Agriculture in Nigeria & the hidden business opportunities
The other day I read a quote from Prof. Wole Soyinka. It goes like, “I wish my country never had oil, we`ll have been a better country than we are today”. Before oil was discovered, agriculture in Nigeria was booming, that was the gold we had.
However as we discovered honey, we threw away the bean cake, though honey is sweet, it`s cake that can best quench our hunger.
Before the civil war in Nigeria, our country had more than enough food to take care of its citizen, from 1973 however, things started changing (for bad). Even though over 70% of our land is arable, Nigerian youths are not encouraged to see farming as business. Instead, we all grew up and dream of working in a bank or oil company. Even now that “good jobs” are no more, most people are still ignorant of the potential in agribusiness.
Over 60% of Nigerians are unemployed, 20 % are underemployed while a significant number are not pleased with their jobs. We need an urgent re-orientation! We have to start seeing farming as business and blood of our nation.
In those days, cocoa was the gold (and largest non-oil export) for Nigeria, mostly from west, yam and cassava was much in south and sorghum, millet were much from north.
So were rubber, maize, melon, cashew nut, sesame, groundnuts, palm kernels, palm oil, plantains, rice, soybeans etc.
Aside all these, Nigeria is blessed with a favourable soil and climatic condition that can accommodate crops such as onion, carrot, cocoa yam, pear, potatoes, okra, vegetables, beans and so much more, but we rely on oil now, we`re in trouble. More countries of the world are discovering oil, so the oil`s demand is falling with its price.
Don`t let me spend my time talking here about how neglect of agriculture affects us as a nation, since I know you may not have much interest in that. Instead, I’ll discuss various business opportunities in Nigeria Agricultural sector.
You have options to choose, whether you`ll love to go into agribusiness (business of agriculture) as a crop and plant farmer or as a livestock farmer… rearing animals for commercial purpose.
Either of this can be done with modern agricultural tools and implements. Either of this can be done in large and profitable scale.
For instance, you can start and grow a profitable plantain farm, cassava farm etc.
You can go in to poultry business or fish farming… the opportunity is limitless.
5 secrets you have to understand (why Agric)
- Farming is a business.
Farming could be a profitable business in Nigeria, if you understand it to be a “business”. The first problem we have about encouraging Nigerians to embrace farming is that, most people see agriculture as a very dirty thing. How did we arrive at this mindset? Because our forefathers were subsistence farmer they were poor and dirty. This has made us to have a wrong conclusion about the whole concept of farming
The good news is, farming can be a source of wealth for you. There are now many commercial farmers who are wealthy.
2. Farm produce will always be of high demand.
Business world is unstable. A product that reigns today may be nothing tomorrow, but farm produce is different. People must continue eating three times each day, and since we only have certain limited numbers of food, we have to eat the same food week after week.
If you`re like me who like banana and orange, you will not resist banana or orange because you ate them yesterday. People who love water melon, carrot, beans, rice, yam, plantain, cassava products, etc. will not say, “I bought this last week, so I won`t buy again”.
Most of us eat fish or meat every day, so prices of cow and fish will surely keep on increasing. Catfish must continue to sell; Titus and other fish in Nigeria must continue selling. Poultry birds, chicken, turkey, etc. will always have market demand.
If you understand this fact, you`ll be encouraged to go into farming business as a Nigerian.
3. Nigerian population is increasing at alarming rate.
As of today, Nigeria is the 10th biggest country in the whole world (with our population as over 172 million). Wow! We are in a big country. But that`s not all, by the year 2050, Nigeria is projected to be the 3rd biggest country of the entire world.
What does this has to do with agriculture in Nigeria?
Well, the more population there is in a particular environment, the vibrant the agribusiness will be. Se people no go eat?
People can be poor and not buy clothes. They can be poor and not buy cars. People have to buy food, fish, and meat. This understanding is enough to encourage you to go into agricultural business.
4. Government is now aware of the importance of agriculture.
Yes, they may not be granting enough loan as expected. They may not be sensitizing youths as expected, but they are reducing the saturation of the market by importers. Believe me, as this trend is going, very soon, you can expect more and more government`s policy to favour agricultural businesses in Nigeria.
The reason is because government is now seeing that agribusiness is one of the ways by which we can reduce the rate of the unemployment in our country and to do this, we must restrict importation of the likes of chicken, fish, cassava products etc.
5. Most people are yet to discover the great potential in agribusiness.
School has deceived us to believe in “good job” and that deception is so deadly that even when it`s so apparent that good job is no more, our universities are still brainwashing our youths to love job.
But you see, this ignorance can actually be an advantage for you.
How?
If you go ahead and start your little farm now, you will grow and become a successful farmer before most people wake up from their ignorance.
The most profitable marketing strategy is to get to the market when the competition is little. That time is now. Agriculture business Nigeria is gold yet to be mined.
Don`t be afraid of starting small.
Agriculture is not an hobby nor for pleasure!
Others see Agriculture as a hobby rather than a job, people think agriculture is what they can do during their leisure period or something they have always wanted to do and they see their retirement period as the best time to engage in agriculture.
The following conceptions about agriculture should be corrected;
- Agriculture is an exclusive preserve of the old people.
- Agriculture is the occupation for the illiterate
- Agriculture is for the poor.
- Agriculture does not require any special skill so anybody can just venture into agriculture.
The high standard of development in the sector can be attributed to close cooperation and interaction between scientists, extension services, farmers, and agro-industries. These four elements have joined together to transform agriculture in Israel into an industry that is globally renowned for its efficiency and productivity, in a country where more than half of the land is classified as desert land.
Agriculture is where you can make quick money
Agriculture is labour intensive
Agriculture is very risky
The Agric value chain
A) Crop production to achieve food security and to provide industrial raw materials. Potentials exist for the following crops:
Cereals: Maize, rice, sorghum, corn, millet, wheat.
Root crops: Cassava, yam, ginger, potato, coco yam.
Legumes: Soya beans, groundnuts, cowpeas.
Fruits: Mango, banana, oranges, guava, papaw, pineapple.
Vegetables: Cabbage, green pepper, carrots, lettuce, spice, onions, melons.
Tree crops: Oil palm, cocoa, rubber, coconut, kola nut, coffee, she nuts, beniseed, cotton, cashew nut, sugar cane.
B) Livestock and Fisheries production which possess great potentials for development. Grazing lands are abundant, facilities for animal feed production are plentiful, and the in-land rivers, lakes and coastal creeks are sufficient to augment ocean fishery resources.
(C) Agricultural inputs supplies and machinery, water resources development especially for flood control infrastructure and irrigation.
(D) Commodity trading and transportation.
(E) Development and fabrication of appropriate small-scale mechanized technologies for on-farm processing and secondary processing of agricultural produce.
(F) Exploitation of timber and wood processing activities. A wide range of wood resources abound.
A call to Action!
Are you interested in Agriculture, do you need a land to start with, do you require the right technical skills to start, grow and be successful, call us now and get 1 Acre (6plots) of Agricultural Land for N400,000 and 1 plot for N80,000.
For the right training, skills acquisition and mentoring, business plans, marketing in Agriculture call us today on 07086221295, 08093582213.
