AGRICULTURE-INNOVATIVE PRODUCTION-PROGRAM-RUAIPP-

Executive Summary:

Every day, the food we eat connects us to a vast global web of farmers, traders, food processors, manufacturers, retailers, and many other people involved in getting food from farm to fork. Most of us probably don’t pause to think about it while biting into a piece of fruit or a slice of bread, but this global food system is central to some of the biggest challenges facing humanity. This food production network makes the farmer the most important person that everyone needs every day as what we eat every day comes from their farms. This means if anyone is thinking of where to put their money for future investment, the answer is Agrifood production, Agriculture is key in transforming any country into a middle income economy.

In response to the impending Global food shortage crisis, FPI-I, developed a USD 700 million Agriculture investment program, named, the Rural and Urban Agriculture Innovative Production Program (RUAIPP), The Main Objective of the program is to develop a network of farming communities through the establishment of an Agriculture Based Cluster farming strategy, (ABCs Strategy) a 9-year program that will enable FPI-I to join other international Agriculture investment companies and donor communities in financial supporting rural and urban communities in making use of the surrounding land to grow Globally demanded, high value, cross border value chain development crops, this program runs from the year 2022 to the year 2030 as part of its "Poverty Alleviation Strategy”,

Mindset Change:

Agricultural transformation is not just a planning exercise, it's a process and needs everyone to understand the importance of growing what we will eat and sell to others. It's encouraging to note that most governments across the world are adopting mindset change as a policy, this will lead their people to understand that agriculture is not a way of life but a business. In Africa, subsistence agriculture has been a way of life for years. In implementing RUAIPP FPI-I put much emphasis on mindset and behavior change as this leads farmers to fully understand the benefits of growing crops both for food and to sell for profit. Mindset Change has been FPI-I's skills and knowledge transfer workshops from the year 2020, as we transformed our activities from a pre-COVID-19 to a Post-Covid-19 time.

RUAIPP aims to partner with Countries and Governments line ministries, customary and religious leaders in communities across the world to serve as Coordinators that administer this Agriculture Based Cluster program.

The Coordination teams appoint community leaders per village who will recruit farmers to bring them for training, deploy them back into their communities, and monitor their progress throughout the project.

Understanding A Farmer's Mindset:

Farmer mindset comprises a variety of social psychology constructs such as the farmer’s

personality, attitudes, beliefs, values, intentions, skills, knowledge, perceived norms, and perceived

self-efficacy. For example, see the Theory of Planned Behavior, which is both frequently used to explain people’s health behavior. All these factors, and probably more, comprise the human factor which, for the sake of convenience, is summarized as Mindset. read more>>>

The Current Challenges Facing the Global Food System:

Let’s start with the most obvious one. The global food system is expected to provide safe and nutritious food to a population that will likely grow from 7.5 billion people today, to nearly 10 billion by 2050, source>>>. Not only will there be more mouths to feed, but as incomes grow in emerging and developing economies, so too will the demand for vegetables, cereals, meat, fish, and dairy.

We can agree that this rapid growth has caused food consumption volume to continue increasing since 2015, in 2021 it reached 2.5 billion metric tons. Bread and cereal products were the largest categories of consumption, accounting for 626 million metric tons in that year. Source>>>

With many ups and downs, the year 2022 came with uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period we saw supply chain shortages, supply chain recoveries, skyrocketing prices, and much more. Read more>>>

However, food production is only one aspect of the food system. The agro-food sector also provides a livelihood for millions of people. Globally, most of the people living in extreme poverty are in rural areas where food production is often the most important economic activity. There are an estimated 570 million farms worldwide today, and millions of other people work in food-related jobs.

There is increased migration of youth from rural areas for employment in most African countries and uncontrollable illegal migration from poverty or violent affected countries to developed nations. In rural areas, agriculture is the major source of employment which has not been able to create enough opportunities for all, and also agriculture has not been able to transform its outlook as a respected job holding. Due to this, the role of agri-business is transforming into an occupation of women, the elderly population, and children. The development of agriculture is associated with the long-term radical financial growth of the rural sectors. But the lack of decentralization of agriculture policies and infrastructures in most countries has cumulatively affected rural development. The constellations of agriculture service providers and expert human resources, at the capital and district headquarters, have impacted the imparting of new scientific agriculture technologies to the rural areas. The existing monitoring and evaluation system doesn’t reflect the appropriate result of national investment in agriculture service delivery. This has made the entire agriculture service, transparency, and governance questionable.

Poverty reduction, in the context of sustainable development, remains a major challenge, with extreme poverty ravaging the lives of one in four people in the developing world, with a lack of skills and knowledge contributing highly to hunger and poverty levels, these two also promoted the growing numbers in challenges that include mental disturbances, suicides, and diseases that are widespread that include, cholera and malnutrition, with pandemic such as HIV/AIDS still biting and still a scourge in many developing countries, the after-effects of COVID-19 On Agriculture are still visible and has left the world on its knees with challenges that shall continue to be felt for many more years to come unless measures are taken to support world's agriculture sector, especially in Africa.

Urbanites, like people in rural area settings, are equally affected and need a lasting solution to overcome poverty and hunger that continue to affect their families' means of livelihood.

Greeing that poverty and hunger are an enemy to all and needing all of us to stand up will help us find lasting solutions, these two will not be history as long as most of the world's poor communities spend much of their income on food instead of putting it into Agriculture investments that can, in turn, build a better future for their families.

At FPI-I we also believe that the most effective way to improve the lives of millions out of poverty is to support agrifood production as a business, and transforming a country’s agriculture sector should start by building effective national agriculture coordinating bodies, this will bring excitement as it promotes the participation of all players and gives farming communities hope as it supports the production, and creation of processing units as well as markets, that in turn, brings more money to poor rural and urban communities, create jobs, raise incomes, reduce malnutrition, and kick-start the economy on a path to middle-income growth. In fact, almost every industrialized nation began its economic ascent with an agricultural transformation

With all the information provided so far, we can all agree that the global food and agricultural sector needs to undergo a rapid change in the production, distribution, and consumption of food, fiber, and in technology, a rapid increase in production and marketing coordination, market contracting, and concentration of agricultural output is urgently required, with the consolidation of agricultural operations. These increases need to manifest significant long- and short-term changes in farm size, number, distribution, and location. Production that relies on small, independent, family-based farms needs to occur at large-scale, consolidated, global operations. Small- and mid-sized operators are struggling to remain competitive and to adopt developments in technology and information.

Company / Organization Description:

Famer's Pride International Investments (FPI-I) is a Hunter’s Global Network PTY LTD Agriculture subsidiary working on the reactivation of the African agriculture sector through the implementation of the Rural and Urban Agriculture Innovative Production Program (RUAIPP) a cluster-based farming strategy. FPI-I has operations in 43 African countries and its Agriculture Research and Development HQ in the USA. It has now grown to become a global solution in the fight against Hunger and Poverty, SDG 1 & 2) Read more here>>>>

About RUIAPP

The Rural and Urban Agriculture Production Program RUIPP is an Agri-food Based cluster farming strategy, which came up as a result of its research and development initiative that is expected to support the building of vast Agrifood production and processing opportunities that will bring to life 70,000 internships, 100,000 agribusiness start-ups, 1,000 000 new decent jobs per country, +1000 Cluster farms per country, and marketing opportunities. Under the program, each of the +45 countries is expected to get an investment of at least US $17,5 million over a period of five years per country. This amounts to an overall investment of $700 million across the African continent. Within each country, about 2,500 unemployed university and polytechnic graduates, as well as other young farmers, will be trained under a 24-month-long agribusiness incubation to be done in every new project country. RUAIPP involves mobilizing a minimum of 100,000 farmers in each projected country to mass produce high-value cash crops, which will in turn create 1 million Agrobased jobs in each country of operations.

FPI is an Agriculture-based Cluster (ABC) strategy in its effort to boost the Global food systems transformation and will give support to the achievement of host country economies through joint implementation of development policies,, will in turn, support the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 1 to 8).

FPI Best Bets for Reducing Poverty and Hunger

FPI believes agriculture is key in connecting economic growth for rural and urban poor communities, increasing their productivity and incomes, and bringing people to work together, especially African farming communities. To win on setting up a solution to a winning sustainable food system FPI-I Developed the Rural and Urban Clusters and Block Farm Agriculture initiative, these activities bring people together and help them mobilize money through self-help or villages servings credit schemes, which allows members to contribute small amounts of money each month, this will enable them to build capital to start agriculture activities before FPI funds bigger projects working with these groups, this will promote Youth and Women's economic empowerment, building, family, community and national economies through their participation in the Agrifood production processing.

