Fit to national policy

Successes of RIU Nigeria to 2010
A key prong of the RIU Nigeria programme strategy is linkage to national agricultural policies, priorities and processes. This is important because national ownership of the successful experiments, under the RIU Nigeria programme, will make institutionalization and integration into existing priorities and processes, a possibility.

In a big country like Nigeria, the RIU programme cannot make much impact without an effective mechanism for ensuring the eventual up-scaling and out-scaling of successful pilot activities. Therefore, fitting the RIU Nigeria programme into the national agricultural policies, priorities and processes will, perhaps, lead to the achievement of large-scale impact.

RIU Nigeria works under a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), the federal agency mandated to coordinate agricultural research in the country. There are 15 agricultural research institutes dispersed across the Nigeria; each institute has its official mandate, either focusing on a particular crop or livestock line.

Initially, the ARCN formally wrote to the national agricultural research institutes that are directly relevant to the RIU Nigeria programme focus, informing them of the commencement of programme implementation and urging them to be proactive in engaging with the RIU programme activities. This opened the door for RIU Nigeria country team to get very good cooperation from the research institutes. Once the mutual interest and trust were established, there was a quick understanding of each party's priorities and processes, and communication was enhanced.

Historically, national agricultural research institutes in Nigeria have done mostly 'blue sky' research and not much it has been put into use. The state-run agricultural extension system is not under the coordination of the ARCN or a unified budgetary system; therefore, the priorities of the research institutes are not necessarily harmonized with the priorities of the extension system. Operationally, RIU Nigeria, through the Value Chain Innovation Platforms in Cassava, Cowpea-Soybean-Livestock, and Aquaculture sub-sectors, fills this gap between the research institutes and the rural advisory and extension systems.

Some of the linkages between RIU Nigeria and the government include:

• RIU-Nigeria was provided office accommodation within the ARCN Secretariat as part of the terms of the collaboration with the ARCN.
• Four senior staff members of the ARCN are responsible for participating and monitoring RIU activities, and reporting back to the ARCN. This arrangement serves as a mechanism for programme accountability as well as a channel for continuous feedback from ARCN to the RIU Nigeria country team on how the government perceives the implementation of the programme. ARCN participates in the planning as well as field activities of the three Value Chain Innovation Platforms.
• State-run agricultural extension systems - known as the Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) - in each state of the federation, participate in the Value Chain Innovation Platform activities. This is the only mechanism through which the ADPs and research institutes have worked jointly on getting research outputs into use in the country.
• Periodic meetings are also held between the RIU Nigeria country team members and the respective ARCN directors.
• The ARCN has developed a work plan and directed each national agricultural research institute to adopt a village and work with private sector partners in forming a Value Chain Innovation Platform related to the institute's mandate sector. This means that successful elements from the RIU-assisted Value Chain Innovation Platform will be adapted, incorporated and replicated in new sub-sectors and in new locations across Nigeria. RIU Nigeria will support this process by paying for a consultant to facilitate the processes. The ARCN considers this as a top priority and has requested for RIU Nigeria programme to participate.
• The ARCN has indicated that funding for the promotion of the Value Chain Innovation Platform in designated Adopted Villages will be provided by World Bank. The ARCN negotiated a major funding from the World Bank in March 2010. RIU Nigeria made a presentation during one of the meetings. The World Bank has approved a major funding for ARCN to implement a project known as the West African Agricultural Productivity Project (WAAPP). The ARCN plans to commit some of the money to the promotion of Value Chain Innovation Platforms in the Adopted Villages model mentioned above.
• RIU Nigeria has also conducted an appraisal of policies related to Cassava and Cowpea-Soybean subsectors. Reports on these were presented to respective forum of stakeholders, and the finished documents were submitted to the responsible policy agencies for their follow up. We have had very active involvement of the federal ministries of agriculture, trade and industry, and various specialized agencies and the private sector. Even rural farmers who are normally not involved or consulted on policy issues participated at the forums because they were part of the representatives of their respective Value Chain Innovation Platform. Their views and suggestions were captured and included in the final report.
• RIU Nigeria presented the report on cassava policy to the National Assembly's House Committee on Agriculture. The Committee has requested RIU-Nigeria to prepare and present a Memorandum when privately sponsored Bill on Cassava is ready for public debate.