How A Brand Is Watering The Earth to Make the Grass Greener
By Azeez Disu
One might wonder and say “will the grass be evergreen again?”, especially in the face of hunger and some challenges but a brand is making the grass greener again with its contributions to the agricultural sector in Nigeria.
Its source of raw materials which are mostly agricultural produce locally is helping smallholder farmers to grow their businesses through various initiatives and is equally promoting smallholder dairy businesses while it is reducing the unemployment rate in the country drastically. Another exciting thing it is doing is it is helping to eradicate child labour and putting smiles on the faces of millions of people, families, and communities.
Like the unveiling of a new product during a launch, Nestlé Nigeria doesn’t need much introduction for its contributions to the agricultural ecosystem, it is playing a major role and it is intentional about a sustainable future for the industry. With some of the initiatives and contributions listed above, Nestlé’s contributions affirm that the grass is becoming greener and the popular song of TY Bello titled “Green Land” affirms that as well.
Some of its lyrics like “Oh-oh, oh. The land is green, it’s green. Can’t you see? The harvest is ready, ‘Cause the Lord of the harvest told me so. It’s green, it’s green for me. It’s green, it’s green for me” speaks to the affirmation and reignite the hope that the land is green and the future is indeed bright for the country and the agriculture sector.
With the affirmation, more brands and other stakeholders must join forces to contribute to refining the sector’s history and making life better for all.
As Thomas Jefferson, American statesman and Founding Father once said in his popular quote, “Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will, in the end, contribute most to real wealth, good morals & happiness,” So, all hands must be on deck to safe the sector and the world from hunger and poverty.
Like the above quote, also, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize the importance of agriculture and the need to reinvigorate farming worldwide by supporting farmers in Goal 2 which is to End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
Agriculture is important to the survival of the world and indeed Nigeria, a country that boasts of an arable land area of 34 million hectares: 6.5 million hectares for permanent crops, and 28.6 million hectares of meadows and pastures according to Statista’s report. Agriculture accounts for about 24 percent of the country’s Gross domestic product (GDP).
Despite its contributions, the sector is faced with challenges such as lack of access to finance, violent conflict, an outdated system of agriculture, absence of value addition and supply-chain linkages, insufficient supply to meet population growth and food demand, and lack of access to finance,
Some innovative organization has part of their Creating Shared Value (CSV) are contributing to the growth and development of the sector by providing solutions to the challenges the sector and stakeholders are facing. One such notable organization is Nestlé Nigeria PLC as earlier reported.
It is helping to address food quality at the farm level, empower farmers to manage their businesses, creating Shared Value among others.
Nestlé Nigeria PLC, in collaboration with International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC) / 2Scale, is helping farmers improve their livelihoods by empowering smallholder farmers on sustainable farming practices under the initiative, Nestlé Nigeria & IFDC/2Scale Project Sorghum & Millet. The partnership aims to improve grain quality and productivity.
Local Sourcing
“Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful and most noble employment of man.”-George Washington, American military officer, and Founding Father once said.
In line with the above quote, the company source 80 percent of its products locally and this creates employment and helps boost the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Nestlé Nigeria, Mauricio Alarcon, attested to sourcing locally, “We source 80 percent of our products locally; 100 percent of the maize and soya in Golden Morn are sourced locally even though it is cheaper to import.
“We do this because we believe that this is the right thing to do to ensure sustainable supplies at the right quality in the long term,” Alarcon said.
Helping Smallholder Farmers
Nestlé Nigeria engaged over 5,000 smallholder farmers for the supply of raw materials for its agro-business operations.
The initiative, ‘developing inclusive grain value chains project’, was in partnership with IDH— The Sustainable Trade Initiative and TechoServe.
The seven-month project enabled more inclusive and transparent sourcing of maize, soybeans, millet, and sorghum for Nestlé’s operations in Nigeria.
Also, the initiative increased the income of farmers and creates a steady supply of locally grown crops.
Nestlé, together with its implementing partners, made a significant impact and within two years, trained over 7905 sorghum and 1069 millet farmers on good agricultural pre-harvest and post-harvest practices. 22% of these farmers are women. The farmers testify to a significant increase in income. This change is due to an increase in productivity, improved crop quality, and the availability of a ready market, which eliminates the negative influence of middlemen.
Promoting smallholder dairy business
In the country, the demand for dairy products is about 1.3 billion tons per annum, but only 10% of this is sourced locally. Local milk suppliers are mainly Fulanis following a pastoralist production system. In the Fulani culture, cows are mainly meant for meat production, and it is said that while men own the cows, the milk belongs to the women.
Nestlé partnered with 2SCALE to deepen and accelerate its inclusive business model which seeks to develop 1,000 ha of grazing area. Additionally, this model seeks to demonstrate how the establishment of improved pastures can increase the productivity of indigenous cattle and contribute to the professionalization of settled Fulanis as dairy farmers. The novelty of the partnership consists of setting up a new fresh milk value chain built around the Fulani dairy cooperative model, with a feed and fodder supply system, and a gradual transition to smallholder dairy farming.
Reducing Unemployment Rate
According to Statista, in 2022, the unemployment rate in Nigeria is estimated to reach 33 percent. This figure was projected to be at 32.5 percent in the preceding year.
Meanwhile, with the population growing by 2.5% annually and predicted to reach 264 million by 2030, this is imperative because of the high youth unemployment rate, estimated at 42.5%by the National Bureau of statistics.
Nestlé Nigeria is helping to improve youth participation in agriculture. For example, its Golden Morn brand announced a commitment to improving youth participation in agriculture through training local farmers and support to young entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector.
To fill this important gap, Golden Morn Agripreneurship Webinar Series was inaugurated in October 2021 to promote youth participation in the agricultural sector through training and provision of grants for the most promising agriculture business proposals by the beneficiaries. The initiative is solely to curb youth unemployment.
Stopping Child Labour
Regarded as one of the laudable initiatives of all time, Nestlé commenced the initiative of giving direct payouts to cocoa farmers in a bid to remove child labour from its supply chain.
The organisation will also invest more than $1.4 billion over the next decade in a new programme aimed at helping cocoa-farming families to close the living income gap.
Recall, that Nestlé announced the launch of a plan aimed at combating child labour in the cocoa industry.
The initiative followed the September 2021 launch of Nestlé’s intention to support a just transition to regenerative food systems.
Cocoa-farming communities face challenges, including widespread rural poverty, climate change, and lack of access to financial services and basic infrastructures such as water, healthcare services, and education.
The factors contribute to child labour on family farms. Under Nestlé’s new plan, farmers and their spouses will receive a cash incentive for activities that help women and children, increase crop productivity, ensure sustainable agricultural practices, and secure additional sources of income.
The cash incentive will be paid directly to cocoa-farming households for the enrolment of children in schools and pruning, among other activities.
The plan supports Nestlé’s work to transform its global sourcing of cocoa to achieve full traceability and segregation for its cocoa products.