Pineapples, Snails and more in Akwa Ibom State

SIFE, AKADEP Aid Rural Agriculture

2008-04-26T08:29:00.001-07:00

This month, Ikpe Annang community received the blessings of the University of Uyo's Students In Free Enterprise (UNIUYO SIFE) in collaboration with Akwa Ibom Agricultural Development Programme (AKADEP) courtesy of Akwamfon Sustainable Agriculture and Community Education Initiative (ASACEI). It was a well attended seminar with men, women and the youth, farming Cooperative Society and Youth Association from the village and 5 surrounding villages in attendance. The theme of the seminar was Agriculture as a Business. Experts on crop and animal production from AKADEP were the resource persons who spoke at the seminar, while SIFE Academic Advisor moderated. The news is that for us that was the first time government came to our village for such a programme. The seminar was very revealing and rewarding to both ASACEI farm and the community at last. Farmers were taught how to profit withal thru good farm practices like timeliness of operations, use of improved varieties of stocks, combination of organic and inorganic manures to get the best result, type of crops to plant in tandem with market demand to maximize profit, and advantages of organic manures (OM) over inorganic fertilizers (IOF). According to the speaker, while IOF releases nutrients to the crops at once, OM does it gradually and also improves the soil structure with its lasting effect on the soil. On animal husbandry, farmers were introduced to keeping of grass gutter which we describe as bush meat, and other cash yielding animals, and how best to rear and make them environmentally friendly. For us in ASACEI business it was open research as what we would spend much money for and travel long distances to get were brought to our door step. For example, Akwamfon Sustainable Community Association (ASCA) was advised to register with AKADEP who would link ASACEI farm to major markets. We were also informed that there is soil lime to control soil acidity and how we can procure it. Other useful advice include, how to order for improved varieties and high yielding stocks, as well as advice on dry season farming of fluted pumpkins and vegetable crops generally scarce and always very costly in dry season. The SIFE AKADEP team was able to contend with the many brainstorming and thought provoking questions they fielded from the farmers. However they had to take some questions home with a promise that they would be handled by experts in areas other than theirs.
In his welcome address, the ASACEI Project Manager requested that an Extension Agent be posted by AKADEP to reside in the village to serve the community and that government should not only procure IOF and sell to the farmers at low prices but should make effort to advise farmers against indiscriminate use of chemicals whose side effect can kill the soil rather. In its place he demanded government to procure poultry droppings and sell to farmers to cushion the effect of IOF on the soil. We were surprised at the Officer's reply that there was an Extension Agent already posted to serve our community. Suprised because we have not seen such person. We were to be told who he was so that he be made to serve us. Apart from helping farmers in their farms, the Agents are to collect problems from farmers to AKADEP and bring solutions from it to farmers. SIFE requested interested farmers to register the types of crops and animals stocks they needed for it to procure improved varieties for them. For SIFE, it was time for action and no more preaching, hence, on procurement of stocks, they would bring back AKADEP to demonstrate to farmers how to plant crops and keep livestock of farmers' choice the best way. Is there any success story or have participants learnt any lesson from the seminar? For answers to these questions and more, don’t miss subsequent blogs.

Nursery Practice on Garden Egg and Pepper

2008-04-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

Bed in the making

One of the cultural practices adopted by the farmer to get the best out of his greatest asset - the soil, - is planting operations. These are the farming activities related to the actual sowing of crops. Nursery practice is one of such activities. This measure is adopted where certain crops like garden egg and pepper seeds are not always planted directly in the field but has to be ‘incubated’ before being pricked to the field where it will produce and complete its life span.
We launched this year farming operations with the nursery practice to raise garden egg and pepper. In order to do this, site selection was first done. Fertile soil is always needed for this and was so selected. This is followed by pecking of beds and bed making. The soil on the floor of the bed is mixed with rich poultry droppings. Afterward, both the garden egg and pepper are broadcasted on the bed to intercrop. They are then covered with light soil. This is to prevent rodents from picking the seeds and facilitate germination. The planting depth is about 1cm and planting distance is uneven. Seed rate is also not definite. The day you sow the seeds is the day they emerge from the soil that is about 7 days. We sowed 0.2Kg seeds of Garden Egg and 0.1Kg of Pepper seeds on Tuesday, the 11th March 2008 and they emerge (germinate) on Tuesday, March the 18th 2008. The seedlings are watered as need arises. Poultry manure is also added if need be. Mulching is done just after sowing the seeds using palm fronts. This is followed by a shade, using the same palm fronts. This is done when the seedlings emerge.
When the seedlings are mature enough to withstand direct sunshine, the shade is removed.
The seedlings remain there until they are transplanted. We plan to transplant ours on the first week of May when enough rains shall have come. Transplanting the seedlings will be published in May. Watch out....

