Thread by @saratu

Ok. Quick thread on rice farmers and agric policy in Ghana and Nigeria.

I traveled to Asusuare, two hours outside Accra, to visit some smallholder rice farmers. Mr. Charles here is the chairman of the association of over 3,000 farmers in the Greater Accra region. 30% women, average age 35.

Their challenges are similar to what one hears in Nigeria. I did a similar visit last year to Rice Farmers Assoc of Nigeria (RIFAN) in Badagry, but I work with farmers a lot so I hear a lot of this stuff.
Similarities: ave farm size in Both countries 2ha/person, 5-7tons/ha yield

Also similar? Their challenges. Access to tech is the difference between good quality and bad. Harvesting tech, for ex, removes stones before you even get to a mill. But this costs money. Some people just delay their harvest or harvest manually.

Delay means you won’t get enough $ for your crops. Grade A rice that’s harvested quickly (~120 days)with no stones and quickly milled and bagged fetches more $. Delay means your rice will dry out, leaving your rice broken after milling. You won’t make as much $.

This woman has money and is harvesting at precisely 121 days. With a harvester. All 3 of her hectares. She’s going to be smiling to the bank.

But you see the yellower grasses past the harvester? That’s rice that’s been in the ground 230 days. Def broken by now.

None of this is extraordinary for people who know agric in Nigeria, but I’ll tell you what struck me: policy literacy among Ghanaian farmers.

Nigeria rice farmers applauded the idea of drone patrols to check rice smuggling across Benin border, for ex.

When I asked the Ghanaian farmers if they wanted some sort of border protection from their govt, they said, “ah, it’s true, your president closed border with Benin!” After laughing at me (😒) the chairman said “what we mostly want is tech to help us be more competitive.”

Me: “but if you close borders, you won’t get foreign rice into the country. That’s more market for you.”
Them: “yes, but why would I block other African countries? I want to export to other African countries, too! Why punish other Africans for trade and leave sea borders open?”

A farmer from Kumasi also shared with me that the border closure is souring relations with Nigerian traders. Some Nigerian traders have reported their shops being shut down in the larger market.
(Context: That’s happened before, but maybe this is just a new excuse)

One thing I think is surprisingly better in Nigeria, though: interest loans in Nigeria for agric businesses (when you can get it) are lower than in Ghana. Don’t remember the figure, but they’re in the 20s. In Ghana it’s 33.3%. Yikes.

Burkina Faso’s is 9%, so better than both.

When it comes to input subsidies for farmers, though, it does seem like these farmers actually access public service delivery. That’s another opportunity for a learning exchange; these subsidies and distributions on Nigeria are largely taken up by elite farmers.

Another example of policy literacy: farmers I spoke to were annoyed that the Ghanaian school feeding program didn’t exclusively patronize them, but are also aware they don’t produce certain things efficiently.

Because of their policy literacy, these Ghanaian farmers I met fully recognized that they’re not where they need to be and are aware that they need certain things in place before they can fully optimize any protectionist policy stance.

By contrast: when Nigeria’s currency was devalued three years ago, they banned crude palm oil importation. Smallholder farmers I spoke to were happy with that measure, but research showed that the biggest winners of that policy were large palm oil producers. Why?

Because smallholder producers don’t have the agronomic practices, machines, and/or organizing ability to produce and get to market as efficiently. Access to extension services? 0. Strong associations? Nope. Most people still harvest palm fruit by hand, so most of it rots away.

The one message I take through all my work is this: govt talks a good game about supporting small scale farmers, but it usually ends in talk. Farmers also need to have a better handle on solutions, because you cannot push for good policy when you can’t tell good ideas from bad.

Besides advocacy, though, when Nigeria is ready to make agric work, we will know. There’s reams and reams of documents with plans that are actually smart, taking into consideration climate resilience and gender inequalities. Action has always been our problem.