Implementation of The RUAIPP:

The success of the RUAIPP will start with a buy-in from Governments, formulation of policies, acts, rules, and regulations which have long-term impact and the supportive structure; proper investment of the country; involvement and revitalization of the private sectors; awareness, involvement, commitment and hard work of farmers and donors’ investment together can help to attain the stipulated progress in the agriculture sector and also enhance dependency in the sector and attract younger workforce by making it attractive.

The following loopholes must aslo be dealt with -to minimize the impact of water and environment degradation on agriculture; to make irrigation facilities free; reduction of pressure for agriculture in marginal land; minimize the impact emanating through the use of harmful pesticides on the public health and environment; to increase the accessibility of the available agriculture technologies to the farmers; improvements to rural roads prioritized for agriculture purposeproper management for the import and distribution of fertilizers; to attract the young generation in the agriculture sector; to develop and expand processing of agricultural products; to ensure quality in the agriculture and livestock production, distribution, import, and export; to develop cooperative and farmers’ group to increase the productivity; to increase the accessibility of poor, women, young people, indigenous groups, muslims, christians, and farmers from backward regions in the agriculture and livestock programs; to increase accessibility in the formal and non-formal education related to agriculture.

There is a need to address the lack of proper storage facilities for agricultural products like potatoes, onions, vegetables, and fruits. Due to this, the products either get spoiled or are exported at a minimum price and imported during the off-season at a higher price. This imbalance affects the expected development of agricultural products and ultimately there is an increment in national loss incurred through the lack of proper business in the agriculture sector. There is also a downfall in the exporting of products as the qualitative standard of the products lucrative for the market is not being maintained and also processing, packaging technology development, expansion, and maintenance have not been done. Read more >>>

Global Agriculture Industry Overview:

Agriculture is key in rural development and in building middle income economies in any developing nation, a strong agricultural sector will assist countries in reducing poverty and will build sustainable economic development at all levels.

It is an important sector of the global economy. In fact, the global value-added generated by agriculture, forestry, and fisheries grew by 73 percent in real terms between the years 2000 and 2019, reaching $3.5 trillion in 2019. Not only that, but agriculture provided employment for 874 million people in 2020, totaling 27 percent of the global workforce.

When it comes to production, the total production of primary crops increased by 53 percent between 2000 and 2019, hitting a record high of 9.4 billion tonnes in 2019. Half of global primary crop production is made up of just four crops: sugar cane, maize, wheat, and rice.

Production of vegetable oils has risen sharply due to an increase in demand for palm oil, with production more than doubling between 2000 and 2018. Meat production also saw a hefty increase, growing by 44 percent between 2000 and 2019 to reach 337 million tonnes.

Despite the growing amount of food produced, the global level of the prevalence of undernourishment has increased sharply between 2019 and 2020, under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 10 percent of the world's population suffered from hunger in 2020, compared to 8.4 percent in 2019.

Healthy, sustainable, and inclusive food systems are critical to achieving the world’s development goals. Agricultural development is one of the most powerful tools to end extreme poverty, boost shared prosperity, and feed a projected 9.7 billion people by 2050. Growth in the agriculture sector is two to four times more effective in raising incomes among the poorest compared to other sectors.

Agriculture is also crucial to economic growth: accounting for 4% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and in some least developing countries, it can account for more than 25% of GDP.

However, agriculture-driven growth, poverty reduction, and food security are at risk: Multiple shocks – from COVID-19-related disruptions to extreme weather, pests, and conflicts – are impacting food systems, resulting in higher food prices and growing hunger. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has accelerated a global food crisis that is driving millions more into extreme poverty, and around 205 million people across 45 countries have so little food that their lives are at risk.

The growing impact of climate change could further cut crop yields, especially in the world’s most food-insecure regions. At the same time, our food systems are responsible for about 30% of greenhouse gas emissions.

Current food systems also threaten the health of people and the planet and generate unsustainable levels of pollution and waste. One-third of food produced globally is either lost or wasted. Addressing food loss and waste is critical to improving food and nutrition security, as well as helping to meet climate goals and reduce stress on the environment.

Risks associated with poor diets are also the leading cause of death worldwide. Millions of people are either not eating enough or eating the wrong types of food, resulting in a double burden of malnutrition that can lead to illnesses and health crises. Food insecurity can worsen diet quality and increase the risk of various forms of malnutrition, potentially leading to undernutrition as well as people being overweight and obese. An estimated 3 billion people in the world cannot afford a healthy diet.

Practising Sustainable Agriculture Through RUAIPP:

FPI-I's sustainable agriculture approach seeks to utilize natural resources in such a way that they can regenerate their productive capacity, and also minimize harmful impacts on ecosystems beyond a field's edge. One way that farmers try to reach these goals is by considering how to capitalize on existing natural processes, or how to design their farming systems to incorporate crucial functions of natural ecosystems.

By designing biologically-integrated agroecosystems that rely more on the internal cycling of nutrients and energy, it is often possible to maintain an economically viable production system with fewer potentially toxic interventions. For example, farmers aiming for a higher level of environmental sustainability might consider how they can reduce their use of toxic pesticides by bringing natural processes to bear on limiting pest populations. Read more>>>>>

Rural & Urban Agriculture Innovative Production Program

Program Background, Origins, & Benefits Proposition:

The origins of the Rural and Urbal Innovative Production Program (RUIAPP) backdates to the year 2010 when the then New Hope Foundation Zimbabwe partnered with Chinese NGOs and Universities forged a partnership to come to Africa and train 250 farmers who came from Zimbabwe's 10 Provinces, young people, and women were involved in Agriculture skills and knowledge transfer as well as HIV & AIDS awareness in the farming communities. After many years of expanding the project into several countries, then came the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, this was a shocker which then turned to enabling the project's implementation in many African countries as Agriculture proved to be the only surviving sector of the Global economy to remain open and functional for the coming two years into 2022. After so many years of trying to unroll the program's projects from the year 2017, Covid-19 came as a blessing in disguise, although it destroyed traditional ways of making money, all sectors of the economy were brought to a standstill, with it many jobs affected, one sector only continued to grow, that's the Agriculture and its value chain, it was spared as each one of us wanted food on our table every day even when we were sick. Farmer's Pride International took that opportunity to teach urban dwellers on how to make money through agriculture behind their homes while under lockdown, and these projects have now grown to become a source of livelihood for many.

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The Economics Of The Project:

The initiative shall fund 45 country chapters at a rate of $17, 5 million per country for 5 years through equity or venture capital investments, and is projected to create 100 000 agro-based companies per country of investment that will in turn create 1 million jobs per country in 5 years, and is expected to bring in a net income of 1,2 to 2,9 billion per country in 5 years through exports of processed products and is implemented through a strategy presented/outlined as key to the value chain development and is rooted in the practice of cluster farming and self-help/ village servings credit schemes initiatives and selects a list of economic and job creation cash crops that shall be processed and exported to Global Markets. Read more>>>>>>

Program Key Sectors Coverage:

This RUIAPP is a wholesome agriculture program that connects people to many money-making activities using their land in rural and urban set-ups and promotes the success of Agriculture activities, such as:

Project Objective:

The whole idea behind RUAIPP is to economically empower the rural and urban farming communities, with special emphasis on youth and women, not necessarily by just giving them skills and knowledge on growing for small-scale production and personal consumption, but rather to stimulate an entrepreneurial mind in all people that are trained. It's also been designed to be a medication for long-thriving sickness in Africa that has restricted business ideas to just bringing food to the table or self-provision. RUAIPP aims to broaden the mind of the farmer to see all opportunities that the African education system has failed to give. RUIPP has the ingredients that social cultures are the fiber of social economic growth. People come to training with a mind to produce products to go and sell at the market or to use for their canteen business but go out of the training room with a global vision. The mission that has been embarked on by Farmer's Pride International is not just a drive to get people to take up farming, but rather an entrepreneurial drive to awaken Africa to the potential that it's been pre-conditioned to be blind to. It's an idea that when implemented has the ability and power to cause a tip in the balance of economic power as it stands in African countries or the continent as a whole. RUIPP is an African green revolution that will empower rural and urban farming communities to take charge of their lives. Read more>>>>

Overall Project Objective:

To promote cluster farming and Agrifood investments, research, and development as a contribution to poverty and hunger alleviation, nutrition improvement, and resilience through a systemic transformation of local agriculture and food systems.

