Says over €17m attracted in value chain
By Adeyinka Adeniran
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Nigeria, Bengt Van Loosdrecht has transfered the ownership, managing and running of an inclusive agribusiness initiatives called 2Scale to Nigerian scholars, farmers, and entrepreneurs under the aegis of Institute of Agribusiness Management Nigeria.
He made the presentation at a ceremony which held at the FCW Milk Bulking Centre, Iseyin, Oyo State.
The initiative is an incubator and accelerator for inclusive agribusiness of public-private partnerships. A program funded by the Dutch government for the past 13th year was brought to close with a transfer of the knowledge and approach to national actors.
During the lifespan of the project, smallholders farmers, micro, small, medium enterprises, business champions and also local consumers were empowered to ensure that everyone has access to locally produced foods and process in Nigeria.
The initiative has attracted over €30 million return on investment from the private sector, with over €17million facilitated for the value chain.
According to the Ambassador, the programme was handed over to the Nigerian players due to the confidence the Dutch government has in the Nigeria farmers to continue in the running of the scheme.
He said, “It’s been a fantastic project. It’s been there for 13 years, and it has enabled a lot of farmers to thrive, to scale up their business. It’s very good. The project is not really over, actually, it has been handed over to the Institute of Agribusiness Management Nigeria.
“We saw that the Professors and others in the institute can takes responsibility, and he is perfectly able and capable to take forward the project. Because you know why? Something has been built in the minds of the farmers and the people concerned.
“They know how to do it. They are experts here. If you have been working with a program for 13 years, people understand how to deal with it. And this is what will happen in the future as well.”
He said he had no fear about sustainability of the project, saying although funding will no more be coming from the Dutch government, he expects other stakeholders including the government to key into the opportunity the project provides for more inclusivity and benefit.
“Nigeria is not a poor country. projects are there to fire up something, and when it works and it is sustainable, it will be taken up by the country itself. And that is the notion of sustainability. Funding something forever and ever, that is not sustainable”, he added.
Also speaking, the President, Institute of Agribusiness Management Nigeria, Professor Andi Brisibe said the 13 years the project has been operating in Nigeria has been of tremedous impact to the agribusiness sector.
He said although the 2Scale initiative is closing down due to policy constraints, the Institute have many seasoned academics, scholars and researchers who can scale up the initiative and drive it to another level.
Professor Brisibe said, “The 13years that 2Scale has been operating in Nigeria have been wonderful. I say this especially on account of the fact that some of the models that they’ve tried to impact into the Nigerian agribusiness space have really been very helpful. Take, for example, the issue of inclusive agribusiness approach. I mean, the inclusivity there is on account of the fact that it carries everybody along, that even those that are considered at the bottom of the pyramid are taken along.
“And therefore, it’s my own personal assessment that 2Scale has done very well. And it’s quite sad that because of policy constraints, they had to close. And with the fact that they are closing, they have handed over the mantle of responsibility to the Institute of Agribusiness Management of Nigeria and we hope to go on with it as much as we are capable of handling.
“I can tell you this, the institute contains a lot of seasoned professors, researchers, and scientists that will be able to handle all that 2Scale has done. And therefore, I don’t have any fear that the project will continuously be handled, and it will be quite successful.”
He noted that, although, the Institute have no control of funding, it will do well in its sustainability saying, “In terms of funding, no. Sustainability, yes. Because funding, we are not in control of where funds are coming from any longer. In terms of having to propagate the idea and sustainability, make the program very sustainable, yes, we will.
“Essentially, we are talking about a situation where we are improving, increasing the earning power of the basic smallholder farmer. And of course, if you are able to improve the livelihood of the smallholder farmer, you have more or less improved the food and nutritional security of the entire country.”
Fielding questions from reporters, the Programe Director of 2Scale, Marina Diboma said over 1.2million smallholder farmers have been empowered within the 13years project span.
Assuring that the local players are ready to take over the project, Diboma described 2Scale as a mindset, a philosophy “whereby we have seen that those actors who are successful, those who committed to invest for inclusion, for sustainability, for empowerment of vulnerable groups along the value chain.
“So, if for any actor that benefited the program, I think they will just continue investing in their business because they have seen already through the past years, the return on investment that was actually done together in Nigeria only, the private sector contributed over 30 million euros. And we raised for all actors combined along the value chains facilitated, we raised up to 17 million euros.
“And I can assure you that the contribution of the program was below the contribution of the private sector. That’s what really convinced me that there is a commitment and that these actors will just continue advocating and implementing this approach through their business.
“This is not the end of the road. I think the value chain actors, they own their destiny. I don’t believe in creating dependency through development programs. As the ambassador mentioned earlier, development programs are there to support concepts, innovative concepts that can prove themselves. And I think 2Scale is such a concept that has proven itself. The actors have embraced it and I think the future looks bright.”
