[Music]
I will be talking about the love rice so
I was going to start wondering if the
applauses for me or for jollof I was
going to keep it a secret
while I was going to talk about because
I figured if I did say jollof rice
people would expect to eat jollof right
and I mean Nigerians are obsessed with
the love we have a very huge appetite
for jollof and we had a crazy idea at
work but why not send jollof rice to
space absurd right so I mean you could
think of any number of reasons why we
want to do that so maybe we want to see
how you know the molecular structure of
the loaf will change if it went to space
or maybe we just thought it would be
nice to really get the love out there
may be extraterrestrial life would be
interested in us after all if they
tested something greater still of oh you
know maybe we just really just wanted to
do it for the heck of it but I’d like to
tell you we did it because farmers
especially smallholder farmers isolated
they live in spaces that are not
connected to formal markets including
banks including agricultural credit
including agricultural knowledge
including a lot of things that you know
large-scale farmers farmers in other
places have access to so we thought to
do that and I started thinking of how do
we find the best rice farm in Nigeria so
we we thought okay let’s measure
groundwater circulation let’s measure a
lot of things and find the best farm and
our search led us to canoe and going to
Cana we thought okay how do we get into
a waterlogged farm you know so we got
Sadek would tell you the Bugatti for the
farm so we went in that and we went into
the farm and to my surprise what we
found was amazing this farm about a
hundred and fifty hectares in a dingy in
Cana state is actually run by nine
strong women and it’s it’s
it’s fascinating because women are among
the isolated smallholder farmers in
Nigeria and Africa the most
disadvantaged and yet they are doing
something so great and so amazing so I
took time I mean to look at what they
are doing to look at them to see really
what makes their farming great and what
makes their rice farm great so back to
the story we’re out to find the best
rice farm in Nigeria Sudha we can send
that rise to space right so we found the
farm using a number of metrics but then
we found also the people who grew the
rice who are amazing people really this
is the youngest of them
Halima she grows at least three hectares
which is massive and it’s it’s
incredible and then this is Amina
she has slightly more than Halima but
she’s also doing great
this is Rabi this is Binta this is
Ayesha this is how are and this is Appa
I mean Abby is not a woman but here’s
here’s that here’s the thing Appa helps
these women get across because they have
to actually get into a ferry to reach
their waterlogged farms he not only does
that he helps them bargain which is the
problem that I’m trying to let you see
that the jollof rice you eat probably
came from you know a number of woman who
grows a loaf as a matter of life and
death for them they need to grow this
rice so that they’d be able to eat so
they able to send their children to
school so they’ll be able to do a lot of
things that we take for granted so rice
is their means of livelihood
this is Fatima she doubles as a farmer
as an extension agent
among these farmers so I mean we know
farmers know how to group themselves
these women do that efficiently this is
Alton a tree she’s their head so she
probably started the whole thing the
whole group of nine farmers and what
I would like to tell you about Halima’s
fortitude is she
I mean Alton II she she not only groups
the farmers but she makes sure that they
access these things that they ordinarily
wouldn’t have access to I spoke to her
and learned about what really bothers
farmers what’s their problem what do
they need and all of that I mean it’s my
job I speak to farmers and I have been
interacting with farmers nearly all my
life so what they complain about is you
know what we postulated they are not
connected to agricultural markets
imagine if banks or markets where rooms
so the farmer has to leave wherever they
are to actually physically go to a place
if they wanted to sell rice in abuja
they’d have to either come to Abuja to
find market price and go back and
prepare for it
or give it a middle man who ripped them
off so there’s a need to connect them to
agricultural market and for us to find a
perfect jollof to find the perfect rice
to make the perfect I love to go to
space we needed to have helped them grow
the rice we need and that’s what happens
in real agricultural markets
specifications have to work with the
farmers so you can’t tell me that you
closed the borders you improve you know
the supply of fertilizers and seed and
you expect everything to go right these
are people they are growing things so
you need to connect them to real markets
for instance I want rice to make the
love to go to space my market
specification I don’t want any type
arise I want a specific rice grown right
with the right water content the right
nutrient content in case the aliens want
to eat it you know a lot of other things
so I have to tell them my specifications