(Objective 1) To provide opportunities to 50 million rural and urban young people and women in 45 countries in 5 to 10 years, through promoting innovative agricultural enterprises and agribusiness for job creation.

(Objective 2) To introduce technology into agriculture as a means of promoting the involvement of young people in the agriculture value chain for food systems transformation.

(Objective 2) To raise agribusiness skill levels and economic opportunities for 100 000 University and college graduates in 45 countries from the year 2022 to the year 2028 to benefit rural youth and women as well as future graduates of vocational schools and universities;

(Objective 3) To advance youth- and women-led agribusiness networks and provide interactive agricultural information services to 600 000 Agripreneurs across 45 countries in 5 to 10 years;

(Objective 4) To raise awareness of gender issues among 1000 000 youths and women through providing equal opportunity for agribusiness advancement to young women and 50 000 people living with disabilities in 45 African countries;

(Objective 5) To promote soil use, management, and restoration through agroforestry and other legume farming in 45 African countries through starting up Moringa farming and processing and marketing of its bi-products across the world.

(Objective 6) Promote the introduction of Agriculture to students for careers in agriculture

(Objective 7) Promote exports of globally demanded value chain development Agriculture products

Key specific objectives:

To strengthen the capacities of 1000 000 youth and women in Africa’s multi-stakeholder innovation platforms and links to solutions within national, regional, and global food systems in a period of 5 to 10 years starting from the year 2022 to the year 2028;
To facilitate technology, transfer, and uptake through learning routes and multi-stakeholder engagement; and
To Improve profitability and employment opportunities to benefit 1000 000 young people, women, and people living with disability, as well as HIV and AIDS along agricultural commodity value chains by establishing national and regional Agricultural Business Learning Alliance (ABLA) platforms, business development services, ecological management skills, and knowledge transfer through mentorship in 40 countries in a period of 5 to 10 years.

key economic Goals:

The program shall be implemented in 43 countries across Africa and is expected to build vast opportunities that include at least 70,000 internships, 100,000 agribusiness start-ups, 100,000 new decent jobs, and contract (Cluster) farming marketing opportunities. Under the program, each of the +40 countries is expected to get an investment of at least US $17,5 million over five years per country. This amounts to an overall investment of $700 million across the African continent. Within each country, about 2,500 unemployed university and polytechnic graduates, as well as other young farmers, will be trained under a 24-month-long agribusiness incubation.

The last four months of the incubation period will be spent developing creditworthy agribusiness plans for presentation to financial institutions and funding partners working with agribusiness mentors. It is expected that each business plan shall be awarded $200,000 to $350,000 each and is expected to employ 10 to 30 youths, each earning decent monthly incomes with an overall goal of creating 1 million jobs per country by the year 2030.

These will be profitable youth-led projects aimed at job creation and promoting their involvement in the agriculture value chain.
A significant amount of benefit will be achieved through the $700 million investment with a high return to investment expected through the creation of new agro-based companies in 40 countries that will create 100, 000 new jobs with a net income ranging between $1 billion to $2.2 billion per country in 5 years building into each country's GDP.

The goals will be achieved by the turn of 2027, working in partnership with governments, donors, funding partners, investors, development organizations, and communities across the world who are joining hands with FPI in promoting its mission.

Skills and Knowledge Transfer:

FPI-I believes in a Knowledge-based approach, discovering, equipping, and training rural and urban young people and women in farming skills and transferring knowledge to help the world to fight poverty and hunger, and working on increasing regional and local productivity and value addition, it has devised projects that will cover all areas of farming productivity, from tillage, harvesting, storage, processing, packaging, and distribution to both local and international markets for the benefit of its membership and other farming communities in project countries.

Roadmap For The Growth of agriculture production and productivity:

Governments, the private sector, and donor communities working with local community leadership need to come together and agree on a clear roadmap that outlines the promotion of commercialization of the agricultural sector and its products to have comparative advantages for food-oriented agriculture while doing this:

A clearer and separate roadmap for a self-sustained agriculture system based on small farmers and the services and investment for them needs to be prepared for food-oriented agriculture.
The business of comparative advantaged products and cash crops needs to be promoted. A separate business, strategic suggestions for separate investments and services for farmers and agricultural enterprises.
An additional program to translate the outlook of Agriculture Based Clusters, community farming, cooperative farming, and contract farming into reality for improved farming practices needs to be in place.
There should be easy access to production technologies. Accordingly, subsidies given for production technologies, expansion of agriculture extension services and their effectiveness should be clearly provisioned.
Ways to be adopted for proper storage, processing, marketing, and promotion for the export of agricultural products based on the need and their availability should be adopted.

Why Rural Agriculture:

Rural agriculture promotes rural development and is understood primarily in the economic sense as the process of assuring a progressive improvement in the economic security of people in rural areas. Rural areas are usually defined in terms of maximum population density, with figures varying from 150 to 500 inhabitants per square kilometer, depending on the structure of society.

While any economic activity in rural areas will have the potential to contribute to rural development, the particular roles farming plays fall into broad categories:

Farming is the fabric of rural society and, in many countries of the world, it is the main economic activity.
Any sudden and profound changes which impacted the farm sector could have severe consequences in terms of social and political stability in economically developing countries.
Agriculture also plays an important part in rural development, especially due to land use, in countries where the sector is of less economic significance.
The main potential contributions of farming to rural development are in terms of supporting employment, ancillary businesses, and environmental services. In peripheral regions, farming may be necessary to support economic and social infrastructure.
Rural development policies should exploit the contribution of farming, both in terms of improving on-farm activities and supporting ancillary services to secure sustainable development for rural areas.
In the context of agricultural reform, World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules should contain sufficient flexibility to allow countries to promote rural development, especially to preserve social and political stability.
In rural areas throughout the world, agriculture represents the predominant land use and a major component of the viability of rural areas. Farming and related activities make up the basic fabric of rural life, contributing significantly to the overall state of rural regions in terms of employment and business opportunities, infrastructure, and quality of the environment.
The degree to which farming represents a share of the rural economy, and hence its relative importance as a sector determines its potential economic contribution to rural development. In some countries, farming may be the primary economic activity of a region and support the vast majority of the population in employment. In such regions, it is clear that overall social and political stability is inextricably linked with the conditions of the agriculture sector.
However, in most economically developed countries, farming accounts for a relatively small part of a diversified rural economy, and in addition, the significance of agriculture in terms of the proportion of national wealth and employment is, in most regions, in decline. This does not lessen the potential role of farming in rural development in those countries, but the contribution of alternative economic activities, which may offer durable prospects for employment and economic progress, should also be included.
Since the contribution of farming to rural development in different countries varies to a great extent, policy responses need to be correspondingly distinguished, with the aim of maximizing benefits to society.
Lastly, increased economic stability in developing countries can be provided through the farm-based rural economy by encouraging the development of activities to add value to their production, such as processing consumer products on-farm or in rural areas. Farmers can also take greater control of their economic position through cooperative ventures or by selling to consumers directly through farm shops and markets.

Why Urban & Peri-Urban Agriculture:

It's all about greening the cities and growing food for all.

Urban farming is not a new concept, but it is gaining new support among diverse citizen groups all over the country. Schools, colleges, churches, city councils, government agencies, parks departments, anti-hunger groups, healthcare providers, and nonprofit organizations are coming together to give a fresh new meaning to “greening the city.”

Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) can be defined as practices that yield food and other outputs through agricultural production and related processes (transformation, distribution, marketing, recycling…), taking place on land and other spaces within cities and surrounding regions.

It involves urban and peri-urban actors, communities, methods, places, policies, institutions, systems, ecologies, and economies, largely using and regenerating local resources to meet the changing needs of local populations while serving multiple goals and functions.

UPA offers a fundamental strategy for building the resilience of a city’s food supply.

The population of the world is steadily growing. Most of this population growth is concentrated in cities and urban areas, which means, 68 percent of the world’s 9.7 billion inhabitants will be urban dwellers by 2050. Many of those currently living in cities, especially though not

exclusively in the Global South, are malnourished, impoverished, and food insecure. Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) is a vital strategy for building the resilience of cities’ food supply, reducing poverty and increasing employment, improving nutritional outcomes, and mitigating environmental degradation of urban spaces. While UPA is no silver bullet, when combined with effective city-region planning, the food system can more efficiently meet the needs of diverse actors in urban areas. These projects are not the only examples of worldwide efforts to bring attention to growing populations and food systems but represent the different forms that urban agriculture can take.Read more>>>

Almost a billion people around the world practice urban agriculture. (FAO)

What is an Urban Farm?

