The level of involvement of different actors especially during value chain fixing is demonstrated in the following five points below.

  1. Engagement of members of the GRIP and commitment to the vision of the platform. Out of 100 actors used in testing engagement to the platform and its vision, 100% showed such engagement by making contribution of 3000 Naira as seed money to purchase paddy and start processing in the newly installed processing facility. For them, they wanted to start using the facility as soon as the training on rice processing was over.

  2. The innovation platform–facility has been registered by the IP actors at the Corporate Affairs Commission of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as: The Goronyo Rice Processing Ventures, with 130 members and initial capital of $1,538. This was done by Members of the Platform led by the Management committee. Since its establishment, the innovation platform has been processing about 23 tonnes of paddy each month during peak seasons, generating $3800 revenue and $584 profit. A complete switch from wood to rice husk as fuel saves an estimated $30–40 per tonne of rice that would otherwise be spent on wood. Due to the high demand for quality paddy, the platform has decided to invest in the production of its own paddy using the varieties validated with AfricaRice. Activities of the AfricaRice Value Chain Research Project have also been captured by media organs https://dailynewstimesco.wordpress.com/2020/03/08/africa-rice-center-trains-sokoto-farmers-on-improved-production-technologies/ and the Africa Rice 2019 Annual Report.

  3. Participation in capacity building activities in the value chain, such as varietal screening, good agronomic practices and post-harvest and value-addition trainings and willingness to share knowledge to other value chain actors. The trainers (researchers from AfricaRice and NCRI) and trainees (farmers, processors, mechanical service providers, marketers and staff of MRVIS) showed a high level of engagement to all the trainings and have started using the knowledge acquired to improve their productivity. The trainees could immediately see the benefits of the training to their product quality. For example, some actors sold paddy to the trainers to be used for the training on rice processing. After the training, those actors preferred to collect the processed rice instead of the money for the paddy because they perceived that the milled rice was of higher quality and will provide them higher profits compared to the paddy. This demonstrates that the availability of different options for marketing the rice produced can improve the functioning of the value chain.

  4. Two different communication teams have visited the platform and processing facility to collect information and share to a wider audience. The communication teams include the TRIMING project communication team led by Mr. Lawal Maradun and the other communication team led by Mr. Chibueze Victor Nwegede. The streaming of information concerning the activities of the GRIP has increased awareness about rice production in the area and galvanized students and policy makers to visit the area.

  5. Five students (Amani O. Esther - (08108405338), Mohammed Ndagi Mohammed - (08135039532), Mohammad Luwayya - (08083032343), Misbahu Bello - (09075719900) and Muhammad Suleiman - (08166043292) from the Department of Agricultural Sciences, Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, were at the processing facility site for their industrial training experience which lasted for six months.

 

Figure 3:Visit of the Member of Parliament (Alhaji Faruk Ahmed Rimawa) representing Goronyo at the Sokoto State House of Assembly paying a visit to the Goronyo rice processing facility.