adelegan1: Please don't not be deceive agriculture is not profitable in this country. Don't start what you can't end successfully you will waste your money and time. If I have farm 20hectares for 3 years and I must tell you. I learnt of lesson. But agriculture is never profitable in any part of the world. In America the government subsidize the agricultural sector heavily and that is why people are still farming. In nigeria people that produce food are the small farmer. Now sometimes when we see a truck of tomatoes we think is coming from just one farm that is not true. This product were collected by agent in small farms to filled in that truck from the north to bring to the city. This goes with most agricultural product. The only people that make money in agriculture are the agent and merchant. Now lets take the case of cocoa farming. The cocoa farmer lives in poverty while the agent and merchant become very very rich just within few time of starting the business. Please be warn . I will be here to see people that will loose money and precious time on farming

My friend, stop talking what you don't know. If you use a blunt knife to cut bread, it will never slice it. I am sure you understand what I mean.

I wish you the best of luck

hello people, i came across this thread, im hugely impressed with it. anyways can someone tell me d average cost price of land for farming in ogun state, i am looking into buying large hectares of land for farming. thanks

GOOD DAY MY FARMERS, I HAVE READ THESE MESSAGES ON THIS THREAD WITH KEEN INTEREST. I MUST COMMEND EVERYONE OUT HERE ITS A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE. HOWEVER, I'D LOVE TO SAY THAT "THERE'S NO POINT ANTAGONIZING OURSELVES ON THIS FORUM". THAT SAID I WISH TO ASK IF THE 70 YR OLD MAN WHO SAID HE MAKES 2M ANNUALLY COULD BE LYING? FARMERS PLS HINT ME ON THIS AS AM ABOUT TAKING A HUGE STEP TOWARDS INVESTMENT IN MAIZE FARMING.

Gooday all, my name is OJUBI, I am based in porthar court and I am about to start a pig farm but I have a problem.
I don't know were to buy the exotic breed for my start-up.
Please can someone help and recommend were I can have 5 females and 1 male of either Landrace, yorkshire, sported, duroe, or berkshire breeds or combined?
Can I get these breeds in port harcourt or any nearby town for easy transportation?
All the same provided they can be safely transported to my farm I don't mind buying them wherever I can find them thanks.

Browne I Love your drift, could we get in touch for some nice talks. Cheers and a merry xmas to all of us Gods blessings.

PapaBrowne: I love this thread and more importantly, I love the renewed interest in Agriculture displayed here. NIgeria is defintely on the right path in this generation.

For the past 2-3 years, I have been involved in research on Agribusiness Value Chain. I have even founded a company in this regard. Based on that, I'll give my 2cents to the poster and to those others already engaged or seeking to engage in Agriculture.

I would start by saying that instead of having an Agricultural mindset, it's a better Idea to have an Agribusiness Mindset. The difference between the price of products sold at farm gate is miles apart from their actual value in the retail markets. With an Agribusiness mindset, you would seek to add value to the products you produce and in turn sell at much better prices.

I will use the calculations given by @Olushowumn to butress my point.
Based on Olushowumn's calcultions, 1 hectare of land should produce 50,000 hills of corn which would equate to 200,000 cubs. An Igba(not sure what that means) would contain 400-600 cubs and could be sold for between 2000-4000 Naira. Lets use 500 cubs and 3000 Naira as average for an Igba.

So,
500 cubs = 1 Igbas = 3000 Naira.
200,000 cubs = 400 bags = 1.2 million Naira per hectare.
So your 7 hectare would yeild 8.4 million Naira.
Now that's good money. Or so it seems.

Now let me tell you how much that amount of corn would be bought be consumers if its boiled or roasted and sold on the streets.

1 roasted or boiled cub of corn sells for 50 Naira each on average.
Lets assume that from the 200,000 cubs per hectare, we loose 25% and are left with 150,000 per hectare
If that amount of corn were sold retail we would get 150,000 cubs x 50 Naira = 7.5 million per hectare.
Your total farm would sell for 7.5 million x 7 = 52.2 million Naira.

Yes. 52.5 million Naira is the amount your corn would sell for on the streets by the time a simple value of Roasting or Boiling has been added to it. That is a very long way from what you will get if you choose to sell your corn at the international price of $300 per Metric Tonne.

Now this is what you get if you choose to sell you corn on the international market without adding value.
Based on you post, you will achieve 3 tons per hectare which is 21 tons for your 7 hectares

1 Metric tonne = Approx. $300 = 48,000 Naira.
21 Metric Tonnes= 21 x $300= $6300 = 1.01 Million Naira.

The big question is:
Why would I want to sell my corn internationally for 1 Million Naira when I can sell locally wholesale for 8.4 million or retail for 52.2 million Naira.


In a nutshell, taking a value added approach to your farming business is the way to go. Selling raw stock for a small farmer with 20 hectares for me is not ideal. Add value. Tweak the Value chain to your favour and see your farnm generate you millions. Thats exactly what the white man has done for ages. They take our Cocoa and turn it to chocolates. While the Cocoa market is worth about $7 Billion dollars annually, the Chocolate market is worth over $100 billion despite the fact that Chocolate is just one of the by products of Cocoa.

There are a million things that can be created from your corn.

Animal feed. Custard and Pap. Corn Starch. Corn Syrup. Corn Flour. Corn Cake. Corn Oil.

And a whole lot more.

My best: Developing a cool franchise system where your corn is either Roasted or Boiled at major street junctions.

PapaBrowne: I love this thread and more importantly, I love the renewed interest in Agriculture displayed here. NIgeria is defintely on the right path in this generation.

For the past 2-3 years, I have been involved in research on Agribusiness Value Chain. I have even founded a company in this regard. Based on that, I'll give my 2cents to the poster and to those others already engaged or seeking to engage in Agriculture.

I would start by saying that instead of having an Agricultural mindset, it's a better Idea to have an Agribusiness Mindset. The difference between the price of products sold at farm gate is miles apart from their actual value in the retail markets. With an Agribusiness mindset, you would seek to add value to the products you produce and in turn sell at much better prices.

I will use the calculations given by @Olushowumn to butress my point.
Based on Olushowumn's calcultions, 1 hectare of land should produce 50,000 hills of corn which would equate to 200,000 cubs. An Igba(not sure what that means) would contain 400-600 cubs and could be sold for between 2000-4000 Naira. Lets use 500 cubs and 3000 Naira as average for an Igba.

So,
500 cubs = 1 Igbas = 3000 Naira.
200,000 cubs = 400 bags = 1.2 million Naira per hectare.
So your 7 hectare would yeild 8.4 million Naira.
Now that's good money. Or so it seems.

Now let me tell you how much that amount of corn would be bought be consumers if its boiled or roasted and sold on the streets.

1 roasted or boiled cub of corn sells for 50 Naira each on average.
Lets assume that from the 200,000 cubs per hectare, we loose 25% and are left with 150,000 per hectare
If that amount of corn were sold retail we would get 150,000 cubs x 50 Naira = 7.5 million per hectare.
Your total farm would sell for 7.5 million x 7 = 52.2 million Naira.

Yes. 52.5 million Naira is the amount your corn would sell for on the streets by the time a simple value of Roasting or Boiling has been added to it. That is a very long way from what you will get if you choose to sell your corn at the international price of $300 per Metric Tonne.

Now this is what you get if you choose to sell you corn on the international market without adding value.
Based on you post, you will achieve 3 tons per hectare which is 21 tons for your 7 hectares

1 Metric tonne = Approx. $300 = 48,000 Naira.
21 Metric Tonnes= 21 x $300= $6300 = 1.01 Million Naira.

The big question is:
Why would I want to sell my corn internationally for 1 Million Naira when I can sell locally wholesale for 8.4 million or retail for 52.2 million Naira.


In a nutshell, taking a value added approach to your farming business is the way to go. Selling raw stock for a small farmer with 20 hectares for me is not ideal. Add value. Tweak the Value chain to your favour and see your farnm generate you millions. Thats exactly what the white man has done for ages. They take our Cocoa and turn it to chocolates. While the Cocoa market is worth about $7 Billion dollars annually, the Chocolate market is worth over $100 billion despite the fact that Chocolate is just one of the by products of Cocoa.

