hello farmers,
From my experiences(both bitter and sweet)I found out that the beginning of success in anything in life is planning,so goes for Agric.
It is a true saying that agriculture have alot of prospects and wealth,but the bottom neck to this is good planning.
I have handled so many Agric projects in my entire life and observed that those brought to the table before execution are far more successful than those just done for doing sake for quick profits.
A next year farmer should by now have the pictures of where to get land for farming,crops to plant,hands to work on the farm... and so many things,i will use this thread to share my experiences from farming for the period of 20years I have been in the business,but as you follow me....... remember,if you fail to plan,you will plan to fail.........later

To start with,let me give a skeletal background introduction about myself,i grew up in the North Central part of Nigeria,i have never done anything in life as a business but agriculture,started planting beans ,corn and managing a backyard rabbit farm of about 90rabbits at the age of 9!(I am now 37).
I got my first million in agriculture in March 2007 when I stocked 50families/colony of grasscutter for a southeast commissioner at that time,after which I stocked another 60families for a fadama project in Kwara state......

Grasscutter domestication and stocking opened the first door of success to my life as it really gave me a reason to believe and trust agriculture.with it I trained myself and my siblings in school,got properties and started life.
my disadvantage of going into this great business was that I never believed in any other agro enterprise except grasscutter!
it backfired in 2013 during the ebola saga,got a supply contract from a private university,travelled to a neighbouring country for the stocking,all my gotten grasscutters got seized and destroyed by quarantine officers at Idiroko border ......
now back to square one situation!

sold all my acquired properties,the only thing I couldn't sell at the time was myself!
one good thing was going on a self adventure and learning about almost all aspects of agriculture due to my failure,this also led me to learning how to get live grasscutters and snails myself in the wild(helping me to offload alot of my debts). although I haven't fully recovered from this mess till date,but I have learnt my lessons,i will take you through alot of my adventures in the world of agriculture and my lots of failures as a result of lack of proper planning.
note; my purpose of this write up is to create awareness of how to be successful from my failure stories in agriculture and most posts on NAIRALAND is filled with fake stories and false pictures in order to get one patronage or the other making more victims than victors in the process.

........ continuation later,reactions,questions and contributions(negative and positive ones)are welcomed.

Am following

First, great courage to as you rise up from the loss. Failure is not the end of the world.
Second good job sharing your experience with others so they don't fall into same situation. God bless you and your family

It said in my place that he who share experience is the greatest techno's.

.... continuation.....
after seeing the shame and reproach faced in the society by the downtrodden and the poor,i was forced to go into wood exporting business through the help of a friend who gave me some money because I have access to wood in my state,.... still without planning,note that heavy wood haulage is done in the dry season,i forced it in the rainy season,behold I lost all the money!, by the time dry season began,there was no money to continue,then a friend invited me to start Ugu farming around November that year when there's no water,i believe and assumed I will get water somehow and somewhere, behold,it sank again!
assumption in life and business,is the greatest foolishness.

this tough foolish risk turned me to a beggar!note that in the middle of this failure i have some sudden success,like just planting local tomatoes for fun on four plots of land at the right time even without a single chemical or fertilizer,i harvested more than planned!same goes for success and planting okra at the right time and so on,agricultural planning is just the first thing to consider before venturing into any of its practices either plants and animals as there is no part of agriculture that is not rewarding.
I have virtually practiced virtually every aspect of agriculture except rearing fish and cow,also I don't plant cucumber and watermelon,but I have studied,planted and marketed virtually any other plants and animals available in Nigeria,i have also been to about 26states in Nigeria trying to know why I failed! this also gave me the knowledge that not everyone can go into Agric as some of us can also buy farm produce in a place to sell in another place to make a better profit even more than the farmers themselves!
for instance,there are towns in southwest of Oyo,ogun and Osun where one can buy groundnut for N8,000 , transport it with N2000 and sell in the South South of Portharcourt and Bayelsa for N15,000 per bag!
there are villages where ginger was planted long time ago but it still produce in large quantities year in,year out and it wastes every time, you can buy a bag for as low as N1,500 and sell for N9000 in another place in this same Nigeria!
I am almost concluding that export market of raw materials is a colossal waste as this produce sells somewhere better in our country,saving you the pain of preservation so that it could get to another country.
information is power,your breakthrough might just be at your door step!

my story is a book,i just took time to give a little summary so that you my dear reader will not fall into the same ditch I fell into,but this bitter experience has made me learn never to invest at a haste but to look into what an investment entails before going into it,i am sad with all my loses and failures and happy with my wealth of experience which is really helping me to build my life on this vast experience.
in the next write up,i will be sharing my plans truthfully and would still welcome advice from mentors and people who has gotten more experienced than me due to this type of occurrence.

comments,contribution and ideas are welcomed.

apakoso2020:
comments,contribution and ideas are welcomed.