now this is the kind of thing that I
hope and I envision will be done in
order to bridge the gap to make it easy
for farmers small holder farmers
especially women to access markets to
access possibilities and opportunities
and contribute their own quarter to our
economy and feeders because they do it
better than anybody else so I thought
why don’t we build you know an
information system
by farmers could get this market
information and could be helped to grow
to this market information so I want 5
kg of rice simple right and I wanted to
be grown for me to take it to space so I
tell these women and they get to walk
they get the right extension to do it
they know what to do they know thereby
they know what I want and they grow to
my specification and it’s beautiful what
they can do now that so was a moment of
truth for me because then I realized
actually since starting my company
verdant which works with farmers I I
have actually found the best farmers to
be women so this woman is in nasarah
and she was one of our earliest adopters
and she uses our system to actually do
amazing work and she had a rice farm and
it’s incredible and then working with
Oxfam we had our few men who call
themselves the appointee women they’re
amazing and been wasted and they grow
incredibly well and enabling them to
grow in an environment that is you know
technologically enabled for them to
connect to markets and to knowledge does
beyond what do you think and so this is
really I mean it started from jollof
rice of course but really I feel like we
need to do more for small holders and we
need to do more for our women farmers
and that is exactly why we are sending
rise to space not just the aliens so
back to the farm now remember the
process we’re trying to get our rice
yeah this is what they do they do not
have a single you know mechanical
equipment to help in the farm I mean not
because it’s not cool to do so but
because this is what works for them this
is what their market wants so if I told
them that my rice going to space will
not be beaten on drums to be winnowed
they would definitely then walk on
getting something to do that right so I
met an entrepreneur most Nigerians
preneur especially the millionaires and
billionaires don’t like being called on
too close they’re businessmen so I met a
businessman and he he told me that oh he
just returned from Belarus
trying to get attractor plants in
Nigeria and he went on four minutes
telling me how that is the problem we do
not have plants here we do not have
tractors we do not have equipment we do
not have infrastructure but how on earth
is the interest rates are going to be
relevant to people like these if the
market does not want what they want if
you build a road or a railroad from this
farm in a dinghy where I had to go into
an ox cart that I’ve never been to go to
all the way to the market it’s useless
if the market does not want what the
farm is growing if you did it if you did
an airport and it was transporting rice
took Abuja if it’s not the right type of
rice it’s irrelevant so I told him that
rather than bring this big plant of you
know tractors and and combine harvesters
why don’t we walk on get in the market
if China is interested in our eyes trust
me you don’t need to build the road for
them you do not need to bring the
tractors for them and what you really
want is not to just lift off a
technology somewhere and just dump it on
us like we have cultures where people
human beings who have been growing for
ages who actually helped the economy to
reach where it is today I mean the the
agriculture did you know suppose for the
oil exploration and all of that so we
need to actually remember that and put
that in our considerations when we
invested in agriculture and that’s
exactly what I hope this project the
jollof rice project will help us achieve
and this was the final produce so we got
this rice and yeah it’s fit for space
now so this party all we need to do is
now take it to the Millers get it to be
processed and then we go to the kitchen
and cook the jollof rice right I hope
everyone is excited to see the flight so
yeah so by the way we get the rice and I
go back to my
Lamborghini in the farm and as this boy
just waiting like when are you gonna get
done so he go home so I think he he’s a
son of one of the laborers on the farm
and so we get on the Sun was about to
set and I tell you one of the
profoundest moments of my career
happened on the way back so we’re we’re
we’re actually just going through the
swamp it’s a different road from the one
we came with and the whole thing started
sinking like the cattle will get like
drown and you know we’re next
right and I’m thinking that so this is
how I go like sending them off this
place and then the boy looks up to me
and says oh we’re getting out and two
hours later we’re back on the main road
and that for me was uplifting because
it’s it’s damnum to think that we have a
population of about 140 million and
maybe more and you know more than 50
percent of that population is active in
agriculture and you know ninety percent
of all the farmers are small holders and
yet every year you hear amounts of about
50 billion dollars worth of you being
imported to Africa and to Nigeria around
six to seven billion dollars worth of
food like it’s crazy but like this boy
said we’re getting out we are getting
and we have started we have started to
realize how to do that and I believe
that this project this jollof rice
project would really show to not only
Nigeria but the wall that our
smallholder farmers can’t do it they
cannot only provide for your typical
normal jollof but you know the love fit
for the angels because some people feel
like and yeah so we got out and there’s
going to be a full feature documentary
about this project which was sadly put
to a halt because one of our farmers
Ayesha Ayesha Omar Abdullah he’s a full
name for kids I just returned from cano
last week shooting this and I got news
that she passed away on Thursday and
it’s incredible because throughout the
whole thing she wasn’t really talking
she was there and you know she asked
things like oh when it finally happens
would they see that we need roads would
they see that you know we need to get
there safer like she asked questions
like that and I remember that and I was
shocked to hear of her passing away and
this is for hurriedly and my stand-in
here is for her I think everybody here
should should stand for her as well I
hope I hope that we’re able to to
finally promote her even in her death
and thank you very much for doing this I
hope that we are able to communicate
this father not just here so back to
jollof rice less dreary we’re doing this
for Ayesha so there’ll be a cooler or a
container of jollof rice attached as the
payload to a helium balloon which will
go to space we’ll rig the payload with a
camera probably a GoPro camera and allow
it to go and it’s gonna be launched in
cano hopefully Abuja – and Kaduna
and kind of Abuja sorry so the problem
now is her personally and a lot of other
things came and we couldn’t do the
luncheon but I want everybody to track
using the hashtag jollof rice on
basically all the social media out there
in a week time we will launch – launch
jollof rice displace I hope and I hope
you see that we are not just doing it –
like I said find out if you know space
bacteria would come back and you know
kill us all no we are trying to value
smallholder farmers we are trying to
show that they need to be connected to
the formal markets – real-time
agricultural knowledge we need to enable
them so that they produce more and so
that we all eat better than often order
food thank you so much for your
attention
[Music]
[Music]
you
I will be talking about the love rice so
I was going to start wondering if the
applauses for me or for jollof I was
going to keep it a secret
while I was going to talk about because
I figured if I did say jollof rice
people would expect to eat jollof right
and I mean Nigerians are obsessed with
the love we have a very huge appetite
for jollof and we had a crazy idea at
work but why not send jollof rice to
space absurd right so I mean you could
think of any number of reasons why we
want to do that so maybe we want to see
how you know the molecular structure of
the loaf will change if it went to space
or maybe we just thought it would be
nice to really get the love out there
may be extraterrestrial life would be
interested in us after all if they
tested something greater still of oh you
know maybe we just really just wanted to
do it for the heck of it but I’d like to
tell you we did it because farmers
especially smallholder farmers isolated
they live in spaces that are not
connected to formal markets including
banks including agricultural credit
including agricultural knowledge
including a lot of things that you know
large-scale farmers farmers in other
places have access to so we thought to
do that and I started thinking of how do
we find the best rice farm in Nigeria so
we we thought okay let’s measure
groundwater circulation let’s measure a
lot of things and find the best farm and
our search led us to canoe and going to
Cana we thought okay how do we get into
a waterlogged farm you know so we got
Sadek would tell you the Bugatti for the
farm so we went in that and we went into
the farm and to my surprise what we
found was amazing this farm about a
hundred and fifty hectares in a dingy in
Cana state is actually run by nine
strong women and it’s it’s
it’s fascinating because women are among
the isolated smallholder farmers in
Nigeria and Africa the most
disadvantaged and yet they are doing
something so great and so amazing so I
took time I mean to look at what they
are doing to look at them to see really
what makes their farming great and what
makes their rice farm great so back to
the story we’re out to find the best
rice farm in Nigeria Sudha we can send
that rise to space right so we found the
farm using a number of metrics but then
we found also the people who grew the
rice who are amazing people really this
is the youngest of them
Halima she grows at least three hectares
which is massive and it’s it’s
incredible and then this is Amina
she has slightly more than Halima but
she’s also doing great
this is Rabi this is Binta this is
Ayesha this is how are and this is Appa
