Being the Final Project submitted for the WBG and EDX MOOC on Financing For Development.

1. Unlocking Investment Opportunities in
Nigeria’s Rural Communities through
Strong Agricultural Cooperatives.

2. Outline
Background The 17 SDGs
Definition of Cooperative
How Cooperatives reduce poverty.
Success stories from other African countries
The
problem
Nigeria’s Agriculture in numbers
The Problem with cooperatives in Nigeria
The
Solution
Where IDA PSW comes in
Impact of these on Nigeria's agriculture and the SDGs
In concordance with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this publication
deals with the importance of poverty reduction through agricultural development
and the indispensability of access to technical support and financial services for rural
populations in emerging and developing countries like Nigeria.

3. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The
SDGs
No Poverty
Zero Hunger
Good health
&Wellbeing
Quality
Education
Climate
Action
Sustainable
Cities &
Communities
Affordable &
Clean Energy
Clean water
& Sanitation
Industry,
Innovation &
Infrastructure
Reduced
Inequalities
Responsible
Consumption
& Production
Life Below
Water
Gender
Eqauility
Life On Land
Peace, Justice
& Strong
Institutions
Partnerships
for the Goals
Decent Work
and Economic
Growth

4. What is a cooperative?
A cooperative is a group-based and member-owned business and can be formed for
economic and social development in any sector.
“An autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social,
and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.”
(The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) website: www.ica.coop).
Cooperatives are of different types depending on the area of interest of members
Agricultural cooperatives Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs)
Consumer cooperatives Infrastructure and Housing cooperatives
Producer and Marketing Cooperatives
So cooperatives are private entities and are enterprises, and represent the best
approach for tackling Goals 1 and 2 of the SDGs (Extreme Poverty and Zero
Hunger) because they consist of rural and poor populations who suffer hunger
and poverty the most.

5. How Do Cooperatives Reduce
Poverty?
 They identify economic opportunities for
their members;
 Empower the disadvantaged to defend their
interests;
 Provide security to the poor by allowing
them to convert individual risks into
collective risks;
 And mediate member access to assets that
they utilize to earn a living.

6. How Specific Cooperatives Impact
Members
• Facilitate their members’ access to financial capital.
Savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs)
• Help farmers access the inputs required to grow crops and
keep livestock.
• Help them process, transport and market their produce.
Agricultural cooperatives
• Make it possible for their members and the society at large
to access good quality household supplies like food, clothing,
and other products at affordable prices.
Consumer cooperatives
Such services help pull members out of poverty.

7. Success Stories from other African
Countries
Agricultural
Cooperatives
• InTanzania, improved cooperative marketing of agricultural products like milk and
coffee has meant that cooperative members can afford fees for education of their
children;
• In Egypt, 4 million farmers derive income from selling agricultural produce through
agricultural marketing cooperatives;
SACCOs
• In Kenya, development loans have been used to buy land, build houses, invest in
businesses and farming, and buy household furniture;
• In Ghana, members frequently obtain loans from the University of Ghana
Cooperative Credit Union to support informal businesses that supplement their
wage income;
Employment
• Cooperatives also contribute to poverty reduction by providing employment,
livelihoods and wide variety of services.

8. Nigeria’s rural population and
agriculture in numbers
• 50+• 61
• 80:• 182
million
The reported
population of Nigeria
as at 2015.
The proportion of
food produced by
smallholder farmers
in Nigeria, yet they
represent a higher
percentage of poor
people in the
country.
The percentage of
Nigeria's arable land
that are uncultivated.
More of these lands
are in rural areas.
The percentage of
Nigerians who live in
poverty, a huge part
of whom are in rural
areas.

9. The Problem with Agricultural
Cooperatives in Nigeria
 Low capacity to manage cooperatives.
 Deviation from the core cooperative principles.
 Absence of a regional or national cooperative
movement.
 Members tend to be more profit- than value-driven.
 Poor financial capacity
 Low access to technical support services
 Negligence by government
 Lack of commitment and motivation among members.
Most of these challenges bother on capacity, network and
policy support

10. Why Nigeria’s Agricultural
Cooperatives Story can get Better
 The Nigerian government after a long time, is finally
becoming serious with agriculture.
 The high unemployment rate in the country means
that more educated people are willing to do
agriculture.
 Private institutions who depend on agriculture for
their raw materials are now forming partnerships
with local cooperatives as a model to sustain their
raw materials supplies.

11. How IDA PSW come in
• Facilitate the formation or consolidation of the cooperatives movement in Nigeria
Fund coordinated capacity building trainings for key officers in cooperatives.
• Technical assistance to low income farmers who form and develop member-owned
cooperatives for farm supplies,marketing, and value-added processing;
Capacity
• Provide funding in form of concessional loans and grants to private organizations who
adopt business models that partner agricultural cooperatives.
Promote Cooperatives-Businesses Partnerships
• Provide support in terms of capacity and funding to governments especially at local
levels to design policies that support cooperatives to thrive.
• It can also involve grants/loans to governments for on-lending to cooperatives
Government Support Inducement
• Provide grants to Non-profit organizations who will focus on promoting cooperatives
and providing capacity trainings to key officers of cooperatives.
Integrate NGOs

12. Other Cooperative Types
• Promote national credit union systems through credit union-to-credit
union technical assistance that strengthens the ability of low income
people and micro-entrepreneurs to save and have access to credit for
their own economic advancement.
SACCOs
• Support of rural electric and telecommunication cooperatives for access
for rural people and villages that lack reliable electric and
telecommunications services;
Infrastructure Cooperatives
• Promote community-based cooperatives which provide employment
opportunities and important services such as health clinics, self-help
shelter, environmental improvements, group-owned businesses, and other
activities.
Housing and other Community Services
Agriculture is not a stand-alone solution to rural communities in
Nigeria. So the IDA can also through the Private Sector Window
intervene in the other types of cooperatives in Nigeria.

13. How would these Impact the
Nigeria's Agriculture?
 With better technical support to farmers through cooperatives,
Nigeria’s overall agricultural productivity would increase.
 Because farmers now have a direct link with processors through
cooperatives, their would be a huge drop in the amount of agricultural
losses.
 With increased productivity and reduced losses, comes increase in
profit the farmers.
 As income per capita of smallholder farmers in rural communities
increase, a better tax return for the government is sure.
 This strategy if successful will have a multiplier effect on other sub-
Saharan African countries.

14. Impact on the SDGs
 Goal 1(No Poverty)
Poverty in rural communities is reduced.
 Goal 2 (Zero Hunger)
More food means less hunger.
 Goal 8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth)
More descent jobs will be created both for the members and managers of the
cooperatives.
 Goal 11(Sustainable Cities & Communities)
Successful cooperatives create stimulate growth in their communities.
 Goal 17 (Partnerships for the Goals)
Cooperatives great examples of how partnerships can help in attaining the
SDGs. The collaboration with NGOs, Businesses and Governments are very
potent in this case.

15. ThankYou