GEMS4 Project, Nigeria

Increasing incomes and employment opportunities in Nigeria’s wholesale and retail sector

Growth and Employment in States 4 (“GEMS4”) is a £16.8m, five-and-a-half-year programme aimed at improving the livelihoods of the poor and women in Nigeria’s wholesale and retail sector (WRS), funded by UK Department for International Development (DFID) and managed by Tetra Tech.

GEMS4 was been nominated for a 2018 British Expertise International Award, as an Outstanding International Development Project.

Providing Information to Encourage Investment and Inform Policy Decisions

The GEMS4 team used Cosmos to conduct cluster mapping exercises for two key commodities in Nigeria – tomatoes and rice. The tomato mapping exercise, undertaken in 2015, used Cosmos to undertake surveys in 12 tomato producing states, whilst the rice mapping work, undertaken in 2016, used Cosmos to undertake surveys in 18 states. This data is facilitating investment decisions for agri-business processing facilities, and is helping government officials make informed policy decisions.
Using Cosmos, all of the collected data (including photographs) was automatically synchronised to the Cosmos web portal and shaped by Tetra Tech to allow easy examination of:

• the existing and potential clusters of tomatoes in all tomato producing states;
• precise production locations using the global positioning system (GPS);
• key social and demographic features of producers within identified clusters;
• the average hectares devoted to tomato and/or other crops;
• the average annual yield per farmer, per cluster and per location surveyed;
• the existence of seasonality in the farmers’ production activities; and
• the extent to which the farmers are aware of, and adopt, modern techniques such as the use of improved varieties and good handling practices for fresh fruit.

Our consultants were full of praise for the Cosmos app. They said it was the most user friendly mobile survey software they have seen yet.” – Toni Akinyuli, Senior M&E Advisor

Presenting the Data as a Compelling Story

To get the most of the data collected by Cosmos it was key for GEMS4 to present it effectively. The tomato cluster mapping data was visualized in an infographic which tells a clear and compelling story of tomato production in Nigeria:

Cluster map

A similar infographic was created for rice, along with a dedicated website with the database connected to a live interactive map. This allows users to drill down to specific locations and examine the details of specific clusters, as well as conducting detailed searches with results shown on the map.

Gems4 Map

For more information, visit GEMS4