An urban farm is part of a local food system where food is cultivated and produced within an urban area and marketed to consumers within that urban area. Urban farming can also include animal husbandry (e.g., breeding and raising livestock), beekeeping, aquaculture (e.g., fish farming), aquaponics (e.g., integrating fish farming and agriculture), and non-food products such as producing seeds, cultivating seedlings, and growing flowers. It can be characterized in terms of the geographic proximity of a producer to the consumer, sustainable production, and distribution practices. Urban farms can take a variety of forms including non-profit gardens and for-profit businesses. They can provide jobs, job training, and health education, and they can contribute to better nutrition and health for the community by providing locally grown, fresh produce and other products. In addition, urban farms can also contribute to the revitalization of abandoned or underutilized urban land, social and economic benefits to urban communities, and beneficial impacts on the urban landscape. Read more>>>>

Urban agriculture allows for the development of a variety of environmental, economic, and social benefits to the surrounding communities. Urban farming can reduce transportation costs, help reduce runoff associated with heavy rainfall, and lead to better air quality. For the Profitability of the UPA, read more here>>>>

Activities on this Project:

Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production to encourage and promote urban, indoor, and other emerging agricultural practices;
Setting up of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Advisory Committee;
Urban agriculture development and innovative products; and
pilot projects for areas with a high concentration of urban or suburban farms.

Agriculture Transformation:

FPI-I has developed an agricultural transformation plan that demands prioritization—with its focus on the changes that are most likely to kick-start rural economic growth. The plans identify goals in a limited number of crop and livestock value chains, cross-cutting agriculture sector enablers (such as lower transportation costs or access to irrigation), and specific geographies.

The success of its agricultural transformation model is highly hinged on the successful setup of agri-food systems in geographic areas with tailored strategies. We are putting our attention on productive land that is already well connected to markets, such as irrigated land, which can support large- or small-scale farms; this makes agribusiness easy to scale up. In more remote areas, though, with bad roads, poor-quality land, and less well-connected markets, different strategies shall be used. In the next 10 years, FPI-I's greater focus shall be on staple crops and globally demanded high-value crop productivity and social safety nets.

Strengthening skills and organizational capital.

FPI-I will support future Agriculture based labour markets and enterprise development in rural communities. Skills needed range from functional literacy and numeracy to specific labor-market skills, to managerial and administrative skills for enterprise development, including market assessments and detection of business opportunities. Close attention will be paid to women’s demands and needs. Research links growth in non-farm activities to declining poverty for both male- and female-headed households, but the drop is faster for woman-headed households. Trade, professional, and other common interest associations, and cooperatives will also be promoted.

Strengthening the supply chain and product linkages:

For farming to win, there should be strategies that promote and strengthen the supply chain and product linkages, trends in consumer markets, quality requirements, and competition will require better planning and coordination of supply chains from input suppliers, primary producers, traders, and processors, to retailers. Competitiveness depends on effective and flexible logistics and low transaction costs within the chain.

FPI-I's role will be to create adequate development of efficient private sector supply chains, promote investment in physical infrastructure, and support effective subcontracting systems and quality inspections through appropriate legal frameworks and enforcement systems.

Support micro-, small, and medium enterprises:

The development of small rural enterprises requires first and foremost a good investment climate. This will be promoted through assessment and policy dialogue. Especially in rural areas, the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is inhibited by a lack of a skilled labor force and public and private financial, technological, and other services. FPI-I will promote SME development by supporting commercial business development services, and, through small and medium enterprises, efficient service delivery, especially in rural infrastructure services.

Social inclusion:

An important priority of the FPI-I rural and urban farming strategy is to help make institutions that are more responsive to the rural poor, thereby improving social well-being and reducing vulnerability, and linking rural development, especially in agriculture, to effective sustainable resource management.

The organization’s objectives in this regard include:

Promoting the implementation of Agroecology based farming methods
Reducing desertification and other types of land degradation
Improving water management
Enhancing sustainable fisheries management
Sustaining the production of forest products while protecting the environment
Protecting biodiversity
Incorporating knowledge about climate change into rural development planning.

This strategy promotes innovative approaches to using natural resources most efficiently to meet agricultural productivity goals while protecting the long-term productivity and resilience of natural resources. Such approaches take into account the interactions among soil, water, solar energy, plants, and animals as well as the social and economic well-being of the people who use these resources.

Self-Help Initiatives for Sustainable Food Systems:

FPI believes that the efforts of its membership will bring about food security to host nations as well as sustainability in farming activities in communities around the world, FPI members are encouraged to come together, organize themselves into clusters, contribute small amounts of money and then loan the proceeds to any members who are going into an Agriculture project. FPI promotes self-help microfinance activities to self-fund most of its projects and uses this as its entrance activity into communities across the world. Self-help and microfinancing is a system that supports low-income households to stabilize their income flows and save for future needs. In good times, microfinance helps families and small businesses to prosper, and at times of crisis, it can help them cope and rebuild. When used in Agribusiness, self-help microfinancing becomes a remedy for rural development, this is achieved as young people and women get involved and learn to start their agro-based projects and become profitable through being taught the correct skills and acquiring knowledge in managing their economies as well as the ecology. Read more>>>

Change agents identified and mobilized:

The success of any agricultural transformation relies on how millions of smallholder farmers and medium-sized enterprises can be assisted to change farming practices as quickly and effectively as possible. There is a need for critical enablers, without which an agricultural transformation is likely to fail, FPI--I is a “change agent” that helps farmers modify their practices. It works with its country's change agents who are coordinators between FPI-I and farming communities, these are people whom farmers trust and interact with regularly.

Change agents provide a critical interface with our farming membership. To catalyze this, our change agents in the case of FPI-I's RUAIPP program are the coordinators who provide extension knowledge, offering to network farmers for farming inputs such as fertilizer, aggregating crops, or facilitating marketing services. For example, a change agent can help farmers make the transition from growing wheat to more complicated but lucrative opportunities, to achieve this FPI-I uses a cluster or Block farming strategy.

Farming Clusters:

Cluster Farming strategy to bring its farming communities together to promote out-grower schemes. Cluster Farming is a low-cost, high-yield technique where highly demanded cash crops can be mass-produced by farmers' groups and then sold in bulk to both local and international markets. Please read more about Cluster Farm Development and learn more.

Farmers Pride International promotes Agricultural Cluster Systems, as an advanced type of agricultural industrialization. It is of great significance in promoting regional economic growth, enhancing rural competitive strength, advancing the specialization of agriculture production, and increasing the incomes of the farmers. The video below provides a concise summary of the project concept.

Enhancing Agricultural Productivity and Competitiveness

With so many poor rural residents and changes in the agricultural sector—compounded by the deteriorating natural resource base—agriculture has never been more important than it is today in achieving FPI-I goals. International experience has demonstrated the direct relationship between agricultural growth and rural poverty reduction. Agricultural development also induces economic growth in other rural sectors by generating demand for inputs and providing materials for processing and marketing industries

Cluster farming as a localized system promotes the emergence of value chains. It's about starting with less comprehensive and prescribed plans and demonstrating success with more flexible learning models that can also attract champions, additional talent, and more investment that can be used in scaling up.

Cluster farming development is a means of boosting agriculture production economically, with the benefits of clustering being considered at five levels:

It enhances production,
Promotes Processing
Creates Domestic marketing
Provides household nutrition and
boost Exports.

Benefits of cluster farming:

At the production level, clustering improves access to production inputs: seeds, chemicals and fertilizers, technology, and infrastructure. When any one of these improved inputs is applied individually, productivity will increase, but when the improved inputs are applied collectively, dramatic productivity increases are possible.

Country and Cluster Leadership skill building:

FPI-I's RUIPP successful agriculture transformations can be traced to specific single individuals who have an extraordinary impact on the project. Often this is left to chance, but there is great upside to a more systematic approach to supporting key leaders, from community leaders and high-level government officials to FPI-I employees.

We believe in recruiting our coordinators, facilitators, and cluster leaders from participants in our skills and knowledge transfer sessions, after recruitment it will be time to take them through Cluster formation and management sessions in their respective areas. To understand cluster farming strategy please read more here>>>>>>

FPI will not be a passive participant in promoting cluster farming, it plans to acquire 100 000 hectares of land in each country of operations through a 5 to 10-year land lease and then invite 6 to 10 farms into a clustering arrangement in each province in the countries it has its presences, these facilities are also known as out-growers or contract farms.