VINTAGE Cum HARVEST

2008-02-28T10:49:00.000-08:00

Dry Season and light vegetation

Since soil is the greatest asset of the farmer, he adopts a number of measures to get the best out of it. These include pre-planting, planting and post-planting operations. As per certain crops, the three are running concurrently now that the first rain to mark the beginning of a new farming season is being expected.
Yam is being planted; cassava is being harvested while site selection and clearing of farmlands are being done at the same time. Thus vintage follows harvest and vice versa. In certain crops like oil palm, harvest is done all year round as it has no fixed season for it. By the end of the month we plan to start Nursery Practices to raise Garden Eggs and Pepper seedlings for transplanting when the rain comes. Site Selection has already been done. Meanwhile arrangement has been concluded to start clearing now that the bush is dry due to harmattan. Clearing is better in dry seasons, when the vegetation is light and the bush easily accessible.

It has been observed that Maize planted just after the first rain sells high due to high in demand at that time when very few farmers took the risk to plant just after the first rain. The crop performance and yield are also better because of availability of more plant nutrients, since there was not much leaching during the preceding dry season. Cassava also thrive better too if planted just after the first rain. But if after the first rain the dry season resumes, the cassava cuttings may fail to germinate while maize that might have managed to germinate would wither. This is why many farmers would not take the risk. At times if you don’t take the risk, you take the other risk of being overtaken by full swing rainy season, beginning from the first rain. So at first rain farmers are always in a dilemma. Some Christians would opine to the Scripture that says he who observes the weather would not plant. Even the Scripture encourages risk taking in order to succeed in farming enterprise.

Research and Renovation

2008-02-23T07:15:00.000-08:00

Psychologically, man is the product of his heredity and environment. Hence a man in the technical society should be conscious of environmental friendliness. This may be far fetched without research and renovation. This is why ASACEI project cannot do without research in order to effect a change on the community and its ambience.
One of the outstanding problems facing farming in this part of the world is pest and disease infestation and infection. Women would sprinkle wood ash from the kitchen on affected crops in a bit to check this. We are going to exploit and revive this traditional method to see if we can find a good alternative to spraying of chemical insecticide with its attendant adverse effect on the environment.
Beetles, caterpillars and wasps, which now defied the chemical insecticides, attacked our Garden Eggs. Another serious pest that particularly hinders late planting of maize is termite. We are therefore appealing to other African countries to share with us any biological ways of controlling these pests. It is asserted that Vertiver grass can check termite attack. Be that as it may, it is feared that the grass can, on the other hand, constitute weed if planted with crops.
With the successes being recorded in our research so far, ASACEI Project is the more promising. Hitherto rural farmers did not see research as something to grasp but the success being recorded these days through research would spur many to research and good practice in Agriculture with resultant increase in yield to maximize profits. For instance, I have just discovered how fluted pumpkin that hitherto would bear at most two pods per stand can bear up to 5 pods. This is achieved through pollination by a farmer, who by hand picking, simply transfers the pollen grains on the anther to the stigma of the crop. This method was used to have the multiple fruiting shown in this blog. We are still experimenting to see if as many fruits as bud can blossom without falling off, leaving one survivor, as it used to be.
Since no one can fulfill his destiny alone, and whereas we’re only just beginning to appreciate Agric as a business and so are babes in the deal, we need to share and learn from the experience of others for us to grow from strength to strength.
Consequent upon this, we appeal to readers of this blog in and outside the Teach A Man To Fish family, who have all that it takes for us to solve our problems and remain in business, to share their technology, research and experience with us. We should appreciate such gesture.

Organic Manures Cum Composting

2007-12-18T12:49:00.000-08:00

Compost walls under consruction

Organic manures are plants and animal residues added to the soil by the farmer to maintain soil fertility. In our locality we make three types of these. They are Compost, Farmyard or Animal and Green manures.
I got the students involved in making the compost manure. We need refuse, vegetable materials, animal manure, wood ash and top soil as compost materials. These are kept in layers in 4 compost stacks. The first layer is refuse or old compost, followed by vegetable materials which the students provide. Third layer is animal manure (Goat and poultry droppings). Then wood ash, followed by top soil in that order. These processes are repeated until the required height of 1.2 metres is reached, except that the first layer made of refuse is only made once and for all. The finishing layer is made up of dry leaves.

Stack walls are necessary to keep the material intact. Water is also sprinkled to the compost. The materials are let to rot in stacks for 3 or 4 weeks, after which the first turning is done. The second turning takes place after another 3 or 4 weeks. If the compost is not used immediately, it is covered with polythene to protect it from sun and rain.

Pits and stacks are the 2 methods of composting. We prefer the stack method. The wood ash and animal waste added to the compost is referred to as starter because they accelerate decomposition of the compost by introducing bacteria and other organisms that help in the decay of the materials. In order to test decomposition, a stick described as tester is pushed into the centre of the stack. After a few days the stick is pulled out and the end buried in the compost felt. When it is hot, it shows bacterial activities, indicating that decomposition is going on. If the end of the tester is not hot, it means no decomposition and the compost is rebuilt.

Merits of compost include nutrient supply to the soil, improving soil structure and water holding capacity. Others are reduction of erosion and leaching, cheap, food provision to the soil and prevention of extreme of pH in the top soil. Its out standing disadvantage is that it is difficult to make for large scale farming. The relative end product of organic matter decomposition of the manure added to the soil is humus which provides a good porosity and water holding capacity of the soil. Loamy soil is the result of this and it is the best for production of most crops.

