October 3, 2007—The irrigable fadamas along Nigeria’s rivers are places where crops can grow when rivers are reduced to a trickle during dry season. The fertile land and adequate water table make water easily accessible, but the fadamas have also been the scene of conflict among farmers, fisherfolk, and pastoralists vying for land, water and grazing resources.
But tension is easing, thanks largely to an agricultural project sponsored by the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) that has encouraged people who depend on fadama resources to work together to take charge of their own development.
The US$125 million Second National Fadama Development Project (Fadama II), the successor to a 10-year-old project that helped farmers irrigate fadama land, has boosted incomes for 2.3 million farm families in 12 Nigerian states in just two years.
It’s also helping to modernize agriculture in Nigeria’s non-oil producing regions, expanding the rural road network, giving communities access to resources for investment, and promoting sustainable use of the environment.
‘The Impact Is Big and Visible’
“I’m proud of this project because the impact is big and visible – it’s real,” says Abuja-based Bank economist and project leader Simeon K. Ehui, who regularly travels the countryside to see the results first-hand.
Ehui says a recent impact evaluation study by Washington DC-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) confirmed what his team had concluded – that results were exceeding expectations.
A section of the rehabilitated livestock houses (before and after intervention) Click for an enlarged view
IFPRI found household incomes rose 60 percent between 2005 and 2007 among people participating in the project, surpassing the goal of 20 percent. Women, including widows who formerly struggled to make a living, saw the value of their assets rise some 1,565 percent, according to IFPRI.
This success netted the project a World Bank Africa Award for Excellence for sustainable development in June and has prompted the government to request a minimum of $250 million for a Fadama III project for all 36 states in Nigeria, which could be ready for presentation to the Bank’s Board of Directors in March 2008, says Ehui.
It also inspired the African Development Bank to implement similar projects in six states, bringing the total number of Nigerian states benefiting from Fadama to 18. Those projects incorporate funds from the Global Environment Fund (GEF) to support sustainable land use and water management.
‘After God, there is Fadama’
While the country’s rich fadama lands have at times been equated with “heaven,” Ehui says he will “never forget” an expression he heard in the northern state of Taraba: “Daga Allah Sei Fadama,” or, “After God, there is Fadama.”
He says the project has offered hope to many. “They can see their life changing in the span of a few months or years,” says Ehui.
Indeed, the project has proven a powerful instrument for poverty reduction and the empowerment of rural people—including women and the disabled—in the non-oil- producing states of Nigeria, where roads are scarce and people have little or no access to banking or microfinance, say those connected with Fadama II.
The project’s early impact on Nigeria’s agriculture development—seen as key to diversifying the Nigerian economy—is “huge,” observes Nwanze Okidegbe, an agriculture strategy adviser to the Bank who has talked to several of the project’s beneficiaries.
Borehole and water reticulation facilities at odogunyan farm settlement Ikorodu Click for an enlarged view
The project is financed with US$100 million in credits from IDA, the arm of the World Bank that provides zero-interest, long-term loans. The Nigerian government is expected to contribute US$16 million over the life of the project, and about US$9 million will come from the communities themselves to pay for their own development needs.
The project encourages community-based “user groups” comprising farmers, fishers, pastoralists (people who raise livestock), women, the disabled, students, or others to develop participatory and socially inclusive local development plans.
The groups request money to pay for an income-generating “community-level asset,” such as fishing nets, fertilizer, water-pumps, generators, or other improvements through their approved Local Development Plans (LDPs). If the local Fadama Development Committee approves the request in the LDPs as a complement of the local government’s overall budget, the community puts the contract out to bid and the winning bidder is paid directly from the project account, says Ehui.
Project Funds Cover 70 Percent of Costs
The project pays for 70 percent of the cost, and the community group pays for 30 percent. Infrastructure projects that benefit entire communities, such as farm and market access roads, water supply systems (like boreholes), market stalls or buildings, are covered 90 percent by the project and 10 percent by the local community. The community can make the 10 percent contribution in kind, for example, through labor contribution.
The project provides a facilitator to help the groups make their budget request, as well services to build participants’ confidence and self-motivation, and capacity to sustain their incomes and manage finances. Ehui says the groups put most of their profits back into the community group bank account.
“Fadama II is the first rural development project in Nigeria that has been effective in moving resources to the communities to implement their priority subprojects,” says Okidegbe.
The next challenge, says Ehui, is using the project’s community-driven development approach to reach the poor and reduce poverty in the rest of the country.
“How can the poor acquire productive assets and how can their capacity to manage economic activities collaboratively be increased?” Ehui asks. “There is need for the government of Nigeria and its development partners to help scale up the Fadama II success story to the rest of the country using the Fadama II approach.”
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