There are a million things that can be created from your corn.

Animal feed. Custard and Pap. Corn Starch. Corn Syrup. Corn Flour. Corn Cake. Corn Oil.

And a whole lot more.

My best: Developing a cool franchise system where your corn is either Roasted or Boiled at major street junctions.

nice analysis, please i will like to discuss my business plan with you my email is adewusiadeniran@yahoo.com

PapaBrowne: I love this thread and more importantly, I love the renewed interest in Agriculture displayed here. NIgeria is defintely on the right path in this generation.

For the past 2-3 years, I have been involved in research on Agribusiness Value Chain. I have even founded a company in this regard. Based on that, I'll give my 2cents to the poster and to those others already engaged or seeking to engage in Agriculture.

I would start by saying that instead of having an Agricultural mindset, it's a better Idea to have an Agribusiness Mindset. The difference between the price of products sold at farm gate is miles apart from their actual value in the retail markets. With an Agribusiness mindset, you would seek to add value to the products you produce and in turn sell at much better prices.

I will use the calculations given by @Olushowumn to butress my point.
Based on Olushowumn's calcultions, 1 hectare of land should produce 50,000 hills of corn which would equate to 200,000 cubs. An Igba(not sure what that means) would contain 400-600 cubs and could be sold for between 2000-4000 Naira. Lets use 500 cubs and 3000 Naira as average for an Igba.

So,
500 cubs = 1 Igbas = 3000 Naira.
200,000 cubs = 400 bags = 1.2 million Naira per hectare.
So your 7 hectare would yeild 8.4 million Naira.
Now that's good money. Or so it seems.

Now let me tell you how much that amount of corn would be bought be consumers if its boiled or roasted and sold on the streets.

1 roasted or boiled cub of corn sells for 50 Naira each on average.
Lets assume that from the 200,000 cubs per hectare, we loose 25% and are left with 150,000 per hectare
If that amount of corn were sold retail we would get 150,000 cubs x 50 Naira = 7.5 million per hectare.
Your total farm would sell for 7.5 million x 7 = 52.2 million Naira.

Yes. 52.5 million Naira is the amount your corn would sell for on the streets by the time a simple value of Roasting or Boiling has been added to it. That is a very long way from what you will get if you choose to sell your corn at the international price of $300 per Metric Tonne.

Now this is what you get if you choose to sell you corn on the international market without adding value.
Based on you post, you will achieve 3 tons per hectare which is 21 tons for your 7 hectares

1 Metric tonne = Approx. $300 = 48,000 Naira.
21 Metric Tonnes= 21 x $300= $6300 = 1.01 Million Naira.

The big question is:
Why would I want to sell my corn internationally for 1 Million Naira when I can sell locally wholesale for 8.4 million or retail for 52.2 million Naira.


In a nutshell, taking a value added approach to your farming business is the way to go. Selling raw stock for a small farmer with 20 hectares for me is not ideal. Add value. Tweak the Value chain to your favour and see your farnm generate you millions. Thats exactly what the white man has done for ages. They take our Cocoa and turn it to chocolates. While the Cocoa market is worth about $7 Billion dollars annually, the Chocolate market is worth over $100 billion despite the fact that Chocolate is just one of the by products of Cocoa.

There are a million things that can be created from your corn.

Animal feed. Custard and Pap. Corn Starch. Corn Syrup. Corn Flour. Corn Cake. Corn Oil.

And a whole lot more.

My best: Developing a cool franchise system where your corn is either Roasted or Boiled at major street junctions.

nice analysis, please i will like to discuss my business plan with you my email is adewusiadeniran@yahoo.com

how do we handle a situation whereby there are too many maize available and selling your farm produce becomes difficult.
I had this ugly experience sometimes ago and it wasn't funny.

bfmconcepts: how do we handle a situation whereby there are too many maize available and selling your farm produce becomes difficult.
I had this ugly experience sometimes ago and it wasn't funny.

This is why timing of planting in farming is very important.I guess you planted it during the off-planting time
To achieve better profit next year,planting should be done immediately the first rain in February and Maybe in Early or Mid-March
The best way to sell your corn when faced with such scenario is to allow it to dry and shell,then supply to poultry farms,palp producers e.t.c
For info in our Cassava Farm management programmes,Agribusiness Training School 2014,Agribusiness Entrepreneur Cooperative,Call the Farm Manager;Gbenga on 08164628081 or email yusuffgbenga@gmail.com
For more updates on agriculture/farming like us on www.facebook.com/lesgupnigeria

megainvest:

Thanks for your interest but unfortunately, I'm still learning the ropes therefore, I'm not seeking partnership for cultivation at this time. I need to study the business properly before going into that. However, I am open to investors interested in processing and marketing of the harvest.



I encourage you to start up asap because the planting season is already far gone.
Apart from the cost of land, over 90% of the costs for cultivating a hectare are labour costs. i.e. Clearing, land preparation and planting. Labour costs largely depend on the location. As you might expect, labour in rural areas is cheaper. You will only need about N2,500 for purchase of high yield seeds for 1 hectare of land. If you need fertilizers or pesticides, that may cost about N5,000. You will need to contact the farmers in your area to tell you how much they will charge you for labour.

Hello,pls I intend to plant cassava on a 20 hectares land in ilaro in the coming planting season starting about march/April,I have been advised to intercrop with maize,can you tell me how to go about that and how to get high yield seeds to plant?

megainvest: @Olushowunm, thanks for the great advice.

@elebiola, yes mixed cropping is good practice. I mixed maize with melon. I think beans will achieve the same purpose.

Can I mix maize with cassava?

BECskills: Browne I Love your drift, could we get in touch for some nice talks. Cheers and a merry xmas to all of us Gods blessings.

How in your opinion can I set up this franchise system you talked about as I intend to mix maize and cassava in my 20 hectares farm in ogun state?

how do you plan to store the harvested maize against damages by insects have you thought of commercial production of another products using maize.
also check this link for more resources
http://farmresource..com/

gabacino78:

How in your opinion can I set up this franchise system you talked about as I intend to mix maize and cassava in my 20 hectares farm in ogun state?

Gabacino78 I guess this question was meant for megainvest to answer. But on the best practices I got some wonderful documents from my research finding with USAID. I could forward to you. Kindly send me an email: BECS@mtnnigeria.blackberry.com

@megainvest,gabacino78 et al. I need you guys to help me with at least 2hectares of land. I was thinking of synergy as a better option towards maximizing sales, and marketing. Am an agric biz developer in areas of strategic marketing. Would appreciate you guys to inbox me so we could work things out; BECS@mtnnigeria.blackberry.com.
Cheers and merry berry new year...

.

We have thousands of acres
of good fertile land for sale,
lease or rent in Ogbomoso,
Oyo state. Selling from
N70,000 per acre and u can
rent at 3k per year. Our lands
are suitable for most crops.
Good roads, peaceful and
friendly people. 08060318769,08123235949

Guys, thanks for this update, its very helpful. however am working on corn processing, so would like to buy corn from farmers directly.
if you have a deal you can mail me wolenchy@yahoo.com

Guys, where is IITA centers in lagos.

megainvest: Hello business minded people. I am pleased to inform you that our maize farm has now started up fully. In summary, over 7 hectares of farmland was cultivated within a month. Target yield is 3 tons per hectare. In 3 months, it is expected that we can inject about 20 tons of maize into the global market.

I would encourage young entrepreneurs to go iinto agriculture. You are welcome to join me on this thread to discuss this and other issues. Foremost on my mind is the marketing of this harvest.

Thanks

Hi Megainvest.
Thanks for this post and the wonderful reply it was able to generate.
I am planning on going into maize farming next year and i would be so happy if you could answer some of my question!
1. how much did you invest?
2. Did you spend more that the money budgeted?
3. The risk involved, what are they?
3. Harvesting and marketing how did you do that?
4. please do tell me more of anything that would be helpful to me. Thanks and success with all you do.