I asked the students to bring wood ash, animal waste and vegetable materials from home to make the compost. On the other hand, top soil is obtained from the compost site. We made the compost on the 3^rd December 2007 and it is due for first turning on the 31^st December 2007. The second turning comes up on the 29^th January 2008, on a 4-weekly basis. Since we shall not be using the compost immediately, it would be preserved for the appropriate time to use.

Land Tenure System and Availability of Land

2007-11-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

Land unavailability remains one problem facing agricultural practice in my community. This is occasioned by Land Tenure System practised in the area.
Land tenure is the system of land ownership by individual and community either for temporary or permanent use. In Nigeria, rights to use of land can be acquired through community, individual or Act of parliament. There is this Land Degree Act of 1978 saying that every land in Nigeria belongs to government. Nevertheless, individuals and communities still claim ownership over the land and so lease, rent or sell the land, while government give certificate of occupancy to land users, mostly in urban centres.
The various types of land tenure systems include Tenant at Government Will. Others are Community, Individual, Inheritance, Leasehold, Gift, Rent and Freehold tenure systems. All except Tenant at Government Will and Community Tenure System are being practised in my community.
For the ASACEI project we are, so far, able to acquire land by Leasehold and Renting.
In Leasehold system the lessee pays a refundable sum of money to the lessor (Land lord), to use the land until the lessor refunds the money to the lessee. This does not give room for land development and permanent cropping as the lessor can get back the land anytime he likes. Some lessors would even get it back just to frustrate your progress. In the case of Rent Tenure, you pay to use the land for only one planting season of annual crops. As in the case of Leasehold you cannot plan well or develop the land. Purchase or Freehold Tenure is the best option for our ASACEI project, but land is appreciating in Nigeria so much that to buy one Hectare of land you need up to thirty thousand US Dollars. For one to get one hectare of land at a stretch in my community is impossible due to land fragmentation as every farmland is an inheritance from past generations. Continuous fragmentation of land to share to the heirs of the dead is reducing the size of these plots of land to sizes too small for large scale farming.
These problems cannot throw us out of business, as we are going to concentrate on high yielding annual and biennial crops come next planting season using the fragmented land we leased or rented.
Planting of Pineapple has commenced. Many farmers prefer Pineapple production nowadays because most of our land that were not good for other crops are discovered to be good for Pineapple. Hence Pineapple suckers sell ten to twenty Naira each. We start with what we can afford to multiply to the budgeted number. Demand for Pineapple is expected to increase and profit maximised as a Cooperative Society in the village is exploring the possibility of introducing dried pineapple chips into the market. This is going to be entirely new to our local and national markets. Before now Pineapple was produced mainly for eating as fresh fruits.

Twins Bearing Pineapple

2007-10-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

In times past planting of pineapple in our community was not seen as a business, but in recent years many farmers started to plant the crop for sale. In my community Pineapple is now being reckoned as one of the cash crops in Nigeria. ASACEI is warming up to join the race with a difference, perhaps.

Areas to research and exploit to stand out in Pineapple production are unfolding as business progresses. The picture above is self explanatory, but the technology behind it is inexplicable as it is purely a rare natural occurrence. Traditionally we are used to one fruit per Pineapple stand, until nature sprang this surprise of having a twins Pineapple fruits on a parent. My attention was drawn to this in his farm by our Production Manager who has been in the Pineapple business for sometime now. This calls for research! Who is going to bail the cat? Nature has just posed this challenge to us, and we wish to rise to the occasion, though we lack the necessary fallibilities to embark on such research as to know why and how in order to implement it in our project. We now know it could be so but are asking, “How can it be?” We throw this challenge open to Biologist, Agriculturists, and researchers, to come to our aid to harness this natural phenomenon to a scientific concept to be practised by man. For us it will be a good way of boosting production to maximize profit, which is the vision of our farming enterprise.

Another side attraction is the number of suckers on one of the fruits. Look closely and you will see that it is up to six suckers. If planted, would the suckers behave like their parent? We ought to find out. This suggests multiplication of suckers. Observe other suckers on the parent Pineapple. Having observed and noticed all this happening, if we can make them happen, we can control events in the business and economic environments, for our own good. If you can answer the “why and how” come the twins Pineapple fruits, please we need your assistance. We wish to move from either worshipping what is inexplicable or ignoring it, to researching and exploiting its potential, which pays off.

It could be recalled that through research, we have found out how to prompt Pineapple to fruit earlier and in uniform. We have negotiated for this technology from other farmers who got the idea before, as they cannot share the experience free of charge. After all, there is no free launch, they say.

Changing Village Mentality

2007-09-29T08:12:00.000-07:00

Learning to measure mass on a weighing scale

With the mentality of carting away the nation's resources cutting across political, religious and business classes, teaching genuine business and financial models is a big project on its own. Corrupt practices permeates the fabric of many uncultured Nigerians and, as a form of energy, manifest itself in different forms. If you happen to do business with such uncultured practitioners, you must purge the filth from them in order to fill them with the delicacy. This is a task that must be done in and around our village to pave way for a smooth and successful running of the Akwamfon Sustainable Agriculture and Community Education initiative (ASACEI). As a solution, the people need another phase of education than the traditional. With the help of this farming project, we believe we are equal to the task anyway. We hope to change any evil status quo and leave a good legacy in place.