I mean Abby is not a woman but here’s
here’s that here’s the thing Appa helps
these women get across because they have
to actually get into a ferry to reach
their waterlogged farms he not only does
that he helps them bargain which is the
problem that I’m trying to let you see
that the jollof rice you eat probably
came from you know a number of woman who
grows a loaf as a matter of life and
death for them they need to grow this
rice so that they’d be able to eat so
they able to send their children to
school so they’ll be able to do a lot of
things that we take for granted so rice
is their means of livelihood
this is Fatima she doubles as a farmer
as an extension agent
among these farmers so I mean we know
farmers know how to group themselves
these women do that efficiently this is
Alton a tree she’s their head so she
probably started the whole thing the
whole group of nine farmers and what
I would like to tell you about Halima’s
fortitude is she
I mean Alton II she she not only groups
the farmers but she makes sure that they
access these things that they ordinarily
wouldn’t have access to I spoke to her
and learned about what really bothers
farmers what’s their problem what do
they need and all of that I mean it’s my
job I speak to farmers and I have been
interacting with farmers nearly all my
life so what they complain about is you
know what we postulated they are not
connected to agricultural markets
imagine if banks or markets where rooms
so the farmer has to leave wherever they
are to actually physically go to a place
if they wanted to sell rice in abuja
they’d have to either come to Abuja to
find market price and go back and
prepare for it
or give it a middle man who ripped them
off so there’s a need to connect them to
agricultural market and for us to find a
perfect jollof to find the perfect rice
to make the perfect I love to go to
space we needed to have helped them grow
the rice we need and that’s what happens
in real agricultural markets
specifications have to work with the
farmers so you can’t tell me that you
closed the borders you improve you know
the supply of fertilizers and seed and
you expect everything to go right these
are people they are growing things so
you need to connect them to real markets
for instance I want rice to make the
love to go to space my market
specification I don’t want any type
arise I want a specific rice grown right
with the right water content the right
nutrient content in case the aliens want
to eat it you know a lot of other things
so I have to tell them my specifications
now this is the kind of thing that I
hope and I envision will be done in
order to bridge the gap to make it easy
for farmers small holder farmers
especially women to access markets to
access possibilities and opportunities
and contribute their own quarter to our
economy and feeders because they do it
better than anybody else so I thought
why don’t we build you know an
information system
by farmers could get this market
information and could be helped to grow
to this market information so I want 5
kg of rice simple right and I wanted to
be grown for me to take it to space so I
tell these women and they get to walk
they get the right extension to do it
they know what to do they know thereby
they know what I want and they grow to
my specification and it’s beautiful what
they can do now that so was a moment of
truth for me because then I realized
actually since starting my company
verdant which works with farmers I I
have actually found the best farmers to
be women so this woman is in nasarah
and she was one of our earliest adopters
and she uses our system to actually do
amazing work and she had a rice farm and
it’s incredible and then working with
Oxfam we had our few men who call
themselves the appointee women they’re
amazing and been wasted and they grow
incredibly well and enabling them to
grow in an environment that is you know
technologically enabled for them to
connect to markets and to knowledge does
beyond what do you think and so this is
really I mean it started from jollof
rice of course but really I feel like we
need to do more for small holders and we
need to do more for our women farmers
and that is exactly why we are sending
rise to space not just the aliens so
back to the farm now remember the
process we’re trying to get our rice
yeah this is what they do they do not
have a single you know mechanical
equipment to help in the farm I mean not
because it’s not cool to do so but
because this is what works for them this
is what their market wants so if I told
them that my rice going to space will
not be beaten on drums to be winnowed
they would definitely then walk on
getting something to do that right so I
met an entrepreneur most Nigerians
preneur especially the millionaires and
billionaires don’t like being called on
too close they’re businessmen so I met a
businessman and he he told me that oh he
just returned from Belarus
trying to get attractor plants in
Nigeria and he went on four minutes
telling me how that is the problem we do
not have plants here we do not have
tractors we do not have equipment we do
not have infrastructure but how on earth