Through collective action, smallholder farmers are able to maintain the continuity of supply, quality, and the range of products that institutional buyers demand, thereby enabling them to engage with higher-value markets.
Through being a cluster member, farmers report that they were better able to access markets, and market information and had a better understanding of the dynamics of the market; it was easier to access technical and financial support; and, with more social connections and more opportunities to engage with other farmers, smallholder farmers had greatly improved their technical knowledge and cultivation skills. ...Read more>>>

Value Chain Development:

FPI's work establishes agriculture cross-border value chains that put the aspirations and needs of those who produce, process, distribute and consume food at the heart of its equitable food systems transformation.

Project Summary (3-minute video): https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=799499891021480

(The success of the Rural & Urban Agriculture Innovative Production program (RUAIPP) depends on well-structured activities. The RUAIPP program entailed several projects such as Chicken feeds Production, Hatchery, and Factory Setup which were groundbreaking projects running for 2 years from 2019 to 2021. As an extension to the tested & proven program, in February 2022 three (3) key export-based backyard farming projects were initiated in the country through a Skills and knowledge transfer…. These include bag potatoes, sunflowers, & Moringa.) A number of benefits from backyard farming fit into the livelihood system of smallholders today. Viable backyard farming improves the ability of smallholders and their communities to meet interrelated concerns about food security, nutrition, health, and economic security.

Urban-to-City Migration

The United Nations estimates that nearly 6.68 billion people will be living in cities by 2050, on this number Africa will contribute the highest numbers with its fastest-growing youth population in the world, with 10-15 million of its young people trying to enter the continent’s job market each year, without success. The FPI program creates linkages between rural and urban food systems. Taking examples from Mexico City, the organization CultiCiudad built the Huerto Tlatelolco, an edible forest with 45 tree varieties, a seed bank, and plots for bio-intensive gardening. In the United States, City Growers uses New York City’s urban farms as a learning laboratory for children to reconnect with nature. In the Kalobeyei Settlement in northern Kenya, urban agriculture represents a tool for empowerment by improving food security, nutrition, and self-sufficiency among refugees.

The Program's project activities are set to accomplish one or any number of the following—

Facilitate rural and urban agriculture assessments and identify opportunities that connect community needs with the benefits of urban agriculture such as food access, nutrition education, conservation, innovation, and economic development, this will reduce the rural-to-urban migration;
Develop recommendations for implementing community gardens and farms that can include urban and rural agroforestry practices, food forests, or orchards, that respond to community needs as it relates to how food is grown, distributed, and marketed in the target area(s);
Assist schools that seek to increase knowledge of food and agricultural disciplines such as nutrition, crop and biology science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and to develop and implement programs that create future leaders, farmers, gardeners, and entrepreneurs in agriculture and innovative production.
Support the development of business plans, feasibility studies, and strategies to help offset start-up costs for new and beginning farmers in urban, suburban, and rural areas;
Provide support for local and national government planning that considers policies to meet the growing needs of and zoning for community gardens and farms, urban agroforestry, orchards, rooftop farms, outdoor vertical production, green walls, indoor farms, greenhouses, high-tech vertical technology farms, and hydroponic, aeroponics, and aquaponic farm facilities.

FPI-I's Rural and Urban Agriculture Innovative Production Program Projects:

FPI’s Rural & Urban Agriculture Innovative Production program (RUAIPP) activities are presently organized around 14 initial export-oriented projects:

The first of its 14 projects are an introduction to commercial farming and technology that benefits farmers located in both rural, peri-urban, urban, and suburban area farming clusters by embarking on the following cash projects:

Bag Potato Farming (RUAIPP)

Sunflower Farming (RUAIPP)

These projects were chosen because of their high income-earning potential, export capacity, and ability to create jobs through the value chain - bringing in foreign direct investment in the process. In addition to these economic benefits, these projects are very low-cost- and several of them can be done from one’s own backyard with minimal provisions. Planting potatoes in bags, for example, is a profitable and fun way of growing spuds in small gardens and on patios and balconies. Potatoes grown this way are also less susceptible to pests and diseases, offering you a better chance of achieving great results.
It's backyard farming and that does not need much land, which means everyone can participate.
After a sizable number of people have been recruited into this project, it will now be time to go and plant potatoes on the farms. (Just one hectare of potato can yield two to four times the food quantity of grain crops. Potatoes produce more food per unit of water than any other major crop and are up to seven times more efficient in using water than cereals.)

Potential benefits and beneficiaries include:

⁃ Income and enhanced urban and rural employment through additional or off-season
production;
⁃ Improved food security;
⁃ Increased availability of food and better nutrition through food diversity;
⁃ Decreased crime as youths create jobs in their communities.
⁃ Decreased risk through diversification;
⁃ Environmental benefits from recycling water and waste nutrients, controlling shade, dust, and erosion,

and maintaining or increasing local biodiversity.

Program beneficiaries Beneficiaries :

The FPI Agriculture Innovative Program brings to life five-year agricultural innovations that will support rural and urban agriculture innovations that bring 10,000 farmers together in each of the +43 countries where FPI has a presence. Within each country, about 2,500-3000 unemployed university and polytechnic graduates shall, directly and indirectly, benefit, with 50% of them being young and elderly women.

The program will also focus on Education and Workforce Professional Development with the following areas of support:

Non-formal education that cultivates food and agricultural interest in youth;
Workforce training at community, junior, and technical colleges;
Training of undergraduate students in research and extension;
Fellowships for predoctoral candidates and postdoctoral scholars; and
Special workforce training in agriculture and rural development

It will also have special participation of people living with disability, and those living with HIV & AIDS. The program shall also benefit school dropouts and out-of-school young farmers, who will be trained under a 24-month-long agribusiness incubation.

Overview of the project Crops & their various by-products:

FPI-I’s methodology for developing profitable, globally demanded cross-border value chains in cash crops is rooted in the clustering of farms as business units for mass production (Out Growers).
To start off, farmers will undergo short training in cash crop production (Skills and Knowledge transfer) and are then asked to go into clusters in their Rural, urban, Peri-urban, and Farming communities to start their projects.

Program phases:

Phase I- Training & Capacitating Farmers (Skills and Knowledge transfer workshops)

Phase II- Mass Production via Cluster Farming

This project involves mobilizing a minimum of 100,000 farmers in each projected country to mass produce high-value cash crops - specifically potatoes, sunflowers, and
Moringa and more, read more here>>>>>. In all countries, self-help projects will be used as an entrance to kick-start relationships with farming communities. The participants in our initial training will be organized into large groups for
the purpose of combining their efforts to mass produce the aforementioned cash crops.

Phase III - Value Addition Capacitating, demand stimulation. The final phase of the program involves training farmers to develop low-cost, value-added products from the cash crops they’ve been cultivating. At the same time, we will begin a marketing campaign to help farmers penetrate local markets.

Phase IV - Market Linkages & Goods Exports

In addition to developing & increasing penetration of these goods in local markets, FPI’s global
secretariat would simultaneously begin to court and cultivate international markets (in Europe
and Asia) to stimulate demand in the international community.
Once these tasks are accomplished, we will introduce Equity/Venture Capital Investments through
FPI-Investments (the capital investment arm of Farmers Pride International Investments). This will allow
promising projects to formally commercialize and achieve optimal market penetration. Through
the intervention of FPI-Investments, equity investments in qualifying projects can receive up to 5
years of financial assistance, after which FPI-I will divest 90% of its shareholdings to the
benefiting farmers chosen for participation in equity investment.

The ultimate long-running goal of this project will be to facilitate the sale of locally-made goods to
international markets. As such, the previous phases were rooted in the objective of helping
unorganized, smallholder farmers to collectivize and become capacitated to produce export-quality
products. Once this is achieved, FPI-I will be able to directly broker the sale of its products to the global
markets.

Value Addition:

Below, we will give you a few crops and their value-added byproducts:

The potato crop can be processed into a range of value-added products such as crisps,
various snack food items, French fries, dried products such as flakes, and convenience products
such as pre-peeled potatoes and Vodka.

Other products include the Production of Potato Chips & Wafers, Potato Granules, Potato Wine, Alcohol, Vodka, Sticks, French Fries, Potato Specialities, Dehydrated, Frozen Potato Products, Potato Starch, Potato Powder, Flakes & Pellets, Liquid Glucose, value-added Products.