The students’ long vacation has come and gone but not much was done as expected due to too much rainfall in August and the first two weeks of September. Nevertheless the students were engaged in the harvest, measuring and selling of Garden Eggs that thrived well during the heavy rainfall. Some students went on market survey for the fruits. On the other hand, we continued treating them to our Stop Back Literacy project.

Now that the rains are subsiding, the students are going to be engaged in composting and pineapple planting before dry season sets in. Meanwhile dry season farming on certain crops is being researched. The result of the research by an undergraduate on the possibility of planting maize thrice a year was successful. Everything being equal, we now know that maize can be planted and harvested three times a year. Termite attack was observed during the period and the way out found. How to boost time of Pineapple’s fruiting is also discovered through experiment. This is being used to predict planting and harvest time to sell the products in off-season to maximize profit.

Bundles of fluted pumpkin leaves for sale

CASE STUDY

2007-08-30T06:10:00.000-07:00

Of course, we all know it is the sick that seeks the Physician. This is why I always expose our problems to the world in search for and in a bid to find solutions to them. The outcome of the Teach A Man To Fish (TAMTF) grant is to support the Ikpe Udok Rural Education project. Some may be skeptic about their gesture, thinking we may not be sincere or so, since Nigerians are erroneously believed to be all corrupt. Remembering the way a character in one of the Literature texts I read in my Secondary School years ago put it, he said, “Africa is corrupt through and through”, though this is nothing but a fallacy. This case study is going to portray just a little bit of the true educational situation in my community and why ASCA initiated and launched the educational project which now leads it into farming as a business in order to generate enough funds for the project, and of course, why it entered the Schools for Rural Entrepreneurs grant competition of TAMTF and won it by divine providence. Perhaps, it is a message to the skeptics and doubters. You are welcome on board.

As mentioned in my previous outing, students are on long vacation and Ikpe Udok Extra-mural Class (EMC) is on course as usual, but with a difference in course content. In times like this, we used to make up for the loss grounds in the various subjects they study in School, but having observed and noticed things happening in the educational environments of our children and the attendant negative effects on them, ASCA decided to launch what we call, “Stop Back Literacy (SBL)”, initiated by the youth wing of the Association. It has been observed with dismay that majority of students at all levels of education in the community cannot read and write while in school and thereafter. Because of this, they are missing out in the scheme of things, since English Language is our Lingua franca. We want to go back to the drawing board of literacy to see where we derailed and make up for the loss so that our youth can compete favourably with their contemporaries in quiz competitions, debates, essay writing/competitions, writing of minutes, formal and informal letters, book keeping and in all walks of life. This they can do, only after they might have been able to place letters to form words, and combine words to make sentences. For instance, my little nephew who has been benefiting from the extramural class right from when he was in Primary School has now formed the culture of reading and writing, hence, in his Junior Secondary School, Year 2 (JSS2) he started with writing a drama book entitled “Godly Advice Provides Best Solution.” This is the kind of outcomes the Stop Back Literacy seeks to promote, encourage and produce. Sponsors and volunteers are therefore needed.

Here comes the Case Study proper. It was on Saturday, the 18th August 2007, a Senior Secondary School, Year 1 (SSS1) student, who has passed her promotion examinations and promoted to SSS2 to begin this September, came to me. Why we were interacting, on the Stop Back Literacy, she said to me, “Sir, I don’t know how to write application”. I responded, “Were you not taught how to write formal letter?”, “Yes, our teacher only taught us types of letter writing, but didn’t show us how to write.” She replied. I then excused myself to take their English reader to see if the topic was there and I found one. Though I’m not an English teacher, yet with my sense of English language and experience in writing, I drilled her to the best of my ability on how to write application for different purposes. I opened the text they used in SSS1, Intensive English for Senior Secondary Schools, pages 1 to 65, where I showed her example of a formal letter/application. She was introduced to the various parts of the letter as set in the example namely, writer’s address, date, receiver’s designation/address, official salutation, title/ body of letter, complimentary close, and writer’s signature/full name. I showed and explained to her a type of such letter in page 83 after which I gave her home work which was for her to use her words, follow the same example I showed her and write a similar letter, which she did. I sat with her, read through her letter and made simple corrections but told her that I would refer her letter to an English expert to mark it, pointing out her mistakes and giving the corrections she would take. The girl is apt at picking up new tasks.

Well-to-do parents pay for their wards to be taught at home or in organised extra-mural classes in town/villages, but the rural children do not enjoy such luxury. There is this Primary School pupil that has been hawking “Akara” (made from black-eye beans) for her grand mother in the village. Last week I invited her to the extra-mural classes, but she said she would not come. When I asked her why, she sincerely confessed that she would not have money to pay. I encouraged her to come, that we do not charge fees and it is free. There are many others like that who cannot afford commercial extra-mural classes but would be willing to learn the more.
This case study unravels the deed that vindicates our wisdom of organising such classes for the students, and introducing the Stop Back Literacy to the community, not presuming that the students go to (formal) School. On the other hand, it vindicates the wisdom of TAMTF giving ASCA the grant with a view to raising funds to support the Ikpe Udok Rural Education project which is, of course, capital intensive. Bravo, Teach A Man To Fish!

