September 26, 2022

Irrigated maize production in Niger: Between challenges and opportunities for small scale farmers

Animal Production Related

Niger

Niger has enjoyed an unparalleled reputation as a major livestock breeding country since the dawn of time. The second most important activity after agriculture, livestock breeding is generally practiced either through fattening among the sedentary population or through transhumance among the nomads. The last two decades have seen an unprecedented boom in poultry farming. However, access to poultry feed has always been a headache for Nigerien poultry farmers.

AVINIGER and NUSEB are two large poultry farms in Niger. In addition to the breeding, both farms also have a poultry feed production component. According to the Niger Poultry Producers' Association, the national need for poultry feed is estimated at 100,000 tons per year and up to 26,000 tons for the urban commune of Niamey alone. From 17,500 francs in normal times, a bag of yellow maize can reach 33,000 francs during the dry season. Indeed, maize is the staple food in poultry production. However, the cultivation of yellow maize has been very little developed in the country. This precious grain has always been imported from Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Ghana, and Brazil. The instability of prices, road hassles and multiple risks related to the quality of the maize are the major challenges that the AVINIGER-2SCALE partnership decided to face 3 years ago.

Improving local yellow maize production for a sustainable local supply

In 2019, AVINIGER, in partnership with 2SCALE, had the ambition to develop a sustainable supply system of locally produced yellow maize by cooperatives active in the various maize production basins in Niger. But faced with an asymmetry of information between farmers and poultry farmers spread across the country, 2SCALE first facilitated meetings to identify and inform stakeholders about the partnership, followed by meetings to put representatives of producer organizations and poultry farms in touch with each other. This has contributed to the restructuring of the value chain and the establishment of five agribusiness clusters (ABCs) in the main maize production basins. This partnership also had the ambition to enhance the production of yellow maize on a large scale, to develop and well organize the value chain to be more inclusive and productive. It also aimed to position AVINIGER on the livestock and poultry feed market in Niger.

Bottlenecks at the start of the collaboration between the poultry farm and the corn producers

Although they were motivated from the first crop year after the beginning of their collaboration, the maize producers lost their momentum at harvest time. The reason is that the farm AVINIGER was forced to decline the purchase of the productions due to the bad weather which ravaged a few months before its factory.

READ ALSO: AVINIGER: from resistance to resilience

This constraint created a climate of mistrust between the different actors, but not a rupture of confidence. Thus, following several meetings at the initiative of the partnership under the leadership of 2SCALE, the maize farmers were connected to other markets to sell their production while waiting for the re-launch of AVINIGER activities. Moreover, 2SCALE has also expanded the scope of collaboration with the integration of NUSEB, which has also shown interest in purchasing locally produced yellow maize.

Towards a new collaborative agreement

During the month of June 2022, all the actors met again to establish new bases of collaboration and to renew the win-win business relations between the different parties. The need expressed by the two main poultry farms has reached 12,000 tons of yellow maize per year (5000 tons by AVINIGER and 7000 tons by NUSEB). This is a godsend for the producers' organizations, which have found this opportunity to strengthen their collaboration. But they did not fail to emphasize the important need to further strengthen their technical and organizational capacities by facilitating access to adapted and heat-tolerant yellow maize varieties. Boubacar Hassane is a leading producer in the Harikanassou area. He explains:

Today, our collaboration has improved a lot, because it is based on the commitments of both parties. On the producers' side, we are committed to produce and supply maize to the poultry farmers. The farmers are also committed to buy our productions on the basis of the market price at the time of harvest. And this price will be increased with the agreement of both parties.

The local presence of the raw material and its advantages

The availability of yellow maize nearby is one of the main reasons why poultry farmers are interested in working with local farmers. Beyond the road hassles, having traceability on the raw material guarantees the quality and the real tonnage of the products. Very often, with imported maize, the buyer does not have control over the weight of the bags. It is at the delivery and after the sorting that the drop of weight is noticed. This is usually a loss for the companies.

Despite their determination to go further in this collaboration, the two actors, namely yellow maize producers and poultry farmers, are keen to meet the challenges that still litter their paths. Assoumane Garba Ladan, President of the maize producers' group in Gaya explains:

For us maize farmers, access to finance, high-yielding hybrid seeds and the continuous increase in perimeter royalty prices are challenges that we want to address. These challenges are not conducive to the inclusion of women and youth in the production chain.

Although they produce most of the world's food, small-scale farmers are themselves vulnerable to food insecurity. Globally, they constitute the majority of people living in poverty and insecurity. By connecting farmers to markets through public-private partnerships, 2SCALE facilitates the improvement of their livelihoods and incomes through better structured and functional value chains.

To ensure the sustainability of this collaboration, 2SCALE does not intend to stop there. Hussein Aouta, the partnership facilitator explains:

In addition to building the capacity of the partnership's actors, we have also facilitated the creation of a dialogue framework between producers and poultry farmers through the establishment of a monitoring committee composed of two yellow maize farmers and two poultry farmers. Today, a WhatsApp exchange network has also been created between the members of both parties for the fluidity of communications.

Share this update: