TheCable

In a bid to lessen the dependency on oil and boost agricultural development in the country, OneLife Initiative for Human Development, a non-governmental social enterprise based in Ibadan, Oyo state, recently embarked on an IFDC/2Scale project aimed at improving maize production.

Held in collaboration with Ogbomoso Ise Oluwa Ni Farmers’ Multipurpose Cooperative Limited and Oyo Maize Farmers Group, the project, partly funded by the International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC), brought together business organisations involved in the maize value chain.

Commenting on the objective of the project at sensitization workshops attended by about 50 participants at Ogbomoso and Owode, Oyo, on July 12 and July 17 respectively, team leader of OneLife Initiative, Mr. ‘Sola Fagorusi, said the goal of IFDC/2Scale is to stimulate discussions and identify gaps in maize production.

He enthused that OneLife has created an environment for cooperation and competition in the Agri-business Clusters (ABC) and also coordinated interactions between all the actors on the maize value chains in Ogbomosho and Oyo.

“OneLife Initiative for Human Development has been interfacing between the maize farmers’ cooperatives and IFDC in its capacity as a Business Support Service (BSS) provider,” Fagorusi said.

“As a part of the strategic take-off of the project, sensitisation workshops for bulk purchase pooling and cluster dynamics were organised. Presentations were made during the workshop by maize farmers on their experiences and challenges on the field.”

Experts such as Dr. Adenekan Osiyemi of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan and Dr. Femi Kuti empowered participants at the workshop — made up largely of maize farmers, input suppliers, maize processors, representatives of micro finance banks and marketers — on how to be take care of their occupational health and how to help prevent the spread of the deadly Aflatoxin.

Some of the high points of the training were the introduction of Aflasafe (a biological agent developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for aflatoxin control in maize farming to participants, securing for them a contract for the supply of 30 MT of maize by the end of the present planting season and harnessing the power of social media through the use of Twitter’s hashtag, #MaizeClusterActors .