So far three government employed teachers from the community have offered to volunteer their services to the Stop Back Literacy. This is grossly inadequate considering the work load on ground. The inaugural class of the SBL was for stock taking to develop course contents of the project. The problems and short comings of each student in the areas of reading and writing were diagnosed by interviewing them. This was quite successful because the five factors of learning (FFL) namely, Democracy, Willingness, Readiness, Usefulness and Learning by doing were put across to them. This took away shyness, timidity and shame from them so they opened up very well. The problems identified ranged from spelling, punctuation, pronunciation, paragraphing, reading speed to syllables and reading competence etc. This distinguishes ours from the schools the students attend who do not bother to take such pain. We intend to take study group approach and it is going to be student centred. The FFL would be harnessed to create a good teaching/learning atmosphere and strengthen student-teacher rapport as well as establishing attitudinal equilibrium between the different classes of intelligence.

Individualisation teaching method would pay off here but for lack of enough teachers to handle the different classes of intelligence and all of that. As Jesus the Christ observed and admonished, the field is ripe but the reapers are few. So we are praying for public spirited individuals and organisations, from home and abroad to send us reapers, be it in cash or in kind. We need to employ experts to handle the various problems of the students but we cannot afford it. For the time being, since what is desirable is not affordable, what is affordable becomes desirable.
We shall take time out to teach Farming as a business and expose the students to good farm practices in this second planting season. The UNIUYO SIFE Bankruptcy Game (to enhance business/financial acumen) and SDN Be a Life Model project (for Ethics and character building), will equally be touched on as much as time permits during the EMC.

Now, Farm News! So far the students on vacation has helped in transplanting pepper seedlings to one plot and second planting of maize on three plots of land. Others got involved in the harvest of garden eggs and maize and fluted pumpkin leaves. They also helped in transporting the produce on wheelbarrow and bicycle and in preparing them for sale. The students are billed to be involved in weeding, fencing, composting, pineapple planting and spraying of insecticides too, but adverse weather is not helping matters. It has been raining from the first week of August till this month ending. Clearing, planting, application of manure, weeding and other activities are seriously hindered this second planting season.

Nevertheless, the project is on course. Meanwhile the first harvest and sale of garden eggs has been done. The students also learnt the spot method of fertilizer/manure application on the garden egg/pepper plots. Farm Office and some farm tools are being procured e.g. Scale. Use of scale to measure farm produce harvested and sold is quite a new experience here in the rural setting.
The first garden egg fruits harvested weighed 3 Kg, The second and third carried 7 Kg and 26.5 Kg respectively. That way harvest will increase into bags. Of course, increase in harvest is directly proportional to sales.

THE JOURNEY SO FAR

2007-07-31T12:32:00.000-07:00

So far so good, we have come this far! Four months of farming as a business has been quite a good time, practising Agriculture, the divinely ordained occupation. One of the wonders of nature is the mechanism that converts soil nutrients to food stuff man uses.

So far 179 students have benefited from the project by getting involved in either pre-planting, planting and post-planting operations, that is from sowing to reaping of certain crops like maize. Pre-planting operations include site selection, clearing, burning if necessary, stumping/packing, plotting, tilling, and ridging. Though application of manure comes under post-planting operations in most crops, in Garden Egg and Pepper, manure application is done first before planting. This is a peculiar situation. Planting operations refer to all operations related to actual planting of crops. These include planting distance/spacing, seed rate, sowing depth, supplying, thinning, nursery practice, planting date and planting methods. On the other hand, Post-planting operations are weeding, application of manures, watering, mulching, pruning/trimming, staking, and harvesting and farm level processing. Whether early or late planting the same operations have to be carried out.

Sexual and asexual propagation are use. Maize, Fluted Pumpkin, Garden Egg and Pepper are propagated sexually while cassava is propagated by cutting method of asexual propagation.
Harvesting of early maize has just been concluded. The sizes of maize produced ranged from big cobs to medium and small. There was high demand for the big cobs. Of course, while the big sold at the rate of 9 cobs for one hundred naira, the medium and small sizes were sold at the rate of 10 and 11 cobs respectively for the same amount. Our problem and prospect in this regard is how to produce the big size cobs which sell faster than the others. We are going to acquire improved variety of maize from a neigbouring State. An organisation known as Idea Builders which works in conjunction with International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has been contacted for that purpose and we intend to use the improved variety to plant in subsequent seasons.

Saturday’s market was better to sell the produce than other days. We targeted three markets, one urban market, one rural market and on-the-farm site market. Highest demand and best sales were recorded in the urban market located 9 Kilos from the farm.

Unlike when we first started, we now have customers to buy Poultry droppings from for our use. We have some bags of it now in stock to start the second planting with and have booked for more against next year, since it is always very scarce and costly due to high demand during early planting seasons when every body is planting. It sells at two hundred and fifty naira (N250.00) for one bag of 25Kg poultry feed. This is more economical than one thousand two hundred naira (N1200.00) for one bag of natural fertilizer being produced by a local industry and much more economical than three thousand five hundred naira (N3500.00) for one bag of 50Kg inorganic NPK fertilizers. The advantage of this over the chemically formulated fertilizers is that it builds the soil structure and has a long lasting effect on the soil. If a good quality of poultry droppings is applied it can support Continuous Cropping for two consecutive years and it is all purpose. The project will hopefully expand in future to include Poultry Farming aimed at producing the best droppings for use. So far it has proved to be the best for restoring and increasing soil fertility. Experiment has shown that soil that hitherto was not fertile enough for cropping is reclaimed for cropping by just applying the poultry droppings. The Natural Fertilizer also has an advantage over the chemical fertilizer in that Soil Acidity Neutralizer is added to it by the manufacturers. Due to lack of adequate equipment the fertilizer is not produced in large quantities. Two other technologies asserted to work well in soil reclamation are known but yet to be implemented in this project. These involve using local organic wastes and a certain grass as mulch. I am experimenting on two others whose observations and results I will share with you at the end of the tests. Of course, Agriculture is a science because it is based on observation and experiment.

Second planting season begins this July with selection of sites, clearing and tilling though some of our Akwamfon Partnership for Entrepreneurship Scheme (APES) farmers have already planted maize this month. We have concluded arrangement to embark on maize production during the season, using poultry droppings in a bid to prepare the same soil for early mixed cropping of maize and cassava come next year. Planting of Pineapple is equally planned for though suckers are very scarce. But Idea Builders is ready to train us on how to multiply the suckers for planting. This implies that we start with what is available to multiply to the required number. For us, this is a welcome development. We can multiply enough for sale to other farmers.

Students long vacation begins first week of August and will last for at least 6 weeks. This coincides with the second planting season. There is going to be effective involvement of students in the project in the second planting and compost making apart from the usual Extramural Classes our Ikpe Udok Rural Education project offers. It promises to be quite a busy vacation.

PROGRESS AND REPLICATION

2007-06-28T09:01:00.000-07:00

As Akwamfon Sustainable Agriculture and Community Education Initiative (ASACEI) gathers momentum in the rural community, replication of the project is on course. Soon after Udeme Ukpong, one of Akwamfon’s Patrons, was informed of ASACEI and the Teach A Man To Fish grant, he and his group also decided to offer micro finance to our rural farmers, thus birthing a new initiative tagged Akwamfon Partnership for Entrepreneurship Scheme. 'APES' for short. The first batch of 5 beneficiaries have received the micro credits to start operations in July 2007. Their productions include Pineapple, Maize, Cassava, Garden Egg/Pepper and rabbits. Three of the farmers are youths and one of them is a University undergraduate. Advert is currently on to recruit second batch of farmers against August 2007 late planting season. We hope to increase further the number of farmers in future if we get more support for the new scheme. This is first of its kind in the history of the community.
Another micro credit scheme is in the offing, this time from African Servitors Foundation. According to the President of the Foundation, the Scheme is for members of the public who care to join them. The ASACEI Project Manager attended a recently organised Seminar by the Foundation. Papers presented at the seminar were “How To Develop And Market Your Talent” and “How To Start And Develop Your Business For Profit”. In general the group preaches the gospel of African emancipation from economic backwardness.
The information gathered at the Seminar was shared to the APES farmers by ACACEI Project Manager who doubles as APES Project Manager. This, the Manager did at a Workshop organised last week for APES farmers and others. At the Workshop, the President of University of Uyo’s Student In Free Enterprise (UNIUYO SIFE), talked on The Character and Perseverance of Sustainable Entrepreneurship. Highlights of his lecture were, risk taking in business, efficiency, avoidance of procrastination etc. The UNIUYO SIFE President pointed out that what people take as hard work is accumulation of easy things that should have been done last week. For him what we see as hard work is laziness. The SIFE student leader defined hard work as doing the right thing, at the right time in the right moment. “Success comes to the man who thought of doing today what others get to do tomorrow”, he explained. The UNIUYO SIFE President had announced that UNIUYO SIFE’s Bankruptcy Game, is being produced in electronic form while the hard form is already on sale for 400 Naira. With all this and more, it is hoped that students and community farmers are being equipped for good practice of Agriculture as a business.
Traditionally maize, in this community, is planted once a year. Second planting is new to many members of the community and not many a rural farmer imbibes the idea. Nevertheless one of APES beneficiaries (the University student farmer aforementioned) is experimenting on planting maize three times a year. This may be feasible because of favourable weather condition prevailing now in the area and the fact that certain varieties of maize do mature in 60 days. When I visited her farm on 24th June 2007, one set of her second planting maize was 2 weeks old, another 1 week and the other 3 days (yet to emerge). Harvest is expected in August ending when she hopes to start the 3rd round planting. Guess what, if she succeeds? That, of course, is student in free enterprise.
In the ASACEI farm, pumpkins and maize are being harvested and we are embarking on second maize planting come August. Note that produce from late planting season sells at higher value than early planted maize and are free from market glut. We also dovetail into Garden Egg/Pepper planting. The situation is “vintage follows harvest”. That is, while certain crops are being harvested, others are being planted and vice versa. The implication of this is availability of food all the year round and wastage reduction in the absence of adequate storage facilities.
Our problems and prospects are feasibility studies of all aspects of operations, soil test/analysis to produce soil series and crop combinations as well as procurement of high yielding crops/livestock for our teaming/student farmers and to mentor them on good practice for bumper harvest and maximum profits as well as ingenuity and business acumen for sustainability and financial independence.

