Ginger: Agrolog Ltd, Mastercard Foundation Target 660,000 Jobs

Agrolog Limited and the Mastercard Foundation is presently engaged in empowering ginger farmers through supporting “60,000 smallholder farmers in vulnerable indigenous ginger farming communities in Kaduna State” that will ultimately lead to the creation of 660,000 jobs as each farmer is expected to impact 1 persons in the ginger value chain.

The partnership is to provide immediate materials, capacity, and structural support to boost ginger production and increase work opportunities for young people and adults in Nigeria.

Agrolog Ltd, which has been investing in the development of the ginger value chain since 2018,is a newly established agribusiness company that “specializes in the production and trade of agricultural commodities, agro logistics, various agricultural investments and farm management. The company seeks to entrench a culture of operational excellence that guarantees transparency from farm to table. Agrolog has contrived partnerships through Innovation Platforms (IPs) that bring farmers and investors together enabling ecosystems that allow for collaborations that build farmers capacities, provision of quality inputs and standardization of practices that ensure high productivity and quality outputs”.

The Mastercard Foundation is engaged in working with visionary organizations that enables “young people in Africa and in Indigenous communities in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work. It is one of the largest, private foundations in the world with a mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion to create an inclusive and equitable world”.

The Managing Director of Agrolog Limited, Dr. Manzo Maigari, notes that besides improving yields of ginger from 18 metric tons per hectare (MT/ha) to 25MT/ha, the partnership is aimed at creating 60,000 on and off the farm jobs with the ultimate purpose of benefitting communities for the attainment of providing economic recovery, growth, and social stability.

According to him, “Only smallholder farmers that belong to existing organized cooperatives within these local government areas can participate in the initiative. Farmers who are selected will receive support ranging from training to farming implements that they can immediately use on their farms to cultivate ginger and food crops,”

 “The ginger value chain, if well harnessed can transform livelihoods. Ginger products such as ginger spices, powder, oil, medicine, tea, and tonic confectioneries hold massive opportunities for smallholder farmers, young people, and women across the entire value chain. From planting, harvesting, cleaning, cutting, processing, bagging, storage, and sales, this initiative offers a ray of hope to thousands of families in their local communities who have been further paralyzed by the pandemic. Now, they will be able to rely on a steady and sustainable income stream through ginger farming and processing”.

The partnership unlocks a multitude of benefits to farmers and the farming community, including mechanization, training and capacity building, farm mapping, standardization of measures, increased yields, improved processing, access to organized markets, and financial inclusion.

A participant in the programme, Kakuta Irimiah, lauds the partnership between the Mastercard Foundation and Agrolog, saying that the fertilizers and farm inputs they provided have helped to expand her business.

“The Agrolog fertilizer I received helped me to produce more bags of ginger. I used to produce 30 bags per hectare and now I produce between 50 to 100 bags. I have also received training on how to apply the fertilizers and how to construct drainages to prevent my farm from being washed away by erosion. Before this time, the colour of my produce was yellowish but now, it is greenish which is a sign of healthy and quality produce,” she said.

Country Head of Mastercard Foundation, Chidinma Lawanson sees a bright future in the initiative, adding, “Our partnership with Agrolog is poised to drive immense production of ginger and create work opportunities for youth across the ginger value     chain. It also will alleviate the impending threat to food security and livelihoods, which has worsened with the ongoing pandemic”.

The intervention is being supported through the Mastercard Foundation COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program, which is targeted at offering timely support to mitigate the impending economic crises among the vulnerable indigenous communities. The intervention is also aimed at averting further disruptions to the ginger supply chain because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Culled from www.mastercardfdn.org