It is concept proposed as a vehicle for effective commodity value chain development and agricultural transformation in Nigeria

1. CBNetCOMMUNITY BUSINESS NET FOR
AGRICULTURE CONCEPT
AS
THE VEHICLE FOR IMPLEMENTING THE
AGRICULTURE TRANSFORMATION AGENDA
COMPREHENSIVELY AND SUSTAINABLY
ABUJA
THE HEART OF NIGERIA

2. For more Enquiries
YABA RURAL COOPERATIVE
FOUNDATION
CF
Tel: 08050424812, 07057258117, 07061954465, 07014050766
E-mail: yabaruralcooperativefoundation@yahoo.com
yabagari@gmail.com
Park
Industrial
Flour &
Cereal
Cassava into:
Garri
Grits
Fufu
Chips
Elubo
YABA, Abaji Area Council, Abuja, FCT

3. 1
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the community Business Net (CBNet ) for
Agriculture concept and to propose and advocate the adoption of the concept as the
vehicle for promoting and sustainingAgriculture business in Nigeria.
1.1. The status of agriculture as a key component of the Nigerian economy is not in
doubt.With a 40% contribution to the GDP and providing employment for
about 70% of the active population, agriculture require to be truly
entrenched as the bedrock for viable business entities for communities all
over Nigeria.
1.2. There is the urgent need to engender the sustainable Agricultural
development that will ensure not only National and household food
security and improve rural livelihoods but as huge hubs for massive
employment generation through the establishment of functional
clusters of agro- industries in every community that will produce high quality
products to compete and meet global demands.
1.3. The new focus of the transformation agenda of this administration on
promoting agriculture as a business, requires that we adopt innovative
approaches to getting this done as fast as possible leveraging on a structure
that already exist nationwide.
1.4. There is the need to be proactive to build platforms to prepare our farmers to
easily buy into the global ICT advantage for driving markets,and financial inter-
mediations through deliberate development of a national Agro business
networks with the small holders' farmers as the vehicle, the drivers and the
beneficiaries.
1.5. The proposal is suggesting that the states' Agricultural development projects
(ADPs) structure can be leverage on to deliver and oparationlise the CBNet
concepts as a quick win option for achieving the agriculture transformation
agenda objectives.
2.0.
2.1. It is important to note that poverty particularly rural poverty in Nigeria is a
reflection of our agrarian structure that is not properly institutionalised.The
bulk of the farmers in Nigeria are rural smallholder including women who
remain trapped in a cycle of poverty due to the poor financial performance of
their small farms business related to.
1.0. INTRODUCTION
THE STRUCTURE AND CHARACTER OF NIGERIAN
AGRICULTURE.

4. 2
2.1.1 - Their farms not reaching their full productivity potential.
2.1.2 - growing wrong mix of crops to fully exploit opportunities in the commodity
markets.
2.1.3- Inability to access and purchase the needed farm input required to maximize
the quantity and quality of yields.
2.1.4- Lack of knowledge of simple techniques for effectively boosting the
productivity of the farms.
2.1.5- Financial and market constraints inhibiting sector growth.
2.1.6- poor supply management system for intermediating the flow of information
and financial transactions among partners engaged in production,financing and
marketing of products.
2.2. Banks and Microfinance institutions have experimented with finance and farm
input loans and have experienced poor repayment rates and high transaction
costs.
2.3. Exporters andAgro-allied industrialists have ventured into small holder group
extension activity and out growers credit schemes with mixed results to
ensure reliable supplies of produce for their core business of export marketing
and raw material supplies.
2.4. Series of multilateral / donor supported intervention programmes have been
carried out with results that have remain largely unsustainable at the
expiration of the programme / fund periods.
2.5. Attempts have been made to promote and support small holder self – help
groups and cooperatives (for information sharing and produce aggregation)
and these have proven to be untenable vehicle for basic financial services such
as credit provision, payment distributor or savings mobilization as these are
usually hijacked by elites whose primary interests do not include investment in
farming as a business.
3. concept is intended to address the
establishment of functional farmers business institutions and Agrarian
Structures that will encourage the growth of real Agric business in
communities with participants that are well established in their home base
environments.
3.1. Be well structured community base vehicles required to drive and sustain all
the programmes / initiatives in the transformation agenda.
3.2 serve as incubators and platforms to accelerate and systematize the process of
creating successful enterprises by coordinating and providing them with
comprehensive and integrated range of support including incubator space
business support services and clustering and networking opportunities.It wills
generate steady flow of new businesses with above average jobs and wealth
creating potentials.
3.3 The main goal of the CBNet as an incubator is to develop and empower
community based agribusiness units all over Nigeria.These rural agribusiness
The community business Net (CBNet)
This CBNet forAgriculture will therefore:

5. 3
will not only be financially viable and free standing but will create new jobs
revitalize neighbourhoods, put into use and commercialize new technologies
and strengthen local and national economy within a very short time frame.The
emerging platforms are capable of sustaining the new gains taking advantage of
the huge potentials that abound in the agricultural sector.
4.
The ADPs system is well established in all the 36 states and FCT.The existing
structures which include zones, blocks and cells offices fit in well in this
concept for the purpose implementing and consolidating as fast as possible.
The ADPs are made up of highly qualified staff to effectively drive the CBNet
concept with minimal cost and capacity support.To operationalise the CBNet
concept the block offices will serve as CBNet centre with the village extension
agents functioning as CBNet facilitator/ agents/ clusters coordinators.
Each CBNet centre and staff will be equipped to effectively mobilize,organize
and provide training business advices, expert and technology support linkage
to sources of fiancé and market and develop business and farm clusters with
the farming communities.
Ø Each CBNet centre will provide a ready platform for banks/financial
institutions input dealers /manufacturers, industries/ processors commodity
dealers/ marketers and exporters as well as government agencies to market
their products,services and support activities for access by the target farming
communities. Therefore the CBNet will serve as a complete interface
platforms and meeting place for demand and supply activities.
See the CBNet concept diagram (structure & summery) on the centre spread
of this document
6.
The adoption of the CBNet concept as the vehicle for agricultural
transformation in Nigeria will enable the transformation agenda.
Ø Effectively focus rural agribusiness incubator mentoring and services mix.
Ø Take full cognizance of existing business environment and the agrarian
structure in Nigeria and consistently initiate and deliver solution packages to
grow agribusinesses.
Ø Consider the feasible/affordable funding strategies and long term sustainability
options in practice.
Ø Develop and entrench easily adaptable ownership and management
structures.
Ø Institutionalize measurable monitoring and appraisal indicators that will
promote visibility of efforts.
Ø Particularly for NIRSAL this will institutionalize a very reliable credit delivery
platform that will guarantee easy and early repayment for beneficiaries
because their investments are visible, accessible and measurable. All the
The States' Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs) as vendor organization
for CBNet
Outcomes

7. 6
professed goals of NIRSAL will be realized using this grass root based verifiable
vehicle.
Ø The CBNet centers will have full data and information of all farming activities
and farmers in the block.This will allow for every planning parameter to be
practically operated / applied.
7.0.
1. That for all the packages of the agricultural transformation agenda to be easily
operationalised in Nigeria a functional vehicle like CBNet is required.
2. That because there is an existing states ADPs structure it will be most cost
effective to leverage on theADPs to delivers and operationalise this vehicle.
3. That the CBNet option will create the needed platform to effectively engage
all stakeholders and key players - large scale buyers, processors, research
institutions input supplier,transporters,bankers and farmers - to establish the
needed linkage and network for mutually beneficial relationship to drive
agriculture business in Nigeria within a very short time.
4. That using the CBNet platform to create a supply management system for
intermediating the generation and flow of information and financial transaction
among partners engaged in production,financing and marketing of agricultural
produce will open and grow the agricultural sector to absorb our huge idle
labour hands in Nigeria into a growing profitable business.
5. That this CBNet concept can easily be implemented with relatively very small
financial outlay given robust but underutilised StatesADPs' structures.
8.0.
It is suggested and advocated that all stakeholders;
1. Consider and support the adoption of CBNet concept as the vehicle to
implement all agricultural transformation agenda packages in Nigeria to enable
communities to key in fast and develop existing agricultural potentials.
2. Initiate actions for the commencement of necessary processes to facilitate the
Nationwide adoption of this concept as a way of creating jobs and wealth and
initiate agribusiness to gainfully engage the youths immediately.
3. Mobilise funds to leverage on the States' ADPs structures to institutionalise
CBNets across communities all over Nigeria as a way of generating production
activities to build and sustain viable commodities value chains for small holders
and family farmers in Nigeria.
Note
In conclusion

