Hmn. It's a long story

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In response to the call by the PRESENT GOVERNMENT that Nigerians should grow what we eat. We needed to reduce our food import bill running in several billion USD $.

I responded by growing Upland rice in my town.


Farm location : Igboora In Ibarapa Central LGA of Oyo State.


Farm size: 2 acres. Slightly above 2acres but not up to an hectare.



Initial assessment: This location is a derived Savanna and so our principal crops are maize, cassava, cashew and cucumbits. I had not grown rice before but I'm aware that few of our locals used to plant rice in the swamps in the times past.

Basic Assumption#: Not much will the birds eat. I will still make my own harvest.



Financial projection: The seed breeders who sold to me had promised an harvest of 3-4tons per hectare. In my head, I calculated the N700/per Kg × 3000kg= N2,100,000 (after destoning the rice and selling retail).

Procedures


I bought the seeds from a breeder. Its Ofada variety. Couldnt recall the exact kilogram bought but I'm sure I bought the recommended quantity for planting.

Seed purchase: N35000
First land preparation : N10000 just fuel
Second land preparation :
N10000 just fuel

Harrow : N10000 diesel
Seed broadcasting: 2500 ( 2 persons at N1000/day & feeding)

Seeds treatment : 750
2nd harrowing : N10000 fuel

Pre emergence herbicides ( Atraxine powder)

Rougeing : N2500
2nd Rougueing: N2500

Fertiliser: 2 bags of Npk and 2 bags of Urea at N6000 each = N24000

Harvesting: N20000

Approximately about N130,000 was spent

Harvest is near

Did I make money??

Honestly No.

Did I reap anything close to what I planted??

No.



Those unforseen circumstances that hits you in agriculture that makes you very unsettled crept in and behold the entire harvest was lost except a 50kg crisp looking paddy.

Growing up

5 major challenges came up which contributed to the present situations.

1. Cattle herdsmen
2. Inconsistent rainfall pattern
3. None availability of rice thresher
4. Birds
5. Unpreparedness

On farm visit

Full grown

Albeit these challenges. I have come to realize that Oyo State ( Igboora & environs) actually have the comparative advantage to grow rice in commercial scale. This will be a game changer in this period of ousterity.

Nigeria can feed itself. We do not have any business importing foods. Where did we get it wrong??

1. Cattle herdsmen:

The rice farming was impressive from start to finish. It was moral boosting each time I visited. Then the cattle guys came and consumed a fairly large portion of the field. With no trace.

Yes. There were suspects but no concrete evidence to nail them. I just had to let it go. They Fed their cows on part of the rice field to their satisfaction.

Some new lessons have been learnt.

Sorry about that. Weldone. Its better than not trying

2. Inconsistent rainfall pattern

By virtue of experience and skill, I know when to plant certain crops in my localty and irrespective of the patterns of rainfall, my crops MUST RIPEN and produce. (Maize, soyabean and okra). Rice was different. With the date I planted, I felt it will work. I rather realized later that the inconsistent rainfall pattern at this period of global warming affected the development of the rice field.

However, a simple comparison of planting dates and rainfall pattern plus slight modifications will set it right during the next planting season.

3. None availability of rice thresher:

Whence it was time to thresh. We drove tractor over the heaps on a tarpaulin. .right there in the field. The essence was to serve as a thresher. The next day, 3 labourers were employed to come separate the rice from the chaff.


Pretty easy but a great damage had been done to the rice paddy. The labourers literarily threw away the rice by not shaking it off properly.

4. Birds.

They finished the rice. I was targeting to prevent theor invasion after the grains have formed. Unknown to me that they actually had started the damage long before I thought.

I later realized that the bird suck the juice / fluid that later solidify to make the rice grain. This became evident when I noticed that after processing, the quantity of chaff was enormous.

Once I did the floatation test, large volume of the chaff were floating. Then I realized the hard way that I had been "taken on a long ride".


How do you keep birds away from your fields?



I tried the old cassette method. .

I tried the scarecrow..

Birds .. Birds. .

You have done this damage!
You let my 1 million naira harvest slip away.
Great damages while you hold sway.
Nonetheless, I'm coming for yall with greater damages!

