There has been a surge in plantain farming, farmers how do you sell your produce as personally am not comfortable with market women coming to the farm to buy it off at a give-away price. So share your experience or idea of a better way to sell.

Pavore9:
There has been a surge in plantain farming, farmers how do you sell your produce as personally am not comfortable with market women coming to the farm to buy it off at a give-away price. So share your experience or idea of a better way to sell.

Boss merry Christmas.
The main surge is coming. Farm research says Nigerians will be planting over 5 million fresh plantain stands by 2015.

Plantain market is huge and readily available but you will enjoy it when you have large quantity and of good quality.

For example Mile 12 market in Lagos can take over 15 loads of 9/11 trucks per day the iyalaje of fruits section at the market is called Mama Ibeji (Mrs Dasofujo) she told me that they don't even get stable 1 truck per day and when they get it they aren't fresh again because 70% of it comes from Edo state area.

The challenge is that people have not really be doing plantain in commercial quantity. She said Edo State is the largest producer followed by Ondo State.
Another challenge is that small holder's farmer can't penetrate such market because of the transport expenses involved so they rather sell to the market women around them.

We now have plantain processing companies doing plantain flour and baby foods in Lagos and Ogun state. Not to mention a lot of plantain chips making ventures.
So I will say that the market is there but we as farmers need to start doing it right with advance planting techniques and innovative mentainance methodology so we can have plantain 24/7.

world1:

Boss merry Christmas.
The main surge is coming. Farm research says Nigerians will be planting over 5 million fresh plantain stands by 2015.

Plantain market is huge and readily available but you will enjoy it when you have large quantity and of good quality.

For example Mile 12 market in Lagos can take over 15 loads of 9/11 trucks per day the iyalaje of fruits section at the market is called Mama Ibeji (Mrs Dasofujo) she told me that they don't even get stable 1 truck per day and when they get it they aren't fresh again because 70% of it comes from Edo state area.

The challenge is that people have not really be doing plantain in commercial quantity. She said Edo State is the largest producer followed by Ondo State.
Another challenge is that small holder's farmer can't penetrate such market because of the transport expenses involved so they rather sell to the market women around them.

We now have plantain processing companies doing plantain flour and baby foods in Lagos and Ogun state. Not to mention a lot of plantain chips making ventures.
So I will say that the market is there but we as farmers need to start doing it right with advance planting techniques and innovative mentainance methodology so we can have plantain 24/7.

Merry Christmas, my brother.

Yes l agree with you as good post-harvest practices would help bring fresh produce to the market. How can just only one truck get to a big market like Mile 12 and Lagos, a city of over 20million people?

Pavore9:



Merry Christmas, my brother.

Yes l agree with you as good post-harvest practices would help bring fresh produce to the market. How can just only one truck get to a big market like Mile 12 and Lagos, a city of over 20million people?

Boss
Most farmers are still backward in there approach to agriculture.
I believe in Agriculture + Business =Agribusiness which amount to WEALTH.

world1:


Boss
Must farmers are still backward in there approach to agriculture.
I believe in Agriculture + Business =Agribusiness which amount to WEALTH.

A friend was telling me that lack of appropriate knowledge is what is holding our local farmers back this was while we were discussing how Kenya is making a good fortune exporting fresh flowers to Europe. capturing 40% of the market. Certified flower farms (most of them utilize greenhouses) cut their flowers every afternoon and have it packaged, by evening it arrives the International airport then by 11p.m different airlines airlifts the flowers heading to Copenhagen (Denmark) where it should arrive in the morning for the Copenhagen flower market which is the biggest around where other European countries buy from and what pains me most is that Nigeria imports flower from Europe, the same flower which Kenya exported!

Pavore9:


A friend was telling me that lack of appropriate knowledge is what is holding our local farmers back this was while we were discussing how Kenya is making a good fortune exporting fresh flowers to Europe. capturing 40% of the market. Certified flower farms (most of them utilize greenhouses) cut their flowers every afternoon and have it packaged, by evening it arrives the International airport then by 11p.m different airlines airlifts the flowers heading to Copenhagen (Denmark) where it should arrive in the morning for the Copenhagen flower market which is the biggest around where other European countries buy from and what pains me most is that Nigeria imports flower from Europe, the same flower which Kenya exported!

This is a big problem but one thing I want you to know is that Kenya has better working relationships with most of this countries but this countries sees Nigeria as a self sustainable economy so they would rather sell to us than buy from us.

Unfortunately we are suffering amidst plenty.
Can you imagine shoprite selling watermelon from South Africa here in Nigeria.

world1:

This is a big problem but one thing I want you to know is that Kenya has better working relationships with most of this countries but this countries sees Nigeria as a self sustainable economy so they would rather sell to us than buy from us.

