Communique: National Summit on Agroecology- Public Private Partnership on the Strategic Partnerships for Agroecology and Climate Justice in West Africa (SPAC-West Africa), Nigeria

COMMUNIQUE

Preamble

ActionAid Nigeria (SPAC-West Africa  and SPA II Project)in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), Nigeria Agric Business Group (NABG), Heinrich Boll Stiftung,Be the Help Foundation(BHF), Smallholder Women Farmers Organization of Nigeria(SWOFON) and young persons including Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme implemented by (UNDP) organized the National Summit on Agroecology- Public Private Partnership on the Strategic Partnerships for Agroecology and Climate Justice in West Africa (SPAC-West Africa), Nigeria Project, Wetland Hotel at Abuja, 15th April 2024.

This Summit brought together stakeholders from both public and private sectors, farmers’ organisations, and young people’s movements to promote agroecology. Results and Knowledge from the field for adoption and scale up was promoted during the Summit.

This innovation will lead to scale up and sustainability, promote equitable adaptation and transition measures that benefit front line communities.Public-Private partnership for market access for sustainably produced agroecologically produce was emphasised to contribute to wide adoption and scale up across board.

The Summit provided an avenue to push for increased quantity and quality of public financing for agroecology towards increased government political and budget commitments and programme implementations on Agroecology in Nigeria and West Africa.

The Strategic Partnerships for Agroecology and Climate Justice in West Africa (SPAC-West Africa) Project is a 3-year project funded by ActionAid International (AAI) through its Transformative Impact Fund (TIF) implemented in Liberia, Nigeria, & Senegal, with regional engagement of stakeholders in collaboration with the ECOWAS Commission. ActionAid Nigeria is implementing in Nigeria and coordinating the ECOWAS region engagements and continental engagements. In Nigeria, the project will improve food and nutrition security and enhance agroecological skills of 120,000 Smallholder Women Farmers (SHWF) and Young People by facilitating access to early maturing seeds, seedlings, livestock, and poultry, thus supporting agroecological practices, indigenous seeds, and agrobiodiversity preservation for increased farm yields.Through agroecology budget monitoring, tracking and advocacy towards the expansion of the fiscal spaces, rights holders will significantly benefit from budget increases and allocations in agriculture. 107 model agroecological farms were set up and scaled by SHWF to increase adoption of agroecological practices. This project is implemented in Ondo, Delta, Ebonyi, Jigawa, the FCT and at the National Level.

A total number of 200 participants attended (150 physical while 50 participants participated actively through the Zoom platform). These participants included House of Representative Committee on Agricultural Production and Services, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), Ecological Project Office, and 36 States and the FCT Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) Managers. Also present were the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria (SWOFON), Be the Help Foundation, ActionAid SPA II Project team and  partners, Heinrich Boll Stiftung Foundation, Danish Embassy, EU, Word Food Programme, Small and Medium Enterprise Development  Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) ECOWAS Commission, Nigeria Agribusiness Group, Activista Nigeria , All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Media, Academia, Research & members of the various Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). 

COMMENDATIONS

• The Permanent Secretary, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security  (FMAFS), the Deputy Director, Planning and Policy Coordination, other Directors, Nigeria Agric Business Group,(NABG), Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN),ActionAid SPA II Project,The representative of the Honorable speaker Federal house of representative, World food program, Deputy Directors, Assistant Directors, and all staff of FMAFS for being committed to achieving food and nutrition security and willing to collaborate with ActionAid Nigeria all the time.
• We commend all the 36 States and the FCT Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) Managers for their commitment to scaling up agroecology across Nigeria towards our food and nutrition security.
• We commend development partners and donors on their work in Nigeria towards climate change mitigation and Adaptation.
• We commend the private sector and civil society organisations for their contributions towards Nigeria’s food and nutrition security.
• We commend smallholder women farmers and young people for their resilience.