8. 7
IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNITY BUSINESS NET (CBNet)
FOR AGRICULTURE CONCEPT IN THE FEDERAL CAPITAL
TERRITORY BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) occupies an area of about 8,000
Sq.Km(800,000 hectares). Out of this, 274,000 hectares are available for
agricultural activities, 270,000 hectares is supposed to be under Forest reserve
(most of these have been deforested) and 250,000 hectares earmarked for
developmentofcities,theremaining6,000hectaresaccountsforrocks,hillsand
rivers. The indices of the aforementioned statistics are that about 70% of the
landmassofFCTisreservedforagrariandevelopment.
It is estimated that less than 150,000 hectares of the available farmlands are
under cultivation. Most of these are in smallholdings scattered all over the
Territory without any planned pattern of development. The balance of about
180,000 hectares is lying fallow and poorly utilized. Recent surveys indicate that
thereareover160,000farmingfamiliesintheFCT.Thereareover90,000farmers
capturedintheGrowthenhancementscheme(GES)todate.
Abuja is therefore essentially an agricultural area and often regarded as one of
the country's food baskets. Its centrality in addition to the lush vegetation, good
weather,andexcellentsoilencourageslargescalefarmingofbothcashandfood
crops like yams, beans, rice, groundnuts, maize sorghum, millet, sesame
soybeans, as well as orchards and plantation crops. Equally, the area has high
potentialsforirrigation,livestockandfisheriesproduction.
The issue of organized agricultural production at the community level is a first
step towards effective involvement of the small farming families in organized
agro-business development in FCT. As part of this process there is the need to
consider the incorporation ofCommunitySupportedAgricultural projects in the
AgriculturalLanddevelopmentprogrammebeingimplementedsince2005.
The FCTADP was established in 1990 with just two zones.Today theADP has six
zones well structures to effectively cover the territory with over 120 village
extension cells, most with well-trained extension agents. The CBNet concept
implementationintheFCTisthroughtheADP.
i. Conduct of internal processes for staff and management of the
Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS) and ADP to
domesticate and cultivate ownership of the concept – (November /
Activities and timeline:

9. 8
December2013)
ii. Conductofseriesofsensitizationmeetingsandtrainingsforthefieldstaff
andlinkagetootherstakeholders–(January2014)
iii.Conduct of participatory community planning and community structures
developmentforextensionCellsandBlocks–(January/February2014)
iv. Community production / product inventory and participatory appraisals
to establish agreed areas of comparative advantages and community
preferences–(February2014)
v. Documentation and reports compilation, production and distribution for
st
activitiesiii&ivabove–(1 weekofMarch2014)
vi.Convening of all stakeholders workshop to draw up final implementation
rd
strategy / programme for FCT in 2014 as a take-off year – (3 week of
March2014)

10. Special Brand
YABA RICE
Yaba Rice
Y BA A RICE
High Quality Grain
Yaba Rural Cooperative FoundationCFYABA,Abaji Area Council,Abuja, FCT
07057258117, 07061954465, 07014050766
Tel: 08050424812,
Produced by
E-mail: yabaruralcooperativefoundation@yahoo.com
yabagari@gmail.com

11. 08023644646 08061304040
@rtmaster 2013