It is barely 5:00 am and Ayo Adio, a 34-year-old man, is already up and about. Even as he kneels down to say a prayer and freshen up before heading out, his mind is already racing, way ahead of his feet. He hopes to get to the local truck-rental shop where he can hire a 3-ton capacity truck for the day and rush to the farm to see if he can offer transportation of either freshly harvested cassava roots for farmers from the farms to local processing factories, or cassava stem cuttings, to other farmers who need them for planting.
Depending on how it goes, and how many cassava roots or cassava stems are on the ground for transportation, he may need to move quickly to other farms and convey other agricultural products such as yams, tomatoes, pepper, okra, and other vegetables. He mainly offers transport services to traders, predominantly local women, just so he can make enough money to cover the cost of the truck hire for the day and take home something for his young wife and baby.
In Nigeria, expenditure on logistics happens to be a major aspect of the farmers’ production budget. This venture is seen as a cost saver for the farmers who do not have their own farm trucks and therefore individually spend huge on logistics in each production cycle.
Transportation/cassava logistics was one of the major off-farm opportunities identified by some youths in Osun state, where the 2SCALE-Cato Foods partnership is hosted. The opportunity was recognized as being economical to the farmers in the movement and delivery of planting materials like stems, chemicals, and most importantly, the conveying of harvested roots from the different farm locations to the factory of the Business Champion. Aside from the immense benefits and cost-savings the provision of this service offers to the farmers, it was also seen as a profitable venture for youths to engage in. The activity not only entails the conveying of farm produce to a particular destination but also the aggregation of harvest from different farm locations for farmers within a cluster.
In February 2022, in the Iwo local government area of Osun State, 2SCALE trained 12 youths (8 males and 4 females) who had indicated an interest in becoming cassava transporters but lacked the requisite skills and resources. Along with insights from some experienced agro-logistics service providers in the communities, the training contents included customer relationships, business ethics, conflict resolution, savings, and loans, as well as personal finance management. During the training, the participants were able to identify the numerous logistic service opportunities along the cassava value chain and in the partnership. All 12 participants maintained interest to carry out the venture although funds to either hire a truck/van or raise needed capital to purchase one have been hindrances. Various clusters and cooperatives are now considering having dedicated logistic service providers with a long-term plan of acquiring their own logistics vehicles. In the meantime, Adio Ayo who was one of the trained youths is currently and actively a transporter servicing smallholder farmers in Iwo and its outskirts, Mamu, and Oluponna in Osun State, Nigeria.
Beyond the training
Adio, who is also a smallholder cassava producer, attended the organized training for youths on transportation with the aim of learning the business around aggregation & transportation of agricultural produce. Right after the training in February 2022, Adio rented a truck to try out his hand in the business of transportation. He has so far done a remarkable number of supplies to the factory of the business champion (Catofoods), servicing over 100 SHFs and local traders. To carry out this venture successfully, he hires a truck at a fee of N15,000 (35$) per day. This payment is made irrespective of the number of trips he makes for that day whether single or multiple. The prices he offers for his services are based on the weight of goods, the distance, the state of the road, and the time required to complete the trip. On average he charges N25,000(59$) per trip of cassava intra-state.