to repair or replace hardcore equipment. Besides, the community people say the engineer that installed the pumping machine did not remember to install a thunder arrestor. The brunt seems to fall on the shoulders of the same women the scheme came to rescue.

Despite the challenges, the beneficiaries say they are better off than when LIFE-ND had not come.

The beneficiary said the others around her were labourers and widows, but they have used their proceeds to buy seeds and inputs to move nearer the river to farm (in the absence of a water pump). “They feed their children, pay school fees. So they no longer beg for food. They are in business.”

She said the community at large has benefitted because before this time, they didn’t know anything concerning orange flesh sweet potatoes, but now almost all the people in the village know it and they can eat it.

Orange flesh sweet potato provides vitamin A, which is good for our sight. The community people now know about it and they now eat it. Some of them can prepare various dishes from it, especially the incubators that have trained on it, she said.

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“They also sell it to make money like my incubators. Whenever they ask me or I got any contract to supply vines, I ask them, every one of them, if you can get up to 20 to 50 bundles, then they gather together. Each person will go to her farm, gather it and bring it, then I will sell along with my own.”

She said she is an example of someone rescued by the LIFE-ND scheme. “After my retirement, nothing was paid by the government. They don’t pay anything unless it’s over a year, six months. And that time, I joined this family through LIFE-ND. Some of my co-retirees now say I look fresh, asking for my secret.

“I sell my vegetables and my fresh orange potatoes. I get money. I am not bothered much. I also pay my children’s school fees. My financial stand became much better when I joined LIFE-ND.”

For this reason, she made it clear that the FG and LIFE-ND is they have touched the lives of the rural people in her community. “They have improved the life of our people. In the beginning, people felt it was a political gimmick. I kept telling them it was no politics. But now, whenever they hear LIFE-ND is coming, before you knew it, everywhere is filled up. They are begging that they should be among people who will be selected.”

In an interview, Obunna said: “I’m one of the incubators. So now I am serving as an incubator on homestead gardening in incubation center in Isiala Ngwa South. So my vision was to engage myself in farming, especially to produce orange flesh sweet potatoes to help feed my family members and my community at large. In order to facilitate my vision. My success story goes after training on food and nutrition at Calabar. I was monitored by Dr. Clement Uwem. Then they visited my farm. The reports they got from my farm and the success story made LIFE-ND to showcase me.

“I was instructed to teach my people. There were about four autonomous communities that day that came to our village. Then I taught them how to cultivate orange flesh sweet potatoes and the Ogho vegetables.

“Then I taught them the benefits of, or the importance of orange flesh sweet potatoes. I taught them various dishes derived from orange flesh sweet potatoes. Then I prepared juice that day.”

She said the success story of LIFE-ND, especially her enterprise in her community, has attracted LIFE-ND and IFAD and NDDC to site a gigantic borehole extension in their community to encourage and facilitate dry season vegetable production in our community.

“I have a lot of testimonies to give. One, I no longer beg for food, irrespective of our bad economy in the country. I now can cultivate, harvest, and make a lot of money from food.

“From my farming activity, that’s the produce I got from the orange place with potatoes and other vegetables. I made a lot of money. Then the borehole extension is supplying water to the community, purified water.

“So we are not suffering from drought again. Before, we use to go to our faraway stream to fetch water but now we are fetching water from the borehole.”

Now, she says she is engaged in dry season farming. “You can see my farm. Then people are calling me from far and wide to supply orange flesh sweet potatoes, both vines and tubers. Then I’m now affiliated to the National Root Crops Research Centre in Umudike, for easy marketing.

“Before, the marketing was so very because our people eat cassava and yam. But now the introduction of orange flesh sweet potatoes, people are feeding on it. My affiliation to Umudike has brought buyers to me and I supply them with vines.

“They use to buy about 300 bundles of fives at the time I supplied. I sold 50 kg at times at N30,000.”

She said nine of them trained on nutrition in Calabar in June 2022 on Feed the Future scheme through the Nigerian Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services, but she was the only person that engaged herself in that nutrition.

“After the training, they asked us to go and showcase what we learned there on food and nutrition, improved food and nutrition. They supported us with stipend to buy things like tubers and what it takes to prepare. The exhibition attracted people from the nearby communities.

“I went back to Abbey Estate, now to my village. Okay. For me to be independent, they paid for the vines I bought from Umudike Research Center. It was five bundles then. Then they sent people to come and witness the farm, how it was doing. And they came with a bag of manure. Then they paid also for the input.

