I am seriously thinking of a fresh vegetable mart. Its very difficult getting fresh stuff in Nigeria seriously. The carrots we eat are all shrivelled, tomatoes are all rotten and badly preserved. poorly handled and full of germs.

I am wondering if there is any opportunity for a frozen food vegetable market in Nigeria. I know there are a lot of vegetables wasting in the country but I think people may just patronise properly preserved and fresh vegetable stores. Or are we just content picking rotten and nutritionally deficient fruits and vegetables?

What do you think?

It's a good idea but you should NOT forget to factor power (electricity) into your business plan.

My Dear,

As if you know what my friend and i are just discussing. i no wan buy petrol die on top cold carrot. nigeria sef worry no light nothing. how i wan begin sef transport carrot from Jos?

Me sef I don tire oh

Na small small, one day we too go de where we supos de. with constant electricity these things can be done.

Let us not give up

the preservation/frozen buss. is a huge avenue to ginger the economy, its actually a trillion naira buss. hopefully one day the govt. will look beyond their noses and give us CONSTANT spply of electricity, without which its a pipe dream. pls i beg of you dont invest your moni yet ohh. strart your research for the next 3/4 yrs, maybe by then.

why would you do a frozen veg business as opposed to fresh vegetables? ppl pay a lot for fresh vegetable abroad because it has to be flown all the way from africa and other places you have acess to fresh veg in nigeria cheap
like others have mentioned power will be a challenge as well and its just an unnecessary overhead

I learned something from an older colleague, to start a business you calculate factors. You have to just accept the fact that light is an issue so when doing your calculations factor in cost of power, and see what margin you have as profit. if it pays, then go ahead with the biz, when ever Power supply becomes steady you call the savings extra profit.

This is a good idea. As the hot weather always change the food get bad fast. If you want to keep food fresh, you can choose following way:
1. Keep the food in cold room for storing
2. Using ice to keep the food keep fresh

The advantage of the cold room is that it can last for longer time than ice, but the cost is higher.

Regarding the shortage of electricity, you can power the machine by generator set, lots people choose this way to run business in Nigeria.


Hope this information can help you . If you need support in this line, you can contact with me freely.


www.chinaicemakingmachine.com
Email:sales@chinaicemakingmachine.com
Mob:+86-13671510188
Fax:+86-2139650098

@igbogolo

As if you know what my friend and i are just discussing. i no wan buy petrol die on top cold carrot. nigeria sef worry no light nothing. how i wan begin sef transport carrot from Jos?

here's a way i know that is used locally
i used to have a tomatoe and carrot farm in Jos
basically the carrot is removed just before it ripens and left with its leaves on
when loading,you put loads of grass underneath,between and on top of eg 3 sections of carrots
you try and wet along the way as often as posible
yes you will have a few rotten ones,
but you d be surprised at the ones that make it
then you think of the next level with is refridgerationb
good luck

Thanks Toyemz.

How big do you think the vegetable farming is in the north especially Jos? I served in Toro Bauchi State but i used to go to firin gada market in Jos for vegetables. Its a large market but I am not very sure of the scale of farming there.

Can you elaborate on this? what other vegetables grow there that can survive a few days before it gets down south?

l strongly suggest u go in to less risk free strategy though stil in the vegetable,fruit line.Here are two options opening Silos at strategic locations close to your consumer market and not too far from the farmers.This will reduce the total hours goods have to stay without adequate preservation.
Another is a processing plant to process fresh produce right from farms to plants , so cleaned,processed with preservatives,packaged or in liquid form.This gives u more shelf life

Frozen vegetables can be bought at very affordable prices throughout the year. The best part about these types of vegetables that they've come cropping for your convenience. It's quite possible that the vegetables, which are currently not taste as good as fresh vegetables. Therefore, to enhance the taste and we can overcome this limitation and add season flavors of frozen vegetables.

Good idea even with the power supply problem. if you can replicate the display and storage pattern at grocery and produce sections at oyibo stores, that will be great. also if you can find a way of sourcing the produce at very cheap prices, there will be some good money left after paying for petrol.

@Igbogolo,

I'll sell a franchise to you so you can hit the ground running. Forget about electricity.

What franchise are u insinuating, there are virtually no noticeable players in this industry.So am quite flustered by ur suggestion
l suggest u look into a partnership or a consortium of investors which u can equally source from this forum.If u go into this venture in a very small scale the odds that it will run out of operating capital is very high.To also handle the high variable cost the lack of constant power shall inflict in your stream of revenue, u need to have a very robust sales. Scale of economics will give u monopoly over certain states, u get my drift.Huge doesn't mean u need to foot all the bills,Capital goods can be leased and converted to equity later when u are profitable. delgroveng.com

toyemz:
@igbogolo



here's a way i know that is used locally
i used to have a tomatoe and carrot farm in Jos
basically the carrot is removed just before it ripens and left with its leaves on
when loading,you put loads of grass underneath,between and on top of eg 3 sections of carrots
you try and wet along the way as often as posible
yes you will have a few rotten ones,
but you d be surprised at the ones that make it
then you think of the next level with is refridgerationb
good luck

whats the cost of a 50 kg wieght of carrot nd cucumber pls. Thnaks