KEY OBSERVATIONS

During the meeting, participants made the following observations:

1. Nigeria is faced with daunting food and nutrition insecurity caused by low public investments in agriculture, late budget releases, insurgency, armed banditry, farmers herders clashes and when you add floods across the country that has ravaged farmlands and livelihoods and our high post-harvest losses of N3.5 trillion annually, the situation becomes more damning. 
2. The Nigeria Multidimensional Poverty Index (2022) released in November 2022 further reiterates the need for us to rethink our approaches to achieving food and nutrition security in Nigeria. The report shows that out of Nigeria’s 200million population, 38.6% which is 77.2million citizens are faced with food insecurity, while 28.7% which is 57.4million are faced with nutrition insecurity and 50.6% which is 101.2million citizens lack access to cooking fuel which contributes largely to climate change and health issues. Remember the national measure of multidimensional poverty was conducted between November 2021 and February 2022 and things are worse than these statistics at the moment considering even just the recent floods. Hence, as many as possible of these types of projects on Agroecology and Climate Justice are needed to help communities to produce nutritious food sustainably.
3. This project is timely because although developing countries like Nigeria, use only 25% of chemical pesticides produced worldwide, we experience 99% of pesticide deaths. Research shows the World Health Organization estimates that 385 million farmers fell victim to acute poisoning in 2019, most of them in Asia and Africa. 
4. 75% of smallholder women farmers surveyed in 2022 experienced some health challenges that they attributed to pesticide use. Symptoms like difficulty in breathing, dizziness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, eye problems, skin rashes, catarrh, diarrhea, and respiratory problems were among the most common health effects reported. 
5. Nigeria’s population is increasing, and the quantity of land remains the same, it is therefore extremely important that we take action to develop technology that will improve our farmlands, especially strategies to recycle nutrients within our lands to ensure sustainable agroecological management. Despite land degradation, the soil can heal itself and regenerate, therefore it is possible to grow our food 100% without chemicals.
6. Nigeria loses about $362.5m yearly in terms of foreign exchange to the ban on the exportation of beans in the last eight years, hence the importance of this project to help the country save money and export good and acceptable agricultural produce in the global market. Bearing in mind that every Nigeria’s food rejected is Naira lost and unemployment increased.
7. On access to Extension Services, smallholder women farmers have access to only 5.26% farm demonstrations and 19.47% of farmers field schools and these areas needs massive investments to scale up agroecology.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

1. We call on Federal and State Executives, National and State Houses of Assembly to scale up agroecology and extension services yearly budget, and ensure timely consideration, passage, and total budget releases as a strategic approach to increase food production, reduce hunger and poverty and achieve the CAADP Commitment to Enhancing Resilience of Livelihoods & Production Systems to Climate Variability and Other Shocks.

1. The Ecological Project Office should support the scale up of agroecology across communities in Nigeria towards climate change mitigation and adaptation.

1. The need for a National Agroecology Strategy is recommended to be domiciled in the federal ministry of Agriculture and food security to scale up Agroecology Programmes.

1. The Federal Government should Define the Focus for  Agroecology and climate Justice  Domiciled with the ministry of Agriculture and Environment to drive the transition.

1. As approved by the 44th National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development (NCARD); the three tiers of government should commit 10% of their annual budget to the agriculture sector to meet the 10% Maputo/Malabo Declaration required to support at least 6% growth rate for the sector as postulated in the CAADP framework. There should be political will to allocate at least 10% of annual budgets and actuals of revenues to the agriculture sector with appropriate budget lines so that Nigeria will be on track in the next Biennial Reporting to the African Union Heads of States and Government in line with the Malabo Declaration and Commitments of 2014.

1. Federal and State governments should allocate more public investments in agriculture to address the strategic areas of investments that would increase the agricultural GDP to at least 6%. These strategic areas of investments include Extension Services, Access to Credit, Women in Agriculture, Youth in Agriculture, Appropriate Labour-Saving Technologies, Inputs, Post-Harvest Losses Reduction Supports (processing facilities, storage facilities, trainings, market access, etc.), Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture (CRSA)/Agroecology, Research and Development, Monitoring and Evaluation, as well as Coordination.

1. Government should strengthen Extension Services with mobility, incentives and resources for field visits and employ more extension agents especially women and youths.

1. The growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) should be re-introduced, and the budget should be increased to address the inputs gaps experienced by smallholder farmers, especially women and young people and to provide access to early maturing seeds, seedlings, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, and poultry, thus supporting agroecological practices, indigenous seeds, and agrobiodiversity preservation for increased farm yields.

1. The National Agricultural Development Fund should have a major component on supporting and scaling up agroecology across communities in Nigeria.

1. Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS) should begin to develop pesticide policies and legislation that ensure that the most toxic pesticides are prohibited, and phased out in Nigeria, and a significant shift made towards sustainable farm systems like agroecology. To achieve this, the government needs to develop a safe sustainable food strategy that reduces the use of highly toxic synthetic chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030; 25% by 2040, a maximum of 5% by 2050 and strong support to be given to farmers in their transition towards agroecology.