Frozen Chips or French Fries (RUAIPP)

Sunflower Processing:

Sunflowers can be processed into the following products: yellow dyes, animal fodders, Cooking oils, butter, granola, cereal, bread, bakery products, trail mix, and pasta, among othergoods

Sunflower Cooking oil Production and Processing

Moringa benefits the environment:

It is drought-resistant and fast-growing, moringa gives developing-world families the power to restore their local environment, and impact global reforestation. Planting moringa removes carbon dioxide from the air, produces oxygen, holds moisture in the soil, provides erosion control, and reforests the land

Moringa can be processed into the following products: such as tea, leaves and leaf powder, oil, and moringa seeds have numerous applications in food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and animal feed industries, biodiesel, water purificators, and liquids to name but a few of the more than 100 products from the miracle tree, each of its products are on demand globally and will bring foreign currency to any country.

Moringa Processing

Angel Investments:

The program will become self-sustainable through FPI Angel investments which take place after a group of committed farmers have come together under a cluster farming arrangement and implement two successive projects, this is done to give life to the projects after the exit of the FPI Angel funding, The Angel funding and Angel investments are the best modes of supporting this program which has several projects with high returns on investment that are expected through the creation of several agro-based farming and processing projects/companies that will create 100, 000 projects/companies that will, in turn, bring 1 million agro-based jobs per country to live with a net income ranging from $1,9 billion to $2.9 billion per country in 5 years with Moringa farming, processing and exporting topping the list on the net income.

Vertical Farming?

Vertical farming is the agricultural process in which crops are grown on top of each other, rather than in traditional, horizontal rows. Growing vertically allows for the conservation of space, resulting in a higher crop yield per square foot of land used. Vertical farms are mainly located indoors, such as a warehouse, where they have the ability to control the environmental conditions for plants to succeed.

Vertical Farming, Video Credit to Rakimlong

Historical Precursors to the Modern Indoor Vertical Farm

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were the fabled gardens that adorned the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

Babylonians are the innovators behind the most well-known example of early advanced agriculture systems. Built nearly 2,500 years ago, their hanging gardens are thought to be the earliest prototype of a vertical farm (vertical refers to the practice of growing the plants upward to maximize growing space).

Beyond this ancient Wonder of the World, there are myriad examples of how civilizations have worked to manipulate their environments to make farming easier and/or more productive. One thousand years ago, the Mesoamerican Aztec society pioneered a form of hydroponics (hydroponics is the science of growing plants without soil in a nutrient-rich solution). The Aztecs grew plants on marshy ‘rafts’ suspended in rivers and shallow lake beds. The remnants of these small, rectangular areas of fertile, arable land, known as chinampas, can still be seen in Mexico City today.

FPI-I Vertical Farming:

Starting at the ground level, traditional farming in the field relies on the soil as the main growing medium. This soil is reinforced over time, through manual inputs, such as organic or inorganic chemical fertilizers, to contain enough nutrients to support healthy crops. Soil is also the reason farming isn’t spread evenly around the country. In rocky, unglaciated areas like the mountain west, the soil lacks the nutrients or composition required to grow plants with scale. Conversely, in flat, heavily glaciated areas of the Midwest, layers of nutrient-dense topsoil (the result of glaciers crushing rocks and organic matter 10,000 years ago) give plants a perfect environment to thrive.

FPI-I's Vertical Farms will not use soil and will therefore not be bound to one geographical location. Instead, plants will grow hydroponically, aeroponically, or even aquaponically. This means that at FPI-I, vertical farms' plants’ roots will be suspended in nutrient-rich water. This filtered and purified water is packed with a carefully calculated mix of plant-specific nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium, and carried throughout the growth system to the plants.

FPI-I’s indoor vertical farms will not use sunlight, another advantage over traditional farming. Whereas traditional farms’ growing cycles are determined by seasonal variations in temperature and sunlight, indoor vertical farms supply their own light source for year-round photosynthesis through energy-efficient LED lights. In fact, as the cost of LED lighting has gone down, there has been a correlated increase in vertical farming systems around the world. Without the lights, nothing could grow. At FPI’s smart farms, the lights will be connected to a central operating system, the BoweryOS, which controls not only when the lights go on and off, but also the intensity of the lighting itself.

Why is Vertical Farming Important for Our Future Food System?

While this elaborate system might seem extravagant compared to the Old MacDonald image of farming in the USA, there is reason to believe in indoor farming as an important way forward.

This next frontier of farming boasts some important advantages: it allows farmers to produce more output, use fewer resources, and reduce transportation by locating operations closer to the point of consumption. At FPI, we shall work on developing and implementing technological solutions into our indoor vertical farms to address many of the key issues humans are facing, including:

Irresponsible Water Usage:

About 70% of the world is covered by water, but only 2.5% is fresh. Only 1% percent of freshwater is easily accessible — and agriculture consumes 70% of it globally. That’s a lot of water!

Water is continuously recirculated in our irrigation system, resulting in significant water savings compared to field-grown crops.

Loss of Arable Land:

Over the past 40 years, we’ve lost 30% of Earth’s arable land due to damaging practices, such as urban encroachment and pollution, that cause both topsoil erosion and poor soil health.

FPI-I shall turn industrial spaces outside of cities into smart indoor farms where every square foot is put to use year-round. Using our partner's efficient design stacks crops vertically, making our farms 100x more productive than field-grown operations, all while using the same footprint of land.

Use of Pesticides:

Every year, the world uses more than one billions of pesticides, which can impact ecosystems and diminish soil health. There is a need for a farming method that does not use pesticides and on this FPI-I has a solution.

A Fragmented Food System:

The precarious global food supply chain is susceptible to environmental and economic disruption. Climate and crisis events such as COVID-19 have laid bare the fragility of our food system.

FPI-I’s indoor, vertically integrated farms shall grow 365 days a year and will be located right outside of cities. This means our farms will offer a secure, fresh, and consistent supply of food to local communities.

Food Safety:

At FPI-I, our indoor environment shall not only offer safety from pathogens but will also enable us to control the entire journey of every crop, from seed to store, at an unprecedented scale. A fully traceable and simplified fresh food supply chain, which will not rely on third-party intermediaries and delivers straight to a grocery store, drastically reduces vulnerabilities to outbreaks.

Can Indoor Vertical Farms Feed the World?

While indoor vertical farming provides unique advantages to the problems we’re going to face to feed a growing planet, the output of these farms alone wouldn’t be enough to feed the entire population. Traditional and indoor growers must continue to work together to create a more resilient, sustainable food system.

At FPI-I, our agricultural scientists shall continue to research what’s beyond leafy greens, diversifying the potential output from vertical farms in the near future.

MVU-BSSUS-2021-Q3-Skyscraper-Why-is-Agriculture-Important-Benefits-and-Its-Role-miniIg2-v2

Current Progress:

RUAIPP was successfully piloted in Botswana from 2021 to the end of 2022, it's now time to expand it to other countries, with the intention of replicating in 40 other countries where FPI has branches and partners. We have currently trained 1500 bag potato farmers across the country with a target of 5000 to be involved by the end of the year. Ultimately, this project will mobilize a total of 10,000 farmers in Botswana by the end of year 2. The videos below outline the current state of the project in Botswana:

https://fb.watch/g6CpdQqbr-/

https://m.facebook.com/story.phpstory_fbid=pfbid0A38RnYqvWJduJGFz4H5cRC21sqUVYNw7CpeRxJjPzryK1Xx2PJewGbwF Gra76BP3l&id=100000813782869

Anticipated Deliverables:

100 000 Companies and farms are established in 5 years along the agriculture value chain from 2022 to 2027;
Agriculture-aligned jobs in Africa will reduce the number of young people migrating to western countries by 50% while lowering cases of violence by 35% and helping in the building of a sustainable food system for the world as Africa will be able to feed itself and the rest of the world.
The project shall be replicated further in more countries as FPI-I spreads its wings in the next 10 years.
Cooperative and cluster-based farming techniques to make agriculture attractive and market access to the rural poor and socially disadvantaged in 40 countries in 5 years.
Research and other studies are carried out to identify and increase technological integration for successful youth participation in commercial agriculture in 43 countries in 5 years;
40 countries are introduced to sustainable, self-funded business capitalization structures in rural communities and Self-help Microfinance programs for rural communities)
10 years country-specific strategic plan/program portfolio for FPI in 43 host countries;
50 modules and programs for training, coaching, and mentoring youth in agro-entrepreneurship (Programs physical-based or virtual) are developed to be used in future training;
Country-specific youth-focused climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in 43 countries

We believe that if given enough support agriculture will result in the following:

Building family and community economies;
Support means of food production and processing
Establishment of the fastest job creation solution for any troubled global economy;
Serves as an effective mechanism for violence prevention;
Serves as a mechanism for re-integration (back into society)
Can serve as a mechanism for de-escalation (by reducing combatants).
Most entrepreneurship in the developing world occurs in the agriculture sector.

