Green Tree Thrift

Green tree thrift (GTT) seeks to create a bio economy on the back of nature to plant 25m trees

Nigeria lost 60 million hectares of primary tropical forestduring the 20th century. Today, the country continues to losemore than 5% of its forest area each year due to deforestation.In this context of severe deforestation in Nigeria, Reforest’Ac-tion is partnering with the local company Green Sahara toput the tree and its countless benefits back at the heart offarmers’ daily lives.Through the development of agroforestry systems thatintegrate trees around and within farmers’ fields, farmers willbenefit from the multiple ecosystem services provided by theplanted trees, whether economic, such as the diversificationof their production thanks to fruit trees and the generation ofadditional income through the sale of fruit on local markets,or environmental, such as the enrichment of cultivated soilsthanks to the nutrients provided by the trees or the provision ofa protective canopy to the underlying crops.Ultimately, the integration of trees into agricultural plots willnot only develop and sustain these new agroforestry systems,but also increase the productivity of their main crops, collectedby Green Sahara Farms to be sold to local agribusinesses for export or domestic use

Green Sahara Revolution

The Green Sahara Revolution is a social impact investment derivative of Green Sahara dedicated to actively empowering people and harnessing all available resources. It is driven by an inner motivation to create innovative solutions to immediate social problems while maintaining a balance between moral imperatives and the generation of revenue.

The Green Sahara Revolution is taking the lead to establish a fundamental rethinking of operational systems that can optimize resources, reduce wastages, empower as many people as possible and thereby be actively sustainable.

MISSION

To Produce World-Class Products and Services from the Base of the Pyramid through Creative Sustainable Practices

VISION

The Production of World-Class Agro-Solutions and Products from the Base of the Pyramid

CORE VALUES

• Revolve- it is a changing world!

• Renew- it is a resourceful world!

• Rejoice- it is a beautiful world!

STRATEGIC GOALS

The strategic goals of the Green Sahara Revolution are broadly defined as follows:

• Develop innovative solutions which can actively reduce the environmental impact of modern life;

• Promote and enhance the sustainable use of resources with emphasis on land, water, food , energy, and biodiversity;

• Develop participative and all-inclusive enterprise models that provide local and community services, people empowerment and capacity development.

• Boost primary production across major industries;

• Address infrastructural deficits and the provision of social amenities and services.

Operation Spicy Green

Farmers operate in a complex, multi-faceted environment and therefore, sustainable development of agriculture requires the development of entrepreneurial and organizational competencies.

The Small-scale Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria were found in a peculiar condition where they achieved relatively very low agricultural productivity largely due to their general poverty coupled with the lack of credit facilities which affected their ability to take risks and expand production; inadequate technologies and organizational deficiencies of the farmers added up to their problems.

Clearly, SWOFON farmers are within the ranks of 1.6 billion women worldwide that rely on farming for their livelihoods, produce more than 50% of the world's food, do some 80% of the farm work in Sub-Saharan Africa, but rarely recognized as farmers and face widespread restrictions on decision-making about the resources for production, land, access to productivity-enhancing inputs such as credit, fertilizer, improved seeds and extension; and control over the produce resulting from their labour and other investment.

The Green Sahara Revolution through its Operation Spicy Green, one of its Great Green Fields Project has been proactively gearing efforts towards helping the small-scale rural farmers in the commercial cultivation of economically viable ORGANICALLY GROWN spices through an inclusive approach while especially filling the gender gap, meeting the needs of women and empowering the people.

We believe that the Green Sahara Revolution can spark sustainable development of the agricultural sector by helping farmers assume responsibility for their own development by adopting new principles, values, attitudes and behaviors that lead to a liberation of social energy, with synergistic results.

OUTPUT, OUTCOME AND BENEFITS

Output

The organized commercial production of economically ORGANICALLY GROWN viable and highly profitable spices and herbs by small-scale rural farmers

Outcome

• Enhanced agricultural participation by small scale farmers in the rural economy;

• Better organization of small scale farmers in agro-business;

• Increased quantity and quality of agricultural produce;

• Better access to credit by the small-scale farmers;

• Secured premium market for agricultural produce;

• Acquisition of technical know-how and enterprise skills by small-scale rural farmers Benefits

• More than 50% increase in the yield of the farmers per hectare;

• 80% to 100% increase in the income of the farmers;

• Cost to the farmers reduced by more than 90%;

• More than 1,000 people directly employed and over 2,000 jobs sustained;

• Potential to engage some 20,000 persons in a project;

• Provision of a better standard of living.

The several barriers to the development of agricultural businesses have been there: small production scale; lack of capital; limited access to markets, distribution channels and business support; inadequate legislation and regulation; poor management skills on the part of farmers; isolation from learning centers; and a lack of entrepreneurial spirit.

The development of entrepreneurial and organizational competency in farmers is not an easy task A shared vision of the farmer as entrepreneur is important in agricultural development. Clearly, agricultural development requires economic support and a greater emphasis on education and training.

Although the Great Green Fields Programmes of Green Sahara Revolution and particularly the Operation Spicy Green project focuses on agricultural activities, the development of organizational and entrepreneurial competency of farmers can lead to innovation through new farm-based non-agricultural activities that could substitute declining incomes from agriculture.