I can't but return.
The harvest is massive.
The spent energy is massive.
Rice farming- a better investment returns

An adapted home made parboiling chamber.

My New strategy for Higher success.

1. 12 acres rice field coming next.
2. Irrigation scheme
3. Mechanised farm

Bro you already on your way to the top, with your level of zeal and determination

Brother, take heart and forge ahead with renewed strategy and knowledge.

kagari:
Bro you already on your way to the top, with your level of zeal and determination

thanks. My maths about rice farming is solid. I know I've got to think out of the box. Moreso. There is so much money to be made.

happybrother:
Brother, take heart and forge ahead with renewed strategy and knowledge.

I'm restrategizing greatly. Only a few of my strategies can I disclose. But there is lots of money out there ready to be made.

This your maths is looking somehow.

you said 700 Naira per kg of rice, That will make 50Kg of rice to be 35,000 naira.
Is rice that expensive or am I missing something?

Anyway, One thing I have learnt in Agriculture is that you should not depend on nature if you want to be a successful farmer.
Plan for irrigation, plan for disease management and plan for Pest management and remember to classify Fulani herdsmen as pests and plan for them.

Just 3 strands of barbed wire perimeter fence would have gone a long way in keeping the herdsmen away from your farm.

Anyway you have learnt some lessons, but you would have saved yourself some heartache if you have decided to understudy some folks already involved in rice farming. At least you will know that birds attack rice when the seed is still fluid.

It is nice to see educated folks like you going into farming. Kudos

On rice farming, I am still a theoritical farmer, so it is quite easy for me to advice

Next year I hope to plant 2 hectares of rice at the beggining of the raining season.

Maybe I will learn from your mistakes and plan to avoid them

Atlanticfire:
This your maths is looking somehow.

you said 700 Naira per kg of rice, That will make 50Kg of rice to be 35,000 naira.
Is rice that expensive or am I missing something?

Anyway, One thing I have learnt in Agriculture is that you should not depend on nature if you want to be a successful farmer.
Plan for irrigation, plan for disease management and plan for Pest management and remember to classify Fulani herdsmen as pests and plan for them.

Just 3 strands of barbed wire perimeter fence would have gone a long way in keeping the herdsmen away from your farm.

Anyway you have learnt some lessons, but you would have saved yourself some heartache if you have decided to understudy some folks already involved in rice farming. At least you will know that birds attack rice when the seed is still fluid.

It is nice to see educated folks like you going into farming. Kudos

On rice farming, I am still a theoritical farmer, so it is quite easy for me to advice

Next year I hope to plant 2 hectares of rice at the beggining of the raining season.

Maybe I will learn from your mistakes and plan to avoid them

Dear friend. I am very sure that you are unaware that the Ofada rice delicacy is a sought after in any social event in the South West regions of Nigeria. However, it will interest you to note that N700/Kg is even cheap for destoned ofada rice.

To the calculations that I interest you, this prices and calculations are not based on selling ordinary paddy, but processed and fully destoned rice. That tells you I'm thinking value addition already. My market surveys already tells me the market is waiting!

These piece is only for those who give thoughts. Not some ponzi schemes.

saliubello:
Did I make money??

Honestly No.

Did I reap anything close to what I planted??

No.



Those unforseen circumstances that hits you in agriculture that makes you very unsettled crept in and behold the entire harvest was lost except a 50kg crisp looking paddy.

Allah sarki!!!

gabe:
Allah sarki!!!

amin. Lessons have been learnt anyway.

saliubello:
4. Birds.

They finished the rice. I was targeting to prevent theor invasion after the grains have formed. Unknown to me that they actually had started the damage long before I thought.

I later realized that the bird suck the juice / fluid that later solidify to make the rice grain. This became evident when I noticed that after processing, the quantity of chaff was enormous.

Once I did the floatation test, large volume of the chaff were floating. Then I realized the hard way that I had been "taken on a long ride".


How do you keep birds away from your fields?



I tried the old cassette method. .

I tried the scarecrow..

Can you please share more details on the success of the methods you used in the bird control? Can you estimate the population of the birds that attacked your rice? What additional methods, if any, are you considering going forward?

