2SCALE Thematic Papers Not By Technology and Money Alone | Page 20

actor, whose name I cannot remember went so far as to
say he needed half a million Naira (over €1,300). Others
hysterically shouted him down. Also noteworthy was the
group’s general fear of obtaining loans and the uncertainty
of whether they would be able to repay them on time.
Not with money alone
This whole situation changed after we carried out 2SCALE
trainings on good agricultural practices including the use
of new and improved tomato seed, and coached them on
credit-input management, post-harvest handling, marketing
and business plan development. The cluster actors actively
participated in these processes and took ownership over
them. It then became obvious to them that what they most
needed was not in fact money.
Let me illustrate with a scenario I painted for them during
one of the coaching sessions:
Mr Ogbamadu is a lender who is approached by two tomato
farmers for a loan of the same amount. One of the farmers
writes down all she wants and how she will repay him, and
then also notes down what she will expect to get in terms of
yield. The other farmer tells the lender about her situation,
but this time nothing is written down. Mr Ogbamadu asks
the second one when she will pay him back. She responds
that she is not sure as the market will decide – but she
trusts that all will be well.
I then asked the cluster members: “Which of these farmers
would you lend money to?” The answer was obvious, though
they could see a reflection of the all-will-be-well farmer in
themselves.
Getting together, obtaining loans, doing business
One year later, the cluster officially registered its business
with the federal government and is now officially known as
“Overcomer Fadama Agro-processor Multipurpose Ltd”.
Coming up with an official name that could be used to
open a bank account and other legal businesses was a
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challenge that took time; and understandably so. It’s due to the
2SCALE project that all these different actors along the
tomato value chain were even brought into one network,
or cluster. The actors were hitherto organised separately
in farmers’ unions and a few other independent unions of
processors and transporters. Their new name reflects the
fact that different actors – including the input dealers, agro-
processors and transporters – have joined together for the
first time.
After this development, the tomato farmers found out that
they suddenly had access to loans, a feat they could only
dream about while they operated as a small and scattered
group. They are confident that the 70 members who could
access loans of 100,000 Naira each (altogether coming to
more than €19,000) thanks to their new group identity, will
be able to pay the money back. The average yield has in-
creased by thirty times – from 0.3 tonnes per hectare to 10
tonnes per hectare. These farmers were also the first in
their community to begin staking their tomato plants, which
drastically reduced spoilage and allowed good growth.
Using the information learned in their coaching sessions,
the cluster actors have become conscious of how better
vegetable handling processes reduce losses and increase
profit. The clusters’ input dealers and transporters are ex-
cited about the implication of this – more business for them
as extra inputs will be bought and more trips will be needed
from the farm gate to the open market. They still patronise
this market whilst on the chase for a contract with organised
markets in Lagos and Ibadan, two neighbouring commer-
cial cities. This in itself is a result of information gathered
through the clusters’ coaching sessions.
From being a small and weak group of independent people
involved in tomato production and value chain-related activ-
ities, the Iya Ibeji actors now discuss issues with business
in mind. They see the numbers, they see the produce and
they make profitable decisions while addressing challenges
in the process. And they realise fully that it is much more
than money that has led them to their current success.