Esther Gbadebo is an agro dealer and the founder of Everything Propagule Enterprise. In this interview by KINGSLEY ALUMONA, she speaks about her work with farmers, and how food insecurity in Nigeria can be managed, among other issues.
You have a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics and currently doing a master’s programme in Crop Production. Was agriculture something you willingly chose to do?
I have always loved agriculture since secondary school. It was a subject I enjoyed and was always passing with flying colours. I was influenced by my dad. He is a plant breeder and an agricultural scientist. I chose to study agriculture, further my studies in agriculture, and also venture into agro-business. It will be agriculture always.
These days, it is difficult to see a lady with your level of education passionate about farming and farmers. What is fueling and sustaining this passion?
As I mentioned earlier, I have a passion for agriculture. Also, in my line of business, I have realised that some farmers venture into agriculture without basic knowledge of it — hence, the reason we have held free training for farmers in the past five years and they never leave the same way. They are always grateful for the training.
The truth is we have women in agriculture, strong women, and we can have more of them. There is space for agriculture for women.
Agriculture and farming are occupations that are gradually waning, especially among young people in rural communities. What are people like you doing to keep Nigerians on the farm?
We still have youths in agriculture. We need to make agriculture look good so we can have more youth interested in it. We need to stop painting agriculture as an occupation for the poor. Farmers who are doing it right are making money from it. We are changing the narrative, making the youth see that agriculture is not for the poor. Farming is a business. In my line of business, we try our best to make sure that inputs are affordable, and inputs are one of the major tools for farmers. Making it too expensive discourages farmers. So we make sure that our inputs are affordable and available.
Tell us about your work with Everything Propagule Enterprise.
Everything Propagule is an Agro-business that is into the sales of farm inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, and agrochemicals. Our goal as a business is to provide quality farm inputs to farmers at an affordable rate. Farmers spend a lot on farm inputs to get maximum yield. We aim to be the source of quality, yet affordable farm inputs to ease the stress of our farmers.
We have another free training coming up in November in our Ibadan branch, and that will likely be the end of our training this year. Why do we keep doing free training? Because we need to equip our farmers, we need to get them much more enlightened. So, we are changing their mindset by training them.
You recently organised a programme for farmers where you donated potting soils to some of them. Tell what inspired this programme.
Yes, we did, and our farmers were happy. Recently, Everything Propagule started marketing plant food potting soil, the latest in the market. It is filled with beneficial microbes, yet the most affordable, just as our goal says. We needed farmers to know about our potting soil, so we organised a free training with our partner Farmdich Limited. A lot of farmers bought it that day. We gave out 50 bags also. The reviews we have been getting about the potting soil have been great.
How do you measure or evaluate your programmes’ impact on the farmers you work with? Which areas do you think you need to improve on or need support to effectively execute?
We measure and evaluate our programme’s impact on the feedback we get from our farmers. We get our feedback right from the day of the programmes, and even after the programmes, feedback still keeps coming in. We have groups where we put farmers and ask for reports, and how they are doing with the free training we offer them. We speak to colleagues who are available to speak to farmers for free. We have been having people come around, out of passion, for farmers and agriculture, to speak to us for free.
Also, because the training is free, we do not have enough to print out writing materials or even documents they can take home. For now, we still want to leave it free for farmers until we get more sponsors.
What are the current challenges the farmers you work with face and how are you and professionals like you in the sector helping to solve the challenges?
The main challenge is knowledge, that is why Everything Propagule has always been doing free training. In the past five years, we have never asked farmers to pay for our training — we are staying with the basics of farming. There is no day farmers will not come into different agricultural groups that I belong to, to ask questions about their crops. Hence, the reason I said knowledge is key. Most farmers ventured into farming for survival not knowing agriculture is a science, farming is business. So, we need to keep training.
Given the challenges facing the farmers you work with, if you were given N100 million to intervene in their framing processes and businesses, how would you go about it?
The money will still go into knowledge-based training and supplying them with inputs. We realise that most farmers want to do more but do not have enough capital — hence, the reason I mentioned input supply. But it does not still end there. The right knowledge is then key. Lack of adequate knowledge can make farmers fail and get discouraged. Not having someone to hold them by the hands and putting them through farming has left a lot of them frustrated.
The money will go into training, supply of inputs and provision of the right market with intense follow-up. Inputs are not cheap but can be made affordable, discounted or given for free.
So, if Everything Propagule is given 100 million, it will firstly go into days of knowledge-based training, select serious farmers, supply them inputs, follow up on all the farming stages till the harvesting period, and get them off-takers.
We are happy, the farmers are happy.
Food insecurity is a big problem facing Nigeria. If you were the minister of agriculture, how would you ensure this problem is sustainably minimised?
Food security is when food is safe, available and affordable to everyone. Just like the First Lady of Nigeria has been saying, let’s grow food in our houses. There are various ways of growing food even if your floor is cemented. My husband is a farmer and I know how that has helped my family. I would advocate for home gardening, growing food in bags and buckets, and growing what you eat. An increase in the scale of production would also help with making sure that there is enough in the market. Making sure farmers have a good road network between the farms and the markets is also very important. The increase in farm inputs has caused some farmers to stop farming.
As the minister of agriculture, I would emphasise home gardening, good road network, security, and subsidised farm inputs to farmers.
What do you think are the roles of agriculture departments and faculties in addressing food and agricultural problems facing the country?
Their major role would be that they have updated knowledge at all times and that they are dishing out this knowledge through the right medium. Agriculture has moved beyond cutlasses and hoes — hence, the reason I said they have to remain updated. The school curriculum has to be reviewed and updated after some years. Agriculture is evolving, we keep learning, knowing and doing new things. So agriculture departments and faculties should invest in improving and getting better.
What is next for Everything Propagule? And where do you see yourself and your business in five years?
In the next five years, we see Everything Propagule in the northern, eastern, southern, and western parts of Nigeria. We are currently in Oyo and Ogun state, but we want to spread everywhere. We want to be close to farmers with quality inputs. We want to be in every state. I believe this is possible, but it might take time, even longer than five years. But it is possible.
Also, in the next five years, Everything Propagule will have become bigger and better, with more improved standards. We would be seen as an organisation where youths would love to come in, work with us, gain experience and be motivated to be whatever they want to be in the agricultural sector.
In five years, we would have trained thousands of farmers for free, and we would have enlightened thousands and millions of them to go into agriculture, and to remain focused.
What is your advice to young women like you who think agriculture and farming are not for them?
Agriculture is for both men and women, young and old. Do not ever think there is no space for you here. Agriculture is wide. You do not have to go to the farm — we have women who off-take from farmers and sell. There are different aspects of agriculture that we can venture into. It does not have to be only production; there is off-taking, processing, packaging, transportation, and a lot more. You need to know that you can farm, own a farm, manage a farm, be an influencer in the agriculture sector, and be anything you want to be in the sector.
It all starts with your mindset — having the ‘I can do it’ spirit. There is space for you. We need much more people.
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