TangoAlpha:

Can you please share more details on the success of the methods you used in the bird control? Can you estimate the population of the birds that attacked your rice? What additional methods, if any, are you considering going forward?

I'm here too to look for efficient system to be deployed for larger fields

I made an attempt at Ofada rice farming this year as well. The birds ravaged the farm. I lost, probably more than 90% of the harvest to the birds. They are called Quelea quelea. They are a most destructive species of birds. They should never be underestimated. They are estimated to be about 1.5-2 billion in population globally; and probably 98% of that population is in Africa.

This was partly why I asked you if you have an estimate of the population that came to your farm.

I attempted a number of options.

1) Bird tapes
2) Laser generating torch
3) Drone
4) Chiili-Vinegar solution
4) Avicide from Jubailli
5) Avicide imported from the US
6) Manual scaring

I can give you details of the outcomes of each of these options. But let me fast forward to what I think might deliver better results:

1) Bird netting. This option is very expensive and may not be economically viable if the market value of the rice is low. Ofada is pricier than regular rice; so there is prospect for bird netting to be viable. From my little research however, there are no high yielding Ofada variety yet; so the viability of the netting option might be questioned.Further investigation needed.

2) I am aware (from newspaper reports) that the Nigerian Federal government (and some state governments in the north) assist rice farmers by deploying aerial spraying of rice farms with avicides to combat the Quelea quelea. Millions of the destructive birds are killed this way. This is probably why rice farmers from the northern are able to record better rice harvests. i am not aware of any such initiatives for rice farmers down south. (https://www.pressreader.com/nigeria/the-guardian-nigeria/20170528/282162176175888)

3) The use of juju. Many Ofada rice farmers believe that they can control these birds using juju. I have engaged many of them, directly and indirectly, and they all seem confident of the efficacyof the option. for the record, I do not share their belief. And even if they were to demonstrate that they are right, I still would not adopt this method. But then, I still have to mention it.

4) Drones should work if the number of drones is adequate for the size of the farm.

TangoAlpha:
I made an attempt at Ofada rice farming this year as well. The birds ravaged the farm. I lost, probably more than 90% of the harvest to the birds. They are called Quelea quelea. They are a most destructive species of birds. They should never be underestimated. They are estimated to be about 1.5-2 billion in population globally; and probably 98% of that population is in Africa.

This was partly why I asked you if you have an estimate of the population that came to your farm.

I attempted a number of options.

1) Bird tapes
2) Laser generating torch
3) Drone
4) Chiili-Vinegar solution
4) Avicide from Jubailli
5) Avicide imported from the US
6) Manual scaring

I can give you details of the outcomes of each of these options. But let me fast forward to what I think might deliver better results:

1) Bird netting. This option is very expensive and may not be economically viable if the market value of the rice is low. Ofada is pricier than regular rice; so there is prospect for bird netting to be viable. From my little research however, there are no high yielding Ofada variety yet; so the viability of the netting option might be questioned.Further investigation needed.

2) I am aware (from newspaper reports) that the Nigerian Federal government (and some state governments in the north) assist rice farmers by deploying aerial spraying of rice farms with avicides to combat the Quelea quelea. Millions of the destructive birds are killed this way. This is probably why rice farmers from the northern are able to record better rice harvests. i am not aware of any such initiatives for rice farmers down south. (https://www.pressreader.com/nigeria/the-guardian-nigeria/20170528/282162176175888)

3) The use of juju. Many Ofada rice farmers believe that they can control these birds using juju. I have engaged many of them, directly and indirectly, and they all seem confident of the efficacyof the option. for the record, I do not share their belief. And even if they were to demonstrate that they are right, I still would not adopt this method. But then, I still have to mention it.

4) Drones should work if the number of drones is adequate for the size of the farm.

I think I understand better now. So it's not even a localized problem as a thought. Hmn. I will research these options again

saliubello:
I think I understand better now. So it's not even a localized problem as a thought. Hmn. I will research these options again

In Lokoja, we lost a 2 hectare rice field in the late 90s to quela birds without harvesting a single seed.
The key here is to plant at a particular time and the locals know this. They tell you when to plant and target harvest at a time when the birds will not be available but foraging for ants around the river Niger.