This means that the dividends described above occur on the widest scale with agro-entrepreneurship versus commercial success in other sectors.

Agriculture is also one of the most inclusive sectors of the global economy, hence concentrating on this sector allows the aforementioned dividends to reach even the most marginalized communities

Other benefits:

FPI-I shall provide implementation strategies to project partners and have high hopes that these program activities will support the achievement of the following:

Land and Soil Management: it will offer skills and knowledge in land management by promoting zero tillage to help maintain soil health and prevent soil erosion.
Production: it will support the integration of technology in crop protection & biotech products to enable an effective integrated pest management strategy;
Post-harvest crop handling: trains its participants in these skills as they play a very important role in crop production and determine the final product's quality and price on the market. If the crops turn out to be in good condition after postharvest they can be sold for fresh consumption.
Market linkages: Facilitate market linkages between farmers and various markets e.g. processors, local supermarkets, municipal markets, hospitality industries, and overseas markets being supported through market development and logistical arrangements.
Waste management: trains its members in waste management, which includes disposal and recycling of all materials they use in their agriculture activities and
Research: will allow evidence-based solutions to the economy as well as the social and environmental situation through research studies that will be carried out during its lifespan.
Transportation & exports: Taking a look at Globalisation and increased trade and investment flows among countries, opportunities, and intensified competition in the world market. Increased greater competition and importance of efficiency in logistics management, which is an important determinants of export competitiveness. Many countries that have intensified their links with the global economy through trade and investment have grown more rapidly over a sustained period and have consequently experienced economic development.
Technical support: FPI will not be a passive participant when it comes to agriculture, it believes in being an active participant through offering training to its partners to enable farmers to make informed farming decisions.
Climate Change Adaptation: a process of adjusting to the current and future effects of climate change as well as mitigation, a means of making the impacts of climate change less severe by preventing and reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere.

Co-ordination and collaboration between implementing agencies

Agriculture is a multi-sectoral and multi-dimensional sector. The effectiveness of the structure and mechanism formed for the coordination and collaboration among implementing agencies (ministries, local level actors, and private sectors as per their needs) should be enhanced in order to take ownership of the RUAIPP implementation.

The central focus should be at the local level i.e. at farmers rather than at the central or regional level, given the geographical diversity and social disparity of many African villages. The legal provision to make local agencies key responsible agencies for the coordination, monitoring, evaluation, facilitation, and implementation of desired results should be arranged.

RUAIPP implementation should adopt policies that encourage the local farmers to play a leading role in their community to unite and to present suggestions and inquisitiveness in favor of the farmers' interest.

Human resources:

For effective implementation of RUAIPP, human resource development, and capacity enhancement should be given priority. Agriculture education, research, and extension; agriculture university, school, and agriculture research center establishment and expansion.
Agriculture education is to be managed at the school level. Drifting apart from a blanket approach to providing education and services based on Geographical orientation and sensitivity. To support the harmonization of Agriculture education, research, and extension and for coordination to create an inter-ministerial channel with prefixed TOR (EDUCATION AND agriculture). For agricultural expansion, creating locally stationed schools as the focal point.
To manage awareness-raising classes in secondary schools by agriculture experts once a month, on topics related to the benefits of Organic agriculture products and the use of organic fertilizers to include agriculture-related topics in teachers’ training.
Quality and niche products are competitive; farmers developing technology should be encouraged.

Long-term land management:

For agriculture, land reforming is important. To address the difficulty of agricultural land, RUAIPP, in coordination with any Government's Ministry of Land Management, should prepare an action plan (to be mentioned in the strategy) with regard to land utilization and management. Formulation of the plan for the utilization of land for the agriculture sector.
The growth of residences in agriculture-friendly land has an impact on it. Therefore; settlement development should be managed in the resident area only. A land utilization policy should be implemented to protect agricultural land from being developed as a resident area.
For Landless farmers free classes) to manage safe residence and contractual land with all agriculture facilities to be provided for income generation. There should be a mechanism for proper monitoring and evaluation while giving the land.
There can be no growth in agriculture production and social justice unless the landless farmers are managed. RUAIPP should look to resolve this conflict.
Plotting of agricultural land is an important aspect of increment in agriculture production. Proper management of plotting through Community, Agriculture Based Clusters, and private businesses. Based on this, those who want to work in the community farming system should be given an allocated dimension of the land and also manage a 50% subsidy from the production of the first year. There should be a proper legal reformation for this.

Seed Production And Distribution:

Protection, preservation, and promotion of Traditional and local seeds and saplings.
For this, participatory research management in the involvement of lead farmers.
Protection of patent rights.
Participatory research facilities.
Encouragement to farmers for seed production and to provide insurance facilities to these farmers.
Also to encourage private and cooperative sectors in seed production for business through seed industry management.

Organic Agriculture :

To promote organic farming in hilly regions, provide subsidies to farmers for organic certification and promotion of compost fertilizers. Development of “organic zone” and pocket packaging approach for promotion of organic production.

Fertilizers :

Easy and free accessibility of fertilizers so as to increase agriculture production for the growing population. There must be a factory for chemical fertilizers in every program country, its establishment is essential.

Timely and ecological :

Programs that aid in the protection of land ecology and climate change minimization should be implemented.
Management of the impact of landslides, floods, and other natural disasters should be given priority
For agriculture development-related projects, agriculture and forest or land and water relations should be addressed.
Coordination between the Ministry of Forest and the Ministry of Agriculture promotes herbal products and its business.
RUAIPP needs to address the forest industry, especially agroforestry too.
All this needs to be rightly addressed.

Financial and other support to farmers

Governments must classify the farmers based on the update of the agriculture census and provide them with identity cards based on this.
Monitoring of the services provided to farmers by the government.
Availability of credit cards to the farmers.
Pension fund establishment for agricultural laborers.
Simplification of the procedure for registration of agriculture-related industry
Formulation of necessary strategy after farmers’ classification. To guarantee self-dependent food security, provide a 50% subsidy in the agriculture investment of farmers to increase productivity in every inch of the land.
Formulation of a work plan to regulate the market from local mechanisms and its monitoring.
Provide subsidies to farmers in the transportation of agriculture logistics in hard-to-reach areas.
All Village Development at Community-level one cooperative market, collection, and distribution center. To provide subsidies in agriculture technology and raw materials to farmers who are willing to start an agriculture business
Creating employment for Farmers who are unemployed during the seasonal time.
Proper evaluation of the contribution of women in agriculture, identification of women farmers, land ownership, and special priority in agriculture facilities.

Value Chain Development:

Though the strategy has given priority to value chain development there is still limitation. RUIAPP hasn’t given much attention to fruits, flower farming, spice-related products, bee farming, fish farming, and poultry. These need to be included in the value chain as they are important from an ecological viewpoint, nutritious, promotion of export, and also important for employment generation.

Crop Protection And Agriculture Tourism:

To drive Agro-tourism, increased production of local food and agricultural crops as well as emphasizing locally available foods and recipes can stimulate the local economy as well as showcase diversity.

One Home, One Garden Initiative (Homestead Garden):

Backyard farming should be established within each household to maximize the production of seasonal fruits, vegetables, and cereal.

Intellectual Property :

Intellectual Property Law needs to be formulated in all project countries, laws for crop security and environment protection have not been incorporated.
Intellectual Property Law is important for establishing entrepreneurial businesses related to cattle and agriculture.
The Ministry of Agricultural Development should be coordinated with the Ministry of Industry to clear out the rights and information related to Intellectual Property Law.
The governments should make all the policies, strategies, and written documents in the local language in order to aid every citizen to understand them.

Implementation Partners FPI:

The program will have IPs to see it accelerate existing and emerging models of rural, urban, indoor, and other agricultural practices that serve multiple farmers and gardeners. The program will be used to improve access to local food in the target area(s). IPs may be designed to—

Facilitate the development of entrepreneurial projects by offering needed resources, such as job training, land, equipment, mentoring, and other business development assistance to new and beginning farmers;
Increase food production in small urban and indoor spaces with emerging technologies such as vertical farming, hydroponics, aquaponics, rooftop farms, urban agroforestry, etc.; o Operate community gardens and non-profit farms to educate communities on food systems, nutrition, environmental impacts, urban agroforestry, food forests, sustainable agriculture, and agricultural production and/or to offer hands-on training in farming and gardening;
Meet specific state, province, local, or community food and agricultural needs by assisting municipalities, food producers, community organizations, and schools with policies for community gardens and farms that address food access, soil health, emerging technologies, and agricultural business; or
Provide schools with resources to incorporate and emphasize the importance of growing and consuming nutritious food, as well as training students for careers in agriculture.

