MANGAM: Hi guys, am a young man in my late 20s staying abt 100km fro Abuja. I discover dat palm trees do vry well in my place so I went to NIFOR office in Wamba LGA of Nasarawa and got 2500 palm seeds this year. Am also planing to add 300 coconuts which I ve order from Akure. This is my passion and this wat I sleep and dream evryday. I wan fro d proceeds of d palms in d nex 10yrs to build a water bottling company within d farm and also build 20 tastly furnished rooms for holidaying. My problem nw is where can I access a little capital of say 200-500k to get a bulldozer to clear d land. Am presently am using manuel labour and is makin d work vry slow. Is the federal govt giving loan to farms? Pls I dnt knw wat to do. If I can't meet up dis season, den I ve to nurse dem and wait til nex to tak my palm trees to d farm after clearin. Thanks and waiting for ur kind respone

felixzo1: i wish you more grease to your elbow.continue and you will surely be there.i stay in abuja and my plantation is in benue, close to obudu in cross river state. i started the same way you did, using manual labour, i have access to land but capital for growing more palms and maintaining the one i have is a challenge . hopefully i will start harvesting and processing from my plantation in 2015, i intend to buy fresh fruit bunch and add to my little plantation of 7 hectares and process,getting a bulldozer is good but expensive use herbicides(tree killer) to kill the tress and a sawing machine to cut down the big tress, just start with the little , money you have, i did my nursery my self , and it was a fun experience,i believe you know the oil palm nursery is divided in to pre nursery and nursery stages, smaller poly bags are used for pre nursery and the palms are shaded from direct sunlight.while bigger poly bags are used in the secondary nursery and the palms are not shaded, remember to irrigated and apply fertilizers, an average lost of 20 to 30 percents of seedlings is expected

felixzo1: this is a trend for oil palm farmers not forex traders ,pls go somewhere else, young men are protecting their future by investing in agriculture , you are there talking about gambling

felixzo1: this is a trend for oil palm farmers not forex traders ,pls go somewhere else, young men are protecting their future by investing in agriculture , you are there talking about gambling

PapaBrowne: Lovely thread. I love the practical experiences people have placed out here. Reading through the thread was like a complete university course. Okine4real, kudos and a big thank you for starting this thread. Other contributors, a big thank you.

I have 70 plots in Edo State and looking to scoop more.
I prefer short term crops but more importantly, I prefer crops I can add value and sell at a premium.

Palm oil looks real good. But after reading through the thread, I am of the opinion that the best way to succeed in it is for folks to come together, form a cooperative, purchase huge swaths of land, buy mechanized equipments for clearing and employ the services of experts who would monitor the planting process.

So imagine 50 people come together and bring together say 1 Million each= 50 million. Based on the calculation I've seen here, you might be able to get a hectare for 250k each in the west.I think Cross River would give you for cheaper.
Say you buy 80 hectares. That should cost 20 million.
80 hectares would sit 12,000 palm trees. The cost of 12,000 seedlings= 1.8 million at 150 per seedling.

Then you buy machines for clearing instead of over employing labour. A Forest Mulcher would do an excellent job. The beautiful thing with this is that you can hire out your mulcher when you don't need it and it would surely pay for itself in a short while. Budget for a very good Mulcher, say $70,000 which is about 12 million.

Then planting, even at 200 naira per seed, your maximum spend is 2.4 million.

Based on these, your initial total spend would be: 20m +12m + 2.4m + another say 5.6 m for exigencies. Total= 40m.
The balance can be used to run the farm.
Now based on the collateral that your farm is, you can now obtain a loan as a cooperative to buy the processing machines.

At 6000 litres per hectare, 80 hectares should give about 480,000 litres of crude palm oil
At Okinereal's price of 4500 Naira per 25 litre, the yield from crude palm oil alone would look like about 90 million Naira yearly.Monies would also come from palm kernel oil, palm kernel cake, the shells and other parts. So roughly and theoretically, you could be looking at 120 million yearly.

I'm not sure my calculations are in order but the point is that coming together to achieve a common goal is more plausible than everybody seeking to go it alone and that's why farmers form cooperative globally.

We should think about this.

PapaBrowne: Lovely thread. I love the practical experiences people have placed out here. Reading through the thread was like a complete university course. Okine4real, kudos and a big thank you for starting this thread. Other contributors, a big thank you.

I have 70 plots in Edo State and looking to scoop more.
I prefer short term crops but more importantly, I prefer crops I can add value and sell at a premium.

Palm oil looks real good. But after reading through the thread, I am of the opinion that the best way to succeed in it is for folks to come together, form a cooperative, purchase huge swaths of land, buy mechanized equipments for clearing and employ the services of experts who would monitor the planting process.

