Kuje Community Solves Energy Problems With Innovative Waste Management

The off-grid community of Rije in Kuje Area Council Abuja, have an extra reason to be hopeful towards the future as a social enterprise initiates a waste to energy project in their community.

Ajima Farms and General Enterprises Nigeria Limited has embarked on the mission of solving the energy challenges facing off-grid rural communities. This mission is currently been achieved by the launch of their Waste-2-Watts Off-Grid solution in partnership with The United States African Development Foundation (USADF) under the Power Africa Challenge. The project would provide electricity, water and bio-gas cooking stoves all powered by the agricultural wastes generated around Kuje which happens to be the hub of farming activities in Abuja.






The project manager, Miss Fatima Oyiza Ademoh and her team of young experts in an interview with the newsmen stated that providing cheap and clean electricity to the community will improve so many aspects of their lives but more importantly it will boost their agricultural productivity because farming is their major source of income. The electricity will be used to process and preserve some of their agricultural produce, boast their productivity and spur several business ventures.’’ She noted.

Ajima Farms would provide bio-gas cooking stoves to help tackle issues of using fossil fuels and firewood which the villagers currently source by cutting down economic trees like shea butter to cook. The project would actively engage the youths in the community during the construction of the bio-gas plant and also trained to manage and operate the biogas technology.

The chief of Rije community, Mr Ibrahim Atakunyamwa thanked the company for choosing Rije to start-off this project while promising to secure and maintain the facilities adding that the project was a step in the right direction for his community.He said the project was a divine intervention after waiting so long for the government to provide such amenities but yielded no result.
``This organization came to us last year and promised to embark on this project but we didn’t believe it will come to reality because many have come with similar promises without yielding any result.
``We will make sure we secure all the facilities to be used for the project and will sensitize our women on the dangers of deforestation and climate change.’’ The chief said.

Ajima farms plans to expand this project to other off grid communities across Abuja and the country. Energy poverty is a massive challenge faced by the country, Kuje alone has 47 off grid communities while the amount of wastes dumped into landfills across the country continues to rise. This project would help address this challenges with their innovative approach to waste management

Bad Market ( A short film on Agriculture )

Raja Obazele a seasoned and experienced film-maker from Abuja submitted this short film. this is an idea for a film he was working onwith Redstar Media an Abuja based outfit. The film highlights a very common problem experienced by farmers in Nigeria.




www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLfnGF1XRGk"

So we all know the story; farmer works haerd all season long to plant grains. The rains has being favourable, the soil is fertile and the harvest is looking like a profitable prospect. Every farmer should be happy - trhe hardwork has been done,its time to reap the financial benefit. But this is only half the story. The farmer needs to find a buyer.

The average small holder Nigerian farmer would typicvally rely on the servicce of a buyer who is usually a middle man to purchase their produce and resell to the community markets near the farm. This is usually where the problem lies. A high chunk of the profitsd accrued from selling agricultural produce is usually for the middleman to the loss of the farmer. This is a best case scenario. On the flipside, a large amount of crops and farm produce are sold at underwhelming prices or left to waste if the middlemen/marketers are not available to purchase from the farmer. Our farmers with limited business skills are left in the red.

There has being a call for government programmes and policies to provide a buffer program. Creating seeds and crops purchase and strorage centres that purchase excess seeds and off seaspon produce would make a world of difference. This would allow farmers and agriculturist to produce at optimum capacity without fear of wasting or under-pricing their efforts by the time the harvest season arrives.