Agriculture as a Business, and Bankruptcy Game of UNIUYO SIFE

2007-05-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

It could be recalled that in my first diary I mentioned that ASACEI is meant to change the existing status quo for economic emancipation in the rural area of Ikpe Udok and beyond. This is being matched with actions. On the 28th April 2007, a one day Akwamfon Youth Vacation Programme was organised in the village by Akwamfon Sustainable Community Association (ASCA). A cross section of the youths from far and near even from the urban centre of Ikot Ekpene under the auspices of Youth Development Corps of Nigeria (YDCN), led by Professor Godwin Essien, the Director General of the Corp, came and joined with the rural youths to learn Agriculture as a business. Of course, YDCN, a youth arm of the Open University College of Christian Missions (UCCM), was established in response to the need to arrest youth restiveness in our society via industrial skills acquisition and paramilitary training to occupy them and instil discipline in the youths.

Acquisition of the abundant agricultural skills would boost their morale in this regard. In the quiz competition to evaluate the activities of ASACEI so far, especially to see how far the students have learnt the skills of planting crops like Maize, Cassava and Fluted Pumpkin, one Miss Ndukeobong Dickson of the YDCN was the Highest Point Scorer followed by Miss Nsidibe Etim Akpan from the village, herself a student of a rural Girls’ Secondary Grammar School in the area.
In his introduction of Agriculture as a business to the rural dwellers, the ASACEI Project Manager, Mr Eseme Udoekong, defined Agriculture as a science, an art and a business of producing crops and animals for man's use. For him, Agriculture is a science, because it is a systematic body of knowledge based on observation and experiment; an art because it involves beauty, and a business since it entails profit.
Hitherto, the rural peasant farmers were not used to record keeping of their farm. They were taught at the event why they should keep farm records and how to keep such records like Farm Diary, Inventory and Farm Account and how to calculate loss or gain among other things beyond the scope of this diary. Those under school age, students from all levels of education, and adults from the community attended the programme.
On May 17th 2007, another history was made in the community via ASACEI project, when the Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) of the University of Uyo, Capital City of Akwa Ibom State, took the village by surprise. Thirty of them, led by their Faculty Advisor, Mr Essien Akpan Uko, arrived the village to assist the ASACEI Project Management Team to open a snail bank in the village. Snail Bank because from their prospective farmers will get their stocks to replicate the business at their ends. ASACEI goes into snail production for food and profit. Snail is rich in calcium and other nutrients needed by the body. It is a kind of meat every home can easily afford.
What surprised the village most was the servant leadership exhibited by the University Lecturer, Mr. Akpan Uko who doubled as the UNIUYO SIFE Advisor. The University don showed that being a head is a function to set a pace for others to follow and not a superiority, to lord over and boss others around. He prepared the floor of the pen, dug the ground and loaded head pan with earth for his students to carry to make the pen. That done, he picked a hammer and took nails to make the cover of the pen with the help of his students. He was soaked with sweat under the hot sun instead of enjoying the comfort of his air conditioned room in the University Office. You wouldn’t know he was a lecturer if you were not told. This was quite unprecedented. Everybody was challenged. It was a better experience and we learnt our lessons anyway.
No wonder the village youths don’t allow me to rest since then. They say all of them would make sure they start snail farm. I would come home to meet a number of them waiting for me to consult. This one says, “I am starting the snail business right away”, the other says, “Am set for Rabbit keeping SIFE told us about, how I can get the stock?” I would pick up my phone; call the SIFE President, Mr Caleb, saying, “Caleb, you have set the village ablaze with your gospel of entrepreneurship.” Caleb would respond, “Let it burn, that ‘s what we want”, while promising to come back to the village to stock more snails and source for rabbits for those interested in that enterprise to start with.
That way the youths are being motivated to consider farming as a business and the adults are being changed from the traditional subsistence agriculture to agriculture as a lucrative business. The “Bankruptcy Game” designed by the UNIUYO SIFE and taught to members of the community with a package of the Bankruptcy Game donated to ASCA graced it all. The Game taught us how to think enterprising while being educated. How to make money, save money and invest money, get capital, buy land, receive loans, and how to make profits and avoid Bankruptcy in business. What a creative work of the intellectuals! You can only imagine if you don’t play the Bankruptcy Game of the UNIUYO SIFE. Ikpe Udok community is not only privileged to have SIFE in their midst, but blessed with the SIFE Entrepreneurship Community selfless Services at the instance of Akwamfon Sustainable Community Association that works in partnership with SIFE to combat poverty and underdevelopment in the area via ASACEI.
In the field of ASACEI farm, one girl volunteered and led the other man in weeding the farm and applying manures to the crops, for them to do well. The other woman with another girl engaged in planting of fluted pumpkins before it’s too late to do so. We plant, God sends the rain, the rain waters the field, and the crops absorb the moisture, making them to blossom. In turn, the crops respond to us, by yielding their produce and we get back to God, by singing praises, for bumper harvest, to fill our barns, toward food sufficiency and financial independence.