Unfortunately we are suffering amidst plenty.
Can you imagine shoprite selling watermelon from South Africa here in Nigeria.

This is so wrong, but do we have any agency to fight for the rights of the Nigerian farmer? Most high placed Nigerians will even take side with foreigners to cheat us. It is sad!! Most fruits and vegetable should be banned from being imported into Nigeria.

anienge001:


This is so wrong, but do we have any agency to fight for the rights of the Nigerian farmer? Most high placed Nigerians will even take side with foreigners to cheat us. It is sad!! Most fruits and vegetable should be banned from being imported into Nigeria.

We should start making noise thank God for social media.

I wish it were possible to enforce such laws. Shoprite and co trust that they will get QUALITY and CONSTANT SUPPLY outside Nigeria thats why they still and will still import. I can reliably inform you that if you have a quality product and can constantly supply, you can give shoprite a try and they will prefer your products to importing(because yours will come cheaper), until then its impossible to stop importing!

anienge001:


This is so wrong, but do we have any agency to fight for the rights of the Nigerian farmer? Most high placed Nigerians will even take side with foreigners to cheat us. It is sad!! Most fruits and vegetable should be banned from being imported into Nigeria.

dont let us move away from the topic, plantain market. How do u help oneanother on price, buyers, information etc.

heywhy4u:
dont let us move away from the topic, plantain market. How do u help oneanother on price, buyers, information etc.

Good. Like I said earlier the market is there available just take but your produce to mike 12 they will rush it.. I also have a network of farmer that I do help but your plantain must be of good quality.

Kalusam:
I wish it were possible to enforce such laws. Shoprite and co trust that they will get QUALITY and CONSTANT SUPPLY outside Nigeria thats why they still and will still import. I can reliably inform you that if you have a quality product and can constantly supply, you can give shoprite a try and they will prefer your products to importing(because yours will come cheaper), until then its impossible to stop importing!

I understand the issue of sustainable supply. But Nigerians can still supply the desired quantity if a policy of "no from importation" is placed. All that is needed is that these big shops go into contract with farmers to produce solely for them while empower the farmers. Contract farming is one way while cooperatives by the farmers is another way. Importing Watermelon when same fruit rots away in the Nothern Nigeria is not helping the Nigerian economy at all.

ok and where are these set of farmer or network of farmers? Do they come to your farm to buyer or what? And how much is plantain in mile 12?

pls i want to buy good and high yielding plantain suckers from Edo state. Pls can anyone link me up? 07066173703 or patrickonoriode@gmail.com

In Anambra here, They have a plantain market in Silas works, fegge. Only plantain is sold there. The 911 trucks and buses come from delta and edo states cos ppl in anambra dont farm plantain in commercial quantity. i tried to get the reason why but have not found any answer even from the govt agric dept. Personally, i feel its cos land is expensive here. Some sellers here go straight to farms in Edo state to buy.

Apart from the plantain market, there is also a food market- Ose.The retailers there buy from suppliers. I asked them if they have any plantain that sells faster and they said whether agric or local, onces the plantain is big and fresh, they will buy. I have made friends wit some of them already.

mercylicious:
In Anambra here, They have a plantain market in Silas works, fegge. Only plantain is sold there. The 911 trucks and buses come from delta and edo states cos ppl in anambra dont farm plantain in commercial quantity. i tried to get the reason why but have not found any answer even from the govt agric dept. Personally, i feel its cos land is expensive here. Some sellers here go straight to farms in Edo state to buy.

Apart from the plantain market, there is also a food market- Ose.The retailers there buy from suppliers. I asked them if they have any plantain that sells faster and they said whether agric or local, onces the plantain is big and fresh, they will buy. I have made friends wit some of them already.

You can imagine that plantain consumed in Anambra state is brought in from across the Niger despite thousands of acreages lying fallow in the state. In Anambra it ain't easy getting land for farming, Enugu is a bit easier accessing land as l recall a project l was involved in the Nike area of the state, the community were so open with access to their land.

mercylicious:
In Anambra here, They have a plantain market in Silas works, fegge. Only plantain is sold there. The 911 trucks and buses come from delta and edo states cos ppl in anambra dont farm plantain in commercial quantity. i tried to get the reason why but have not found any answer even from the govt agric dept. Personally, i feel its cos land is expensive here. Some sellers here go straight to farms in Edo state to buy.

Apart from the plantain market, there is also a food market- Ose.The retailers there buy from suppliers. I asked them if they have any plantain that sells faster and they said whether agric or local, onces the plantain is big and fresh, they will buy. I have made friends wit some of them already.

good that u ve made friends with some of them. Pls make more friends so that we can ve a very large market on this forum, God bless u.

world1:

Good. Like I said earlier the market is there available just take but your produce to mike 12 they will rush it.. I also have a network of farmer that I do help but your plantain must be of good quality.

How much does a bunch go for in Mile 12? please tell us, so we know what is involved.

@world 1. Is mile 12 market the only plantain market in lagos? No. There are one or more plantain markets where farmers cam take there plantain to. ( there's idi-oro market at muslin) . It is not as big as mile 12 plantain market but it is well know for selling of plantain. Apart from these other markets, new plantain markets can be established around highly populated areas in lagos. Talk about areas like mile 2, olodi apapa side, iyana iba/ okokomaiko, ikotun, iyana ipaja, ikorodu, and the rest. This is just for lagos area alone. We've not talk about the northern market for plantain. Plantain from middle belt alone can not serve. The market is there.

Jesusbaby6:

How much does a bunch go for in Mile 12? please tell us, so we know what is involved.

like I said earlier it's all about quality the lowest is N500.

I think our produce markets has got a lot to do with quality. The farmers are complaining of no good market, the highbrow end user are complaining of low quality produce. I use highbrow because mile 12 market is not where the imported fruits and vegetables are sold. There are people, organisations that are willing to pay for quality.
Also consistence supply and continuity. The buyers need assurance that you will not dissapoint them to dissapoint their own customers. How many of us can give assurance of supplying plantain all through the year?
There are a lot of technical issues
My suggestion will be for all the commodity produce eg plantain work hand in hand, set a standard within and among themselves with good agricultural practices from planting to harvesting.
If all plantain farmers on nairaland produce the same quality, they can collectivelly negotiate for fixed standard price market. In my quest, i met some organizations that needs constant supply of fruits and vegetables. They need nothing less than 1000 farmers to be producing for them. The reason is they wants produce of the same quality that could compete with international standard.
The plantain produce in the east or north or west could be of the same quality if we all use the same seed, same technical methods of production, same harvesting method, same means of storage and packaging.

The only difference will be in the traceability code to identify whose farm a particular batch is coming from
But can we ever be united and be professional in our dealings?

heywhy4u:
ok and where are these set of farmer or network of farmers? Do they come to your farm to buyer or what? And how much is plantain in mile 12?

If they come to your farm you will be at the buyers mercy.

jethro2:
I think our produce markets has got a lot to do with quality. The farmers are complaining of no good market, the highbrow end user are complaining of low quality produce. I use highbrow because mile 12 market is not where the imported fruits and vegetables are sold. There are people, organisations that are willing to pay for quality.
Also consistence supply and continuity. The buyers need assurance that you will not dissapoint them to dissapoint their own customers. How many of us can give assurance of supplying plantain all through the year?
There are a lot of technical issues
My suggestion will be for all the commodity produce eg plantain work hand in hand, set a standard within and among themselves with good agricultural practices from planting to harvesting.
If all plantain farmers on nairaland produce the same quality, they can collectivelly negotiate for fixed standard price market. In my quest, i met some organizations that needs constant supply of fruits and vegetables. They need nothing less than 1000 farmers to be producing for them. The reason is they wants produce of the same quality that could compete with international standard.
The plantain produce in the east or north or west could be of the same quality if we all use the same seed, same technical methods of production, same harvesting method, same means of storage and packaging.

The only difference will be in the traceability code to identify whose farm a particular batch is coming from
But can we ever be united and be professional in our dealings?

I doubt it because there alot of misinformation out there, most people are looking for double suckers while others are buying the local suckers thinking it's hybrid because it's cheap.
the solution is let all start small and do it right.

below is a picture of shoprite potatoes imported from South Africa

world1:

I doubt it because there alot of misinformation out there, most people are looking for double suckers while others are buying the local suckers thinking it's hybrid because it's cheap.
the solution is let all start small and do it right.
below is a picture of shoprite potatoes imported from South Africa

@ world1
I am a novice in plantain ooooo.
On my way out
Peace

Following.......

One thing is certain, the market is there. We just need to put ourselves in a position to take advantage of it. It ll be a little while.

jethro2:

@ world1
I am a novice in plantain ooooo.
On my way out
Peace

no problem
compliment

stint:
One thing is certain, the market is there. We just need to put ourselves in a position to take advantage of it. It ll be a little while.

great
we will surely get there

Talking about loads of 9/11 trucks, can someone please help tell us the number of plantain fruits that can possibly fill up a 9/11 truck?

Please someone should answer this very impprtant question:
What Is The Average Price A Plantain Bunch in the market.

stint:
Please someone should answer this very impprtant question:
What Is The Average Price A Plantain Bunch in the market.

Depends on the size minimum N500

world1:

Depends on the size minimum N500

When l an buying a kilo of it for N395 here in Nairobi,well l am compensated by the fact that banana is cheaper than pure water here! Miss buying plantain at Mile12 market.