“For land, I went for one and negotiated. Then I hired the farm land just for farming. I made a lot of gain from it.

“So the same year, 2022, I planted about 500 vines. LIFE-ND later provided manure to grow it. And after three months, I got a bountiful harvest from the orange flesh sweet potatoes farm. So I supplied about 200 bundles then, two bags, I made about N105,000.”

He has trained 27 incubatees and 21 have been empowered, the others are still waiting for their turn, she stated.

Before the inclusion of homestead farming, she said, LIFE-ND had been doing poultry, oil and cassava.

“Yes, though the borehole is no longer working, but I’m still trying to see how to repair it. I have reported to LIFE-ND but they said they could do little or nothing because it has been commissioned.”

Challenge:

LIFE-ND has ended but some of the projects don’t appear sustainable. They need further support.

The beneficiary said: “We need pumping machines to pump water from our stream (Imo Rivers) to water our dry season farms.

“Secondly, the pumping box of this borehole has suffered thunder strike, according to technicians I invited. The people who installed it did not put thunder arrestor. The cost is very huge. I now buy water on daily basis to water the vegetables I planted. That is one of the major problems. The total cost is N1.5m.

“I’ve written a report to them but the answer is negative; that the project is gone. I am still pressing.”

Advice:

“My message to LIFE-ND is that we appreciate them for what they are doing in our community, to the poor rural people, rural women and men. I appreciate them and I urge them to continue with this project. They have really touched and improved the lives of our people here in Obi Ngwa and Isiala Ngwa.

“Despite the challenges, I really want to continue with LIFE-ND because they have helped me a lot to train my children. Because of their love and how I appreciate them, I’m gathering our people here every Monday to teach them lessons on food and nutrition, improved food and nutrition so that they will grow these vegetables and root crops to feed their children and the family members.

“Even if we have registered our homestead gardening, we have registered it as a cooperative society. We have bank accounts now. We have up to N200,000 in our account.

“They still come to give us lessons on food and nutrition. They have been coming to train us.”

In another part of Isiala Ngwa, Marizu Godswill from Obengobi Autonomous Community, seems to be boosting wealth and prosperity in the area, starting from garri processing to one plot of cassava farming to now massive farms.

He said he got inspiration from his Christian faith. “When I started the business, I was grinding cassava and pressing it for people commercially.

“Then I decided to involve myself in farming fully. I have a little piece of land which is not up to one plot, and I planted cassava on it. I later harvested it and turned it to garri. At the end of the day, I got a little profit from it.”

Marizu seemed to taste profit and became hungry. “After that, I saw the importance of agriculture deeply. Then I went to my organization where we do our monthly meetings. I borrowed money from them and combined it with what I had. At the end of the year, I was able to buy cassava stems and harvested cassava.

“But by now, by the grace of God, I have my own land which I bought. I have five plots of land which belong to me, which I use for my yearly harvest. It is not enough for me again, so I also borrow land from other people. After harvest, after the yearly season, they will take back their land. The next year, I will also go and buy to add to the ones that I have.”

Processing, he said, is how he started and is succeeding in the business. “I have registered my business with the Corporate Affairs Commission. My registration name is Nkemakola Agro Enterprises. I have a company account with a bank. These are the successes I have made to see that life and the things life had to give to me were not in vain.”

He also said he has bought three parcels of land for his members and plans to buy between 10 and 15 plots of land to increase his income.

He said: “I have shared my success story with people, and by that I also encourage and empower them. In our village, we are not using mechanized farming systems; we use the local system.

“They involve me in every farming activity, and when people do these activities with me, I also do them with others. I think that is important. Some people became interested in the project. Last year, after I harvested from 10 plots of land in 2025, I gave a piece of land, not up to one plot, to my brother. I saw his passion to become something, so I gave him land to plant cassava. I wanted to see how he would do it and whether he could produce positively.”

He is now helping others to become wealthy through agriculture.

These were confirmed by the Abia State Project Coordinator, Ezeh N. Roland, who announced, the first phase of training of 476 incubetees. He said 10 persons were usually selected each from 100 communities in 10 LGAs.

He said above 50% incubetees in Aquete have succeeded to become established farmers in Abia State. The project has recognized uptakers.

Some incubators have also become partners.

On finance, the State Government has put in design structure for it success.

He said the state governor, Alex Otti, has supported the project with an initial payment. Each participating state is expected to put in about N49 million.

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