Coconut

Cassava root

The Sky Agricultural Projects

The Afrowood Agricultural Village is an Agro-Industrial export oriented Farm complex
enough to stimulate Economic Growth and self-determination of small and medium scale farmers of an area of 5km between the two villages of Agerige and Irokun in Ilaje Local Government.
This is a “farming village” project to boost food self-sufficiency in the area and entire country, and is about 100km away from Lagos, the commercial capital. This Village intends to house as many families as possible from different regions of the country.


Sky Agricultural Village will produce about 12,000 kilogrammes of cassava per year… which will, undoubtedly, contribute to food self-sufficiency in the area,”
“Our goal is to boost food self-sufficiency and and to make sure there is no lack of food for people coming to our village either as a tourist, inhabitants, students, etc
“Besides the new agricultural village there are other initiatives: restocking of livestock, mechanization of agriculture and distribution of improved seeds,

“Conditions here are suitable for large-scale agriculture: we have water everywhere around us, electricity and a school for our children,”
It is our aim to encourage some of the children from villages like Agbala olope meji, Akata, Ramah Siloh, Agerige, Igogun, Irokun, Igbedun etc… who have abandoned their respective Villages in favour of comfortable urban lifestyles.
To come back and along with us to return to the land, and turn undesirable land into a desirable one.

 

1) OBJECTIVES:
Afrowood Media, in connection with Sky, is meant to play a role of a pilot project for village development in the western part of Nigeria. The concern of attracting private investment, know-how and market accessibility are important elements in the program for advanced village development.
The Sky Estate of approx. 5ha, is planned as a center farm for an area of 100 ha consisting of small/medium- scale farmers, Film and Video producers to provide the sub region with the technology and initiative to reach and compete on the international market for vegetables, fruit and flowers, Film, videos and music, and technology. Initial steps, to be funded by international and bilateral organization, will help to secure socio-economic objectives included in the master plan for the total project.

These objectives will play an important role as catalysts on a commercial and social level in the five- year plan for the region’s development. In follow- up steps, we plan to include a research station implemented within the same time span as the commercial farm. We hope to start a dialogue between the Agricultural University in Denmark and also with a comparative University in Nigeria. The initial step (2017 – 2018) of planning, testing and job training + an allowance for a few infrastructural adjustments needed immediately and prior to inviting private and venture capital into the commercial part of the scheme.

A match between private, public and quasi-public funding working on different segments of the total project execution is important; or in other words, long term public financing frequently needs a parallel short term financial input on a commercial level to bring about fast results. Afrowood Media/Sky pictorially speaking is planned to be the locomotive for the implementation of the master plan turning the area into a Village pilot project for advanced agricultural development.

We will, in the following, concentrate on describing the development of the farm. When the prerequisite for the commercial farm development, legally and financially, is reached, we plan to publish a more detailed plan for the area’s development focusing on the Village with its potential of becoming a micro-rural centre for cultural events and trade.

That one big factor is that people have become urbanized,” . They have become ‘de-culturised’ in terms of tilling land, and so on.
As people consider “tilling the land” the work of the lower classes, while the upper classes were teachers, lawyers, Police officers, Court-clerks, Politicians etc…

The Three Phases of Sky AgricThe Sky Agricultural Project research design has three phases.

Phase 1: 
The first was a pre-pilot study completed in 2016.
The second is a systematic pilot study beginning in 2018. Afrowood project researchers will conduct prelliminary ethnographic research in Nigeria and later extend this to other African Nations possible.
We will also begin an archive of research resources on Afrowood.

 

Phase II: 
A pilot study that culminates with an intensive 2-3 day working seminar at Obafemi Awolowo University. At this time we will convene a core group of industry professionals and academic specialists from Northern Europe and West Africa to explore the potential of the video industry to contribute to economic growth, reform of governance, health care, education, peace and related issues.

Phase III:
The third phase, due in 2018, will be a thorough ethnographic and economic analysis of the Sky Agricultural Project and its potential. At every stage of the project we seek collaboration with both industry professionals and academic researchers in Nigeria and selected other African nations and in Denmark.


We will continue extensive and systematic study extended to include Accra, Abidjan, and Ouagadougou working with a network of collaborators in the field.

will consist of linked in-depth ethnographic studies of audiences and reception with particular reference to gender, economic status, and ethnicity. Areas of focus will include production processes, popular reception of the movies, and analysis of the industry’s multiplier effect on the local and national economy.