A reader is waiting
keep it up

.....my plans God willing.....
my adventures into failure lead me to alot of debt I must confess,but God's grace has been my buckler.
for the coming farming season and from now until March,here are my plans analysed like this;
a) what to do from now until March,which is the coming season.
b)my plans for the 2020 farming season starting in March.

apakoso2020:
.....my plans God willing.....
my adventures into failure lead me to alot of debt I must confess,but God's grace has been my buckler.
for the coming farming season and from now until March,here are my plans analysed like this;
a) what to do from now until March,which is the coming season.
b)my plans for the 2020 farming season starting in March.

from now till March Next year,i want to buy farm produce in places of abundance to a region where such produce are scarce,produce for consideration are
groundnut
atarodo
nawa
tatase
okra
tomato
ginger
yam
melon
of more interest,the sourcing of all these shall be in the southwest!

I will do this to raise money for next farming season as I need to buy my major farm implements and inputs like;
tractor
automatic sprayer
farm containers
all needed chemicals
seeds
stock food for my workers for the first 6months
build a farm shed(bacha) for workers
and do many other things.

Are u in WhatsApp, if u are . drop ur contact

[quote author=ozome15 post=81588858]Are u in WhatsApp, if u are08023589841

my WhatsApp number is 08023589841

apakoso2020:
I will do this to raise money for next farming season as I need to buy my major farm implements and inputs like;
tractor
automatic sprayer
farm containers
all needed chemicals
seeds
stock food for my workers for the first 6months
build a farm shed(bacha) for workers
and do many other things.

the next thing is planting each farm produce I have mastered it's market techniques and sequence,i will share my plans on each plant including how and even where they would marketed,join me while i share my years of farming and marketing experience and expertise while touring over 20states in Nigeria

for my next year planting,i will be doing it in two states apart where each of the crops I wish to plant are largely produced.
I also wish to be very close to local farmers whose experience and advice cannot be ignored because it sometimes surpasses any university certificate and theories i must have acquired in school.
one of the things that destroyed my farming practices in the past was lack of labour,as I speak,2hands have been hired already for the March farming season!.

for Oyo state farming,15hectares have already been acquired where;
groundnut
atarodo
pepper
bawa
tatase
green pepper.... would be planted.
for Osun state,20hectares have been acquired where
okra
tomato
ginger
potato
shall be planted.

my two hands labourers are been trained and informed my plans for next year farming season,i want to put each one of them as supervisors for each end of Oyo and Osun farms,i will also make it a point of duty to keep everyone in the house posted as things unveil.

the labourers won't be doing any weeding or tilling,their job is to bring in partime hands and supervise them in time of :
planting
herbicide and pesticides application
harvesting.
as earlier said,planning is the key,and I am ready to go all out for it.

interested and serious partners can also show interest, partnership is needed in this endeavor either for the buying and selling,or the farming production as success is hardly achieved by an island,alot of things are involved in this field.

I can also help secure farmlands for next season farming

but from all indications,i can still put something on my 20acres between now and and September,i was looking for a great crop that is so hardy and have a high tolerance for drought and unfriendly weather conditions,i chose sweet potatoes,here is my business plan for it.

Sweet potato: A) business plan
To plant sweet potato(white) on 10acres for 4months and harvest for sale
B)SWOT analysis(strength,weakness,opportunity and threats)
: Sweet potatoes can tolerate draught and harsh weather conditions,doesnt need fertilizer,weeding is done once,
: STRENGTH
WEAKNESSES
It is a perishable root crop,can stay for about 10days after harvest
: OPPORTUNITY
Rivers,bayelsa and Akwa Ibom States are high consumers of potato
: And cost of production is at bearest minimum
: THREAT
No known threat to production and marketing of potato

: BUSINESS ANALYSIS Cost of land rentals-10acres at N1000/acre=N10,000 First plough at N6000/acre=N60,000 Second plough at N6000/acre=N60,000: Stems for planting=N10,000 Pesticides=N15,000 Labour for pesticides=N10000 Weeding at N4000/acre=N40,000 First harvest labour=N10000 Transport to market=N20,000 Miscellaneous=N25,000 : Planting at N3000/acre=N30,000 Total;N280,000

RETURN ON INVESTMENT
1200bags of 50kg bag of sweet potatoes can be gotten from 10acres,if sales is at a time potato is in surplus in the market,at N2000/bag, we can realize N2.4million
Net profit is N2,120,000 at the end of 4months

A serious financier is needed to this effect

MARKETING PLAN FOR HARVESTED POTATOES.
My plan is to sell first five harvests in southwest,then the rest in South South(rivers,bayelsa and Akwa Ibom States)

I will also be dropping a business plan for pepper(atarodo) business,buying in the southwest and selling in South South,this business is only for 2months .