So imagine 50 people come together and bring together say 1 Million each= 50 million. Based on the calculation I've seen here, you might be able to get a hectare for 250k each in the west.I think Cross River would give you for cheaper.
Say you buy 80 hectares. That should cost 20 million.
80 hectares would sit 12,000 palm trees. The cost of 12,000 seedlings= 1.8 million at 150 per seedling.

Then you buy machines for clearing instead of over employing labour. A Forest Mulcher would do an excellent job. The beautiful thing with this is that you can hire out your mulcher when you don't need it and it would surely pay for itself in a short while. Budget for a very good Mulcher, say $70,000 which is about 12 million.

Then planting, even at 200 naira per seed, your maximum spend is 2.4 million.

Based on these, your initial total spend would be: 20m +12m + 2.4m + another say 5.6 m for exigencies. Total= 40m.
The balance can be used to run the farm.
Now based on the collateral that your farm is, you can now obtain a loan as a cooperative to buy the processing machines.

At 6000 litres per hectare, 80 hectares should give about 480,000 litres of crude palm oil
At Okinereal's price of 4500 Naira per 25 litre, the yield from crude palm oil alone would look like about 90 million Naira yearly.Monies would also come from palm kernel oil, palm kernel cake, the shells and other parts. So roughly and theoretically, you could be looking at 120 million yearly.

I'm not sure my calculations are in order but the point is that coming together to achieve a common goal is more plausible than everybody seeking to go it alone and that's why farmers form cooperative globally.

We should think about this.

okine4real: i hope i have lots of time to write today.

I just came back from villa, In fact i was disappointed when i saw mine palms. The palms was very small. I believe when mine mum bought the palms from NIFOR, them palm where just babies, they where not up to three quarter inch in height. and it was 150 Naira per stand. I went looking for chemicals in mine village, to use for killing the weeds, then i stumbled into a guy selling palms. I bought just four stands from him for 200 Naira each. The palms i bought from him was about four and half feet in height. better than the once mine mum bought from Abia. Mine advice, if you want to start a plantation dont buy from Abia or Benin because They have lots of customer coming to buy there palms at regular intervals, so they dont have better time to really nurture and grow the Nursery very well before selling them out.so even before the palms gets to three quarter inch, they would have been sold, If you buy smaller Nursery, after you plant you would still need to buy the collar to protect the palms from rodent, then before your palm would get to about four feet, you would have to wait for about 6 months i guess.

Also i dont think, a palm can start producing from the third year, from what i saw, it would start from the fifth year, i even saw a man that bought is palm from okomu oil, he bought is palms for 750 each, the palms where bigger than the once i bought for 200 Naira. If you palm starts fruiting from the third year, then you would have to apply fertilizer at least three times a year, also you have to week may be three or four times a year, if you weeds in your plantation, it would not let your palms grow very well. Am serious ohh, if you have weeds on your palms, just be reas assured that your palms would not grow very well

I dont even know what to say again. House please just ask questions and lets share ideas, i think we all would learn from there.... Another thing i learn was, if you have a plantation without a milling factory, you would end up make small small change. the main money come in when you mill the oil, even if you dont have plantation well it does not really matter like that sha to an extent, but if you must depend on buying palms from smaller plantation owners, then make sure you have a truck for easy transport.

Mine head is running on low battery now, would update when i have recharged.

Regards

felixzo1: , i will be travelling next week for weeding of my palms, i am growing another small nursery in secondary nursery stage now, they are in big poly bags now. i hope to bring back pictures, it is always good to allow your palm grow well in the nursery before planting in the field. the advantage is, they will give bigger fruits in the 3rd year.okine4real your palms will yield in the 3rd year or 4th year at most, oil palms grow fast , just apply fertilizers from time to time.the only thing is you will have a smaller yield in the 3rd year, since the base of the oil palm will not be that big then.

laji: @ okine4real:: i have been enjoying the topic as i am considering going into it majorly, i find it very educative and informative..God bless you okine4real, pls can you put your phone number or email address so that we can discuss at length on more ideas.
thank you.

felixzo1: , i will be travelling next week for weeding of my palms, i am growing another small nursery in secondary nursery stage now, they are in big poly bags now. i hope to bring back pictures, it is always good to allow your palm grow well in the nursery before planting in the field. the advantage is, they will give bigger fruits in the 3rd year.okine4real your palms will yield in the 3rd year or 4th year at most, oil palms grow fast , just apply fertilizers from time to time.the only thing is you will have a smaller yield in the 3rd year, since the base of the oil palm will not be that big then.

MANGAM: Hi palm growers, am in my villa to see my oil palm trees in d nursery stage. Here are some pixs

Victorjerry68: Please can someone give me advice on oil plantation

MANGAM: Hi palm growers, am in my villa to see my oil palm trees in d nursery stage. Here are some pixs