Before the advent of crude oil, agriculture was the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy. Then, the country’s economy thrived; food was available and affordable. People, therefore, did not go hungry, except in extreme cases occasioned by a serious factor.

With the oil boom era, the country and its people shifted attention from agriculture to oil and gas. Subsequently, graduates of Agricultural Science, Soil Science, Agricultural Extension, Agricultural Economics etc., looked for white-collar jobs in banks and other seemingly lucrative areas, including oil and gas. Little did people know that those who remained in agriculture would today be raking in millions and billions of naira, as their products now grace both local and international markets.

This gives an impeccable signal that agriculture is, perhaps, more viable than other sectors. Also, it is an indication that well planned investment in agriculture is not a futile effort. It suffices that some Nigerian farmers have successfully built some shining legacies that need to be emulated and replicated. Most of them, as observed, are politicians. In this edition, LEADERSHIP Friday brings to the fore Nigeria’s top ten biggest farmers.

OLUSEGUN OBASANJO (OBASANJO FARMS)

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is not only a retired army officer, former head of state and politician, he is also a successful farmer. He owns Ota Farm, which is also called Obasanjo Farms. The large farm was formally opened on October 8, 1979, a week after Obasanjo handed over power to a civilian administration on October 1, 1979. At inception, the farm took off as Temperance Enterprises Limited (Farming Venture). It later became Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited.

Obasanjo Farms indeed took off in grand style, indication that Nigeria’s former president meant serious business. This probably accounts for the growth, expansion, sustainability and consolidation witnessed in the evolution of the farm, considering how it started and where it is now.

The farm took off with two layer houses containing 100, 000 birds each and five broiler houses of 12,000 each, in addition to two feed mills of three tons per hour each. The large farm, which has up to 7,000 workers started with four bulldozer operators. Today, Obasanjo makes up to N34million daily from Ota Farm, which has branches in Ibadan and Igbo-Ora, Oyo State. This is no small earning for the former president whose farm has played a significant role in the development of agriculture and food production.

Obasanjo also uses the farm complex at the Agbe L’ Oba House, Ota, the Ogun State headquarters of the farm, to hold political and diplomatic meetings.

ABDULSALAMI ABUBABAKAR (MAIZUBE FARMS)

What makes General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) significant today in Nigeria and beyond is not just his successful military career or the fact that he willingly handed over power to a democratically elected government in 1999 to usher in the Fourth Republic. He has a stake in the Nigerian agricultural sector, being the owner of Maizube Farms Limited, which is helping to cater for the food needs of many Nigerians today.

Maizube Farms Limited is located at Km 26, Minna-Bida Road, Minna, Niger State, where General Abubakar is from. The 500-hectare multi-product farm has both livestock and crop sections and today, it is proudly one of the stable sources of crop and animal products upon which Nigerians depend for food and other uses.

Just as General Abubakar gives appreciable time to his peacekeeping mission across the African continent, so also does he give a great deal of time and attention to his Maizube Farms.

MURTALA NYAKO (SEBORE FARMS)

Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd), the executive governor of Adamawa State may be more popular from the political perspective to many, but he is one of the most successful Nigerian farmers today. Few know that he is the owner of Sebore Farms in Mayo-Belwa, Adamawa State.

Murtala Nyako was born at Mayo-Belwa, to Alhaji Hamman-Yero, a notable merchant and Hajiya Maryam Daso who was keen on Islamic studies and herbal medicine, on August 27, 1943.

Nyako was born a cattle owner, as his mother had been allocated some cows for her offspring before his birth. So he started what has snowballed into an integrated commercial farm today as a cattle farm. Even throughout his career, in the Navy and in politics, Nyako was never distracted from developing and expanding his coast in the agricultural sector, the result of which is his success story today.

He commenced a sustainable crossbreeding programme of his local cattle with exotic superior sires in 1990 with very satisfactory results. He also got involved in the production of horticultural crops and his first commercial export of muskmelons to Europe, using a chartered aircraft, took place in January 1990. Nyako owns the largest mango farm in Nigeria, leading to his being popularly known as Baba Mai Mangoro (BMM). Exotic mangoes from his mango orchard of 50, 000 trees were first exported to Europe in 1993. He is also presently involved in the modern production of dates, passion fruit and bananas, pasture development breeding of Boer goats and farming.

Nyako is the president of the Horticultural Crops Growers Association of Nigeria, the Practicing Farmers Association of Nigeria and the Apex Farmers Association of Nigeria. He is the patron of numerous farmers’ commodity associations in the country. -

See more at: http://www.askranker.com/2014/07/10-leading-commercial-farms-in-nigeria.html

Excellent expository.

Please do not stop.

Let us see the ten,

Thanks

thieves

why only ex governors and political giants?, this impliedly shows that agriculture in Nigeria is still at the subsistence level, an ordinary man will hardly survive if he intends going on a commercial scale,you need to one way or the other be self made before venturing into it fully

Maximus17:
why only ex governors and political giants?, this impliedly shows that agriculture in Nigeria is still at the subsistence level, an ordinary man will hardly survive if he intends going on a commercial scale,you need to one way or the other be self made before venturing into it fully

That is not the reason. Nigerians are looking for white-collar jobs, that is why many don't want to venture into agriculture. Many of these white-collars jobs don't even pay as well as commercial agriculture. Farmers are looked at as dirty or poor people. Not just farmers, carpenters, mechanics and the likes They want to become pilots, doctors, lawyers, bankers, architects and the likes. How much is a bag of rice today? Imagine if you had a rice farm and how many billions you would be making from it? Instead of going for a white-collars job of N40,000/month. Moreover I don't know of any empowerment program or school in Nigeria that teaches people how to farm... for those who are interested in venturing into commercial agriculture. I called HABDEC school of commerical agriculture the other day, but they kept saying "hello, hello, hello". I sent whatsapp messge to them, but they didn't reply. I called again assuming it was network problem, but they kept me quiet