American giant John Deere is being praised for its farming education program named Rayuwa in Nigeria. In 2020, Deere partnered with local farmers and a non-profit on the Rayuwa project, which teaches Nigerian farmers better agricultural methods to help them through ‘hunger season.’ On May 4th, Fast Company announced John Deere as the winner of the corporate social responsibility category of its 2021 award for World Changing Ideas.
Rayuwa means “livelihood” or “life” in the Hausa language, native to Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Benin, and Chad. So far, the Rayuwa project has lived up to its name. According to its data from last year, Nigeria saw a 10% drop in food scarcity during the summer – a time of the year known to locals as the “hunger season.” Despite the global pandemic and rising poverty in Nigeria, these farmers produced more and earned more—precisely around $1.3 million more.
Lekan Tobe, a PYXERA Global member who oversees the Rayuwa project, suspects that the program weathered the pandemic because they employed team members from eleven target villages. “Most of the guys are actually in the village, some right in the community, some 5-10 minutes from the village,” Tobe added.
When the program began, there were 2,500 veteran farmers and 4,000 newcomers. Now, the total number of participating farmers in the area is 8,000. While John Deere is mainly a sponsor for the Rayuwa project, their employees are encouraged to volunteer.
Nate Clark, the President of the John Deere Foundation, said:
We’re still pinching ourselves about it. It’s a powerful confirmation that when people look at opportunities or activities that can change the world, that they realize that farmers play an important part in making the world a better place.
The Rayuwa project plans to expand this year from eleven villages to twenty-one, and Clark added that John Deere is continuously thinking of how else the program can improve and grow.