@ Cranky, I think it's time we gave some practices a trial, a trial might convince u atimes. See, things are changing dis days, and to meet up with d challenges in agriculture, we have 2 give some practices a trial by adopting latest techniques. I must tell u, dat's why europe, america & asia are far ahead of africa. Dis same plant population u guys were arguing on, a zimbabwean big time farmer who's my friend told me 2 try dis same pp. Likewise an indian farmer told me same. I'm giving it a try come next farming season by his grace. I was surprised when I visited our association office 2 wks ago & I was told d criteria 4 farm inspection to access loan next year will be strictly 20,000 stands of cassava/ha instead of d usual 10,000 stands/ha. With dis, in about few weeks, d plants will attain full ground cover & inhibit weed growth, so u will have to carry out only 1 weeding & ur yield will not be affected. I still cant believe what I was told anyways, until I personaly give a trial come next season. Practices are changing for improvement everyday.

Hi great man..........have u given it a trial now. What was the result, pls can we know. Help us, young aspiring farmers, learn. Thanks

I am very happy for the informative and educative posts about maize farming on this forum. Thanks to everybody. My request goes to MEGAINVEST. please how can I contact you for investment in maize cultivation? I live in Igando, Lagos State. My email is purposivebizsolution@gmail.com. Thank you. 07018133163.

@megainvest,
plz come and conclude ur story.
hw was ur maize harvest?

did u make mistakes? are there learning points?


note- ive started stalking u since i noticed u visit all sections of nairaland dt i also visit.

mercylicious:
@megainvest,
plz come and conclude ur story.
hw was ur maize harvest?
did u make mistakes? are there learning points?
note- ive started stalking u since i noticed u visit all sections of nairaland dt i also visit.

I guess we have similar interests.

I did conclude my story and drew some very strong conclusions. Check my posts on page 1 (October).
For now, I have parked this business to come back to it later in the future big time. I am busy gathering more facts and more money. I will like to combine it with animal farming.

megainvest:
Wow it's hot in here! Good thing I finally have some Updates from my practical experience. My total yield was about 13.5 tons giving about 1.9 tons per hectare. This is way below the mark of 3 tons per hectare I expected.

There are a few reasons I identified for this. Some of the corn was eaten by pests, some were stolen and few plants did not produce healthy cobs.

As for the conversions and standard yields, I finally have a grip of it. The following are Given facts:
1. one acre is 0.404 hectares.
2. 1 hectare will contain 2.47 times the maize in one acre if planted uniformly.
3. Maize yield can range from as low as less than 1 ton per hectare in Africa to over 20 tons per hectare in some parts of USA. On the average, Chile / USA produce at about 11 tons/ha, with Nigeria at 2tons/ha.
4. In terms of ears of corn per hectare, a representative figure is difficult to mention but a yield of 75,000 ears per hectare can be considered as excellent production in the leading countries.

I am happy to have my own experience and willing to learn more. It is quite clear that making an investment decision based on balloon internet figures can ruin you.

..
Don't you think that without those loses your yield would have been higher?

@ Olashowunm
"@ALL... MAIZE IS GOOD WHEN SOLD FRESH TO FRESH MARKET AS YOU DONT NEED TO EXPEND ADDITIONAL COSTS... "

But you cannot possible exhaust the fresh produce. Even where it is possible to exhaust it, what becomes of other foods which are products of maize: pap, custard, corn-flakes etc.? You add value when u expend additional cost and there is return for the value u have added

This is the most intresting topic I have seen


What a wow



More grace guys

Maize farmers, what was your experience this last planting season? Did you get ballooned returns on investment as stated on the internet? if not, how did it go?

Av said it before n i wil still say it paper work is different from real experience on d field ao eva at what spacin is it gonna get dt figure in one hectares of land. U can oly get 55,555 stands of maize on one hectare using paper work. So shield more light how you come across dt planting population. Let learn from each other n dt said figure can never complete after establishment of d maize farm.

fecundz:
Av said it before n i wil still say it paper work is different from real experience on d field ao eva at what spacin is it gonna get dt figure in one hectares of land. U can oly get 55,555 stands of maize on one hectare using paper work. So shield more light how you come across dt planting population. Let learn from each other n dt said figure can never complete after establishment of d maize farm.

Let people also share there experience. How many tons of dry grain can the 55,555 stands give? I think we should talk in terms of tons and not stands. Another season will soon come so that people can learn.

Aflatoxin free maize for sale