is the interest rates are going to be
relevant to people like these if the
market does not want what they want if
you build a road or a railroad from this
farm in a dinghy where I had to go into
an ox cart that I’ve never been to go to
all the way to the market it’s useless
if the market does not want what the
farm is growing if you did it if you did
an airport and it was transporting rice
took Abuja if it’s not the right type of
rice it’s irrelevant so I told him that
rather than bring this big plant of you
know tractors and and combine harvesters
why don’t we walk on get in the market
if China is interested in our eyes trust
me you don’t need to build the road for
them you do not need to bring the
tractors for them and what you really
want is not to just lift off a
technology somewhere and just dump it on
us like we have cultures where people
human beings who have been growing for
ages who actually helped the economy to
reach where it is today I mean the the
agriculture did you know suppose for the
oil exploration and all of that so we
need to actually remember that and put
that in our considerations when we
invested in agriculture and that’s
exactly what I hope this project the
jollof rice project will help us achieve
and this was the final produce so we got
this rice and yeah it’s fit for space
now so this party all we need to do is
now take it to the Millers get it to be
processed and then we go to the kitchen
and cook the jollof rice right I hope
everyone is excited to see the flight so
yeah so by the way we get the rice and I
go back to my
Lamborghini in the farm and as this boy
just waiting like when are you gonna get
done so he go home so I think he he’s a
son of one of the laborers on the farm
and so we get on the Sun was about to
set and I tell you one of the
profoundest moments of my career
happened on the way back so we’re we’re
we’re actually just going through the
swamp it’s a different road from the one
we came with and the whole thing started
sinking like the cattle will get like
drown and you know we’re next
right and I’m thinking that so this is
how I go like sending them off this
place and then the boy looks up to me
and says oh we’re getting out and two
hours later we’re back on the main road
and that for me was uplifting because
it’s it’s damnum to think that we have a
population of about 140 million and
maybe more and you know more than 50
percent of that population is active in
agriculture and you know ninety percent
of all the farmers are small holders and
yet every year you hear amounts of about
50 billion dollars worth of you being
imported to Africa and to Nigeria around
six to seven billion dollars worth of
food like it’s crazy but like this boy
said we’re getting out we are getting
and we have started we have started to
realize how to do that and I believe
that this project this jollof rice
project would really show to not only
Nigeria but the wall that our
smallholder farmers can’t do it they
cannot only provide for your typical
normal jollof but you know the love fit
for the angels because some people feel
like and yeah so we got out and there’s
going to be a full feature documentary
about this project which was sadly put
to a halt because one of our farmers
Ayesha Ayesha Omar Abdullah he’s a full
name for kids I just returned from cano
last week shooting this and I got news
that she passed away on Thursday and
it’s incredible because throughout the
whole thing she wasn’t really talking
she was there and you know she asked
things like oh when it finally happens
would they see that we need roads would
they see that you know we need to get
there safer like she asked questions
like that and I remember that and I was
shocked to hear of her passing away and
this is for hurriedly and my stand-in
here is for her I think everybody here
should should stand for her as well I
hope I hope that we’re able to to
finally promote her even in her death
and thank you very much for doing this I
hope that we are able to communicate
this father not just here so back to
jollof rice less dreary we’re doing this
for Ayesha so there’ll be a cooler or a
container of jollof rice attached as the
payload to a helium balloon which will
go to space we’ll rig the payload with a
camera probably a GoPro camera and allow
it to go and it’s gonna be launched in
cano hopefully Abuja – and Kaduna
and kind of Abuja sorry so the problem
now is her personally and a lot of other
things came and we couldn’t do the
luncheon but I want everybody to track
using the hashtag jollof rice on
basically all the social media out there
in a week time we will launch – launch
jollof rice displace I hope and I hope
you see that we are not just doing it –
like I said find out if you know space
bacteria would come back and you know
kill us all no we are trying to value
smallholder farmers we are trying to
show that they need to be connected to
the formal markets – real-time
agricultural knowledge we need to enable
them so that they produce more and so
that we all eat better than often order
food thank you so much for your
attention
[Music]
[Music]
you
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