Managing the transformation:

Agricultural transformation is not just a planning exercise. It takes management over time. Our experience suggests that creating a Project Management Office (PMO) can greatly increase the chances of carrying out a successful large-scale change program. A PMO can concentrate talent, monitor implementation, act as a source of truth, and, in general, help get things done. The office can apply accepted project management technologies to break the transformation into discrete initiatives, each with specific goals, timing, and responsibility. A PMO is also charged with engaging relevant stakeholders when problems arise.

There is a case for using existing structures such as ministries rather than creating a temporary new organization. However, our experience shows that, depending on the country, the positives of a PMO (improved coordination, management of progress toward targets, increased ability to learn and adjust implementation over time) can greatly outweigh the negatives (high transaction costs, the potential for added complexity in political channels). Most large-scale transformations in the private sector use versions of PMOs. Some countries with recent success in agricultural transformations are using PMOs (including Ethiopia and Morocco).

Monitoring Implementation Progress and Managing Risks:

This strategy presents a program for revitalizing FPI-I activities in rural areas and increasing the effectiveness of the company’s work in reducing rural poverty. Reaching the Rural Poor pays close attention to monitoring and evaluation of strategy implementation. The targets and benchmarks will be used against the current baseline for evaluating progress over a five-year period. The Implementation Monitoring framework is designed around results-based management principles, expressed as inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impacts.

The company’s Agriculture and Rural & Urban Development Board shall work closely with country directors, shareholders, and other stakeholders and management to ensure alignment of the rural and urban program strategy implementation framework with emerging companies working on results-based management.

Risk Mitigation:

Several risks are inherent in implementing the strategy. Some of this depends on events that are beyond the control of the Bank and of the countries concerned. The main risks perceived are:

Not all sectors operating in rural areas take up the challenge of rural poverty reduction.
The necessary institutional arrangements, incentives framework, and appropriate staff skills mix are not addressed.
The opportunities do not materialize for the institutional learning and innovation that are expected to emerge in the context of a sharpened focus on programmatic lending operations.
The company, its country partners, and other stakeholders cannot mobilize country buy-in to intensify emphasis on attacking rural poverty.
The program of countries does not achieve long-term growth and does not address issues related to enhanced and more equitable access to assets for all.

The successful implementation of this strategy is a challenge for both FPI-I and its farming communities and partners. FPI-I recognizes that it cannot work alone. It will deepen relationships with program countries, strengthen existing alliances and forge new ones with other investors and development partners, the private sector, and organizations of civil society to broaden the understanding of rural development issues, share experiences, build capacity, and mobilize the necessary resources to overcome rural poverty.

The future of RUAIPP:

5 years from now a new innovation will be brought into the agriculture sector through the RUAIPP, this is not new to the world but new to our rural farming communities.

FPI-I believes in a well-known principle in adult learning and that skill-building works best when it is connected to real work and practical problem-solving. With this in mind, we believe there is great value in the creation of an Agriculture academy focused on building the next generation of leaders in agricultural transformation. Here, groups of 20 or so leaders responsible for agricultural transformations in their countries jointly go through an 18-month leadership journey using a “field and forum” approach. They would assemble every few months for intense technical and leadership training, and then return to their roles at home, with remote access to both expert support and a peer network. This approach costs relatively little but produces better individual leaders and facilitates alignment in a country’s top team.

The Future Of Agriculture

Progress on enabling policies:

Agricultural transformation is more than a change in farming practices. It is about catalyzing the transformation of a country’s rural economy. As such, more than just agricultural trade and subsidy policies are in play. For example, laws and regulations that influence banking, labour, infrastructure, land ownership, and access to water, telecommunications, taxes, and insurance are also critical considerations in agro-food production success stories.

Project Sustainability:

FPI-I believes in working with its partners to build its project capital and to achieve this it will employ a social enterprise approach that allows profits from the projects to be reinvested into old and new projects as it grows across the world.

Scaling-up innovations and successful investments in rural development:

Reaching the Rural Poor pays close attention to identifying and scaling-up good-practice investments, both within countries from pilot initiatives and from one country to other countries or continents. Scaling-up good practices is an integral part of FPI rural and urban agriculture development strategies. We believe that good practices are acquired after years of development experience and are often gained through pilot projects. Innovation through pilot projects will be the lead in our country-to-country implementation. Effective intervention—with its socioeconomic and gender impacts—being locally validated and adapted. Innovative methods of learning and information sharing among countries and development partners shall be taken into consideration. Mechanisms for capturing, validating, disseminating, and adapting good practices shall be developed concurrently. Key lessons learned from this process and good and innovative practices will be shared with development partners as an essential part of this effort.

The Rural and Urban Agriculture Innovative Production Program was developed in the year 2015 and piloted in Botswana in the year 2022 up to date by Elfas Mcloud Zadzagomo Shangwa (Hunter)

Projects

Economics of the Project

Rural Agriculture & Development

Industry Overview

RUAIPP

Objectives

Coordination

Migration

SUSTANABLE FARMING

The success of FPI-I goals is underlined by us achieving the following:

Promoting cluster farming as a means of boosting agriculture production.
Promoting the Integration of technology into Agriculture to influence the involvement of young people and women in the Agricultural Value Chain.
Promoting an understanding of the effects of climate change in agriculture;
Promoting the adoption of sustainable agriculture strategies;
Promoting international market linkages for rural farmers;
Promoting the creation of the main source of off-farm employment in rural areas of poor countries through the involvement of youths in mobile app development;
Promoting positive effects on poverty reduction and economic empowerment through the setting up of Agro-based enterprises in countries where high-value agri-food exports are produced;

OUR GOLDEN MANDATE IN THE SDGs:

The countries of the world agreed to achieve three extraordinary things by the year 2030: 1-end extreme poverty, 2-reduce inequalities and injustice and 3- stop climate change.

These three extraordinary ideas are key drivers of the FPI mandate and link its work to the United Nation's 17 Goals on Sustainable development as a way to improve agricultural productivity in Africa. We're encouraging youth participation in the agriculture value chain to improve the lives of the rural populations and to contribute to the growth of the world economy. We support rural youth and young agricultural producers in the form of strengthening and expanding their farming capacities, knowledge and skills transfer (through education and training) this will in turn increase rural employment creation, it also brings the young graduates from Universities to engage in major policy debates across the world.

One of FPI's Strategic Objectives in its Strategic Framework for 2021–2030 is “Reducing Rural Poverty”, this can be achieved by recognizing that rural youth should be treated as a priority group when it comes to accessing decent employment opportunities.

DATA-DRIVEN AGRICULTURE

FPI-I want to Connect Smallholder farmers to Knowledge, Networks, and Institutions

Digitalised rural Africa is key to its development and creation of sustainable food systems

Information and communication technology (ICT) has always mattered in agriculture. Ever since people have grown crops, raised livestock, and caught fish, they have sought information from one another. Today, ICT represents a tremendous opportunity for rural populations to improve productivity, enhance food and nutrition security, to access markets, and to find employment opportunities in a revitalized sector. ICT has unleashed incredible potential to improve agriculture, and it has found a foothold even in poor smallholder farms.

(FAO)

Smart-Agriculture-through-GPS-Technology

SDGs LINKED AGRICULTURE :

FPI-I's work is linked to all 17 UN SDGs, but specifically to the following Goals :

Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms.
Goal 2: Zero Hunger.
Goal 3: Health.
Goal 4: Education.
Goal 5: Gender equality and women's empowerment.
Goal 6: Water and Sanitation.

With technical and financial support, we will be able to establish sustainable agriculture in all project countries in the next 10 years (2021-2030), according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO): “Sustainable agriculture must nurture healthy ecosystems and support the sustainable management of land, water and natural resources, while ensuring world food security”.

JOB CREATION THROUGH AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA

USING AFRICA'S VAST ARABLE LAND FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYS

Southern Africa Project

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Farmer's Pride International Investiments

A sustainable & Holistic Approach to Food Systems Transformation

An Agriculture Division of the Hunter's Global Network PTY LTD

The Current Challenges Facing the Global Food System:

Rural & Urban Agriculture Innovative Production Program