1. The private sector through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) that benefit smallholder farmers especially women and young people should promote agroecology and play a robust role in facilitating market access for agroecologically produced agriculture produce in Nigeria.

1. Development Partners and Donors should increase their funding’s and programmes on agroecology and climate justice in Nigeria.

1. The Federal Government should invest more in Agricultural research and Innovation (Invest in Local Science) this will scale up Agroecological practices and Improve Food Security.

1. Consumer and producers’ market on Agroecologically produced food should be prioritized by government to aid scale up.

1. Government should Promote Nature in farm systems- Agroecology & Organic Farming.

1. Government Should Promote Land Tenure Reforms, Resource Rights for Smallholder women farmers (SHWF) and Young persons, & access to farmland schemes for youths and women.

1. Government should Urgently Promote & Enforce Economic Justice and Wealth Distribution.

NEXT STEPS 

• AAN to transmit Communique to relevant Policy Makers, MDAs, and Institutions as well as all participants. 
• State teams headed by the 36 States and the FCT Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) Managers present at the meeting will lead advocacy and scale up of agroecology at state-levels.
• Donors and Agricultural Agencies to Collaborate with ActionAid for Scaling up Agroecology project in Nigeria and West Africa.
• AAN to create synergy and partner with seed company for improved quality seed production.
• AAN to facilitate the inclusion of Persons With Disability (PWD) and the young people during step down training's.
• AAN to partner with invited stakeholders to champion advocacy against the use of harmful pesticides and herbicides.

Endorsed By 

List of Organizations, Ministries, Departments and Agencies, CSOs and Institutions that participated in the National Summit on Agroecology and Public-Private Partnerships on the Strategic Partnership for Agroecology and Climate Justice in West Africa (SPAC- West Africa), Nigeria Project.

1. House Committee on Agricultural Production and Services (National Assembly).
2. Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS).
3. ActionAid Nigeria.
4. Fresh &The Young Brains Development Initiative (FBIN).
5. Heinrich Böll Stiftung (HBS).
6. Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON).
7. All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN).
8. Nigerian Agribusiness (NABG).
9. Women Environmental Programme  (WEP).
10. Small and Medium Scale Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).
11. National Agency for The Great Green Wall.
12. Alliance For Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).
13. Ecological Project Office (EPO).
14. Guardian Newspaper.
15. Savanna Express. 
16. African Independence Television (AIT).
17. Silverbird TV.
18. Ray Power FM.
19. Radio Nigeria.
20. Wazobia FM.
21. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
22. Blueprint Media.
23. African Independent Television (AIT).
24. News 24 TV.
25. Plus, TV.
26. News Agency of Nigeria.
27. Development TV.
28. The 4 Project States (Ondo, Delta, Ebonyi , Jigawa and the FCT Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) Managers.
29. Organic and Agroecological Initiative in Nigeria (ORAIN).
30. Babe Azimi Foundation.
31. She Matters Foundation.
32. Environmental and Rural Mediation Centre (ENVIRUMEDIC).
33. Farm Radio International.
34. Ripple Heights Development Initiative, Ibadan Nigeria.
35. Nigerian Forum for Agric Advisory Services (NIFAAS). 
36. Safe Food Awareness Initiative (SFAI).
37. Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA).
38. Rural and Urban Stewardship Initiative for Sustainable Development (RUSISD).
39. Nigeria Agricultural Insurance Cooperation.
40. South Saharan Social Development Organization (Enugu).
41. Clement Isong Foundation (Akwa Ibom).
42. Inspire Youth Network (Lagos).
43. Green Rivers Organisation.
44. National Environmental Standards and regulations enforcement agency (NESREA).
45. Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
46. German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).
47. Federal Ministry of Women Affairs.
48. Federal Ministry of industry Trade and Investment (FMITI).
49. World Food program (WFP).
50. Biodiversity Education and Resource Center (BERC).
51. Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria.
52. Participatory Development Alternative (PDA).
53. Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN).
54. L&Z Farms.
55. Dangote Farms.
56. World Bank.
57. Center for Dry Land Agriculture (CDA).
58. St. Aloysious School.
59. Jigawa State Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (JARDA).
60. Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF).
61. TGL/WACOT.
62. Danish Embassy.
63. Federal Ministry of Youth Development (FMYD).
64. South Saharan Social development organization (SSDO).