Two researchers from the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, Adamawa State, have advocated a community-driven development model that actively engages rural farmers to foster sustainable agricultural development as a prerequisite to drastic reduction of the nation’s poverty crisis.
Advancing arguments for the proposed model at the Fifth International Sustainable Development Summit, held at Ibadan between August 26 and 28 were Fardeen Dodo, a faculty member of the School of Business & Entrepreneurship, and Olurotimi Ogundijo, a farm research manager with the Office of Sustainability Initiatives. The recommendation was based on the inability of earlier post-colonial agricultural development models to generate continuous citizen participation and foster the requisite level of entrepreneurship to address the nation’s agricultural crisis.
In their paper entitled “Circling into the future – finding the best approach to agricultural development in rural Nigeria,” the researchers advocated the new model because, “…it is designed to be less dependent on officialdom and optimizing the ability of community actors to determine their own problems and solutions, while reaching very large numbers of poor people.”
After a critical rethink of the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial strategies, they contended that the community-driven development (CDD) model would put food on the table, yield surplus for export, and secure the commitment of the people for lasting growth, development, and progress. [eap_ad_1] They observed that the Federal government and other development stakeholders had consistently implemented the classical model of development–a top-down strategy that trickles down from a central policy-making body to the rural communities, for projects like the National Accelerated Food Production Program (NAFPP) 1972, the Agricultural Development Projects (ADP) of 1974 and 1989, and the Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) of 1976.
Other interventions that failed, in the sense that they could not generate sustenance include: the Green Revolution (GR) of 1980; the Directorate for Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) program of 1986; the Better Life Program (BLP) For Rural Women of 1987; the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) of 1992; the National Special Programme on Food Security (NSPFS) 2002; and the Root and Tuber Expansion Program (RTEP) of 2003.
Despite the presence of these initiatives in many states of Nigeria and their laudable objectives that center on increasing food production, poverty eradication, and the provision of low-cost and improved technologies, “to a large extent, these programs are considered to have failed.” The speakers cited two earlier scholars, who reported in 2010 that the level of poverty in the rural areas worsened despite government effort at rural development.
The only exception, they pointed out, was the National Fadama Development Project (NFDP-2), which utilized the CDD model, targeting the development of small-scale irrigation, especially in the low-lying alluvial floodplains. This Fadama 2 increased the productivity, living standards, and development capacity of the economically active rural communities, while boosting their efficiency in delivering implementation services to an estimated four million rural beneficiary households, raising their real incomes by 45 percent.
The CDD, which has now been implemented in 80 countries, is reminiscent of the pre-colonial, people-driven development strategy, has put the people in the driver’s seat, adequately encouraging the requisite level of entrepreneurship needed to empower rural agriculture. The role of the government, rather than be other-directing, should be supportive, helping farmers go about their own activities and lives, they argued.
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