Changing the nervous mind of small-scale farmers who are reluctant to invest for their development

Abstract

Recent increases in rice consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa are noteworthy. Most of the rice production in these countries depends on an enormous number of small-scale rice farmers. Because they have a poor investment capacity to follow the green revolution, that is, high-yield variety with fertilizer and irrigation, it is necessary to raise the annual production by increasing the number of annual cropping and to improve the water productivity drastically. Salibu rice ratooning technology allows harvesting paddy rice seven times in two years by cultivating ratoon crops with high yield and dramatically low consumption of irrigation water. The authors have conducted a series of cultivation tests in Ghana for over a year and found that the average annual production of rice under the Salibu system was higher than that of the conventional rice cultivation system with much higher water productivity. The authors have also conducted a social experiment on commercial finance by rural banks to farmer-based organizations (FBOs), organized by small-scale rice farmers. The first target of the scheme is group purchasing of small agricultural machinery, which most of the members of the group eagerly want to obtain. We introduced special collateral systems in order to persuade rural banks reluctant to make finance to rice farmers. After realizing the first commercial finance by rural bank to FBO the path to realizing future investment in irrigation was set out in a scenario of gradual solidarity and development.