The Vision and Provision

2007-04-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

Akwamfon Sustainable Community Association (ASCA) has a vision which is, Agriculture to alleviate poverty and Education to enhance development for the rural community of Ikpe Udok in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria that has been neglected by all tiers of government and dumped in abject poverty amidst plenty. Having observed the disadvantaged economic and educational states of the people, something needed to be done to control the situation. Against the philosophical background that they that make things happen can control events in their environments, the Akwamfon Sustainable Agriculture and Community Education Initiative (ASACEI) was initiated.
Teach A Man To Fish (TAMTF) with its “Schools for Rural Entrepreneurs” grant came to us as a provision to our vision in order to actualise the vision. The project mission statement is “Promoting sustainable agricultural practices as a means of providing entrepreneurial education to our people.” Of course, vision actualised is mission accomplished. In this opening Diary, this prelude is necessary to give you a fair knowledge of who we are, where we were and where this project is expected to take us to. The TAMTF award funds are to help us progress toward commercial production cum education of students in vegetables, Pineapple, Maize, Cassava and Snail production plus compost making. Hitherto the production of that agric products/produce has been at subsistent level. Even in Schools, students have not been educated to take Agriculture as a business. If anything, they see it as a subject students have to learn, take examination in, get certificate and forget about it, and so continue to remain at the consuming end of Agric products, while abandoning the production to the ignorant/old parents. Thus ASACEI seeks to move the youths from this irresponsible mind set and train these future leaders to apply the knowledge they acquired in School in the practice of Agriculture as a business. In every planting season, as it is now, every man and woman goes to one’s farm to plant crops of one’s choice and they do it in the traditional way. But at the end of the day, the output does not even feed the immediate family, not to talk of making profit. This is so because Agriculture, which in this case involves mainly farming of few crops, is taken as a tradition to follow and not a business to profit from. The general practice of the people is planting and harvesting what they have whether they make profit or not. This traditional impression is what ASACEI is meant to improve upon in order to change the status quo for economic emancipation.
So far 4 pieces of farmland have been acquired and sites for different crops selected. Due to land tenure system, it is not possible for us to have up to 1 Hectare of farmland at a stretch and the farmland are thus at different locations. Therefore, for the purpose of easy identification, all our pieces of farmland are tagged Farmland 1, 2, 3… (FL1, 2, 3…). On FL1, Site selection has been done. This has to do with deciding what type of crops is planted on what piece of land based on the fertility of the soil determined by the type of weeds that grow on the land while in fallow. FL1 was covered with leguminous weeds and so it is fertile enough for Cassava and maize intercrop. Akwamfon members cleared the farmland, while students were involved in packing since we did not burn the farmland as is traditionally done. Those who did the clearing went home happy after the Project Manager explained to them that one of the reasons soils covered with legumes in fallow are always fertile is the action of Nitrifying Bacteria in their root nodules that convert atmospheric Nitrogen to Nitrate and fix in the soil. They saw the root nodules shown them for the first time. They were amazed at the wonders of nature. The legumes trash was left to decompose and add organic matter and nutrients to the soil. Only thorns and other materials that would not easily decompose but pose a threat to tilling and farm sanitation were heaped at one place and burnt. This is the first time the community experienced not burning a bush after clearing before planting.

Three boys were able to finish ridging on the 1821.25 metres Sq. (approx. 0.2 Hectares) of land in three days. We employed 6 but 3 were scared away because to them the wage was too poor, thus holding the remaining 3 to ransom. Of course, being volunteer members of Akwamfon, they rose to the occasion to avoid mock by the other 3, they told me. That marked the end of pre-planting operations on FL1. Next was planting with its attendant operations such as determination of planting distances and seed rates. Students involved in planting of maize and pinning of Cassava cuttings on the ridges while they learn. Actually both young and old are learning the modern and more productive methods of farming from the ASACEI. Students in this context are therefore categorised into adult and young students. One of them, a Junior Secondary School student, confessed, “This is my first time of planting on ridges”. Thus she and others ended up learning how to plant on ridges different from the traditional way of digging flat pits to bury cassava cuttings. We would then move to Plot 5 of FL1 selected for Fluted Pumpkin. By next week work will begin at the site of FL2.

Meanwhile, Maize that was planted on the 12th April on FL1, Plot 3 emerged on Sunday April 15th 2007, 3 days after planting. Heights of the plumules range from 1 to 4 cm. More than 3 germinate per stand depending on the number of seeds planted by individual students though. All of this will be thinned to one maize per stand at planting distance of 30cm along rows and 90cm between rows. Cassava cuttings planted same day have started to sprout too 3 days after.
As it were with the Israelites of old, ASACEI comes to this community as Manna, meaning, ‘what is this’? So far so good, it’s been a better experience and we seek to experience the more. Watch out for more!

Gathering up unwanted materials

Cutting Cassava stems for planting

Teaching students how to plant cassava