If Abeokuta is bad, Lagos is worst at night. Every bus stop in Lagos has a policeman by midnight. No N100 for Lagos.
There was a particular one that said the driver was trying to dodge. He delayed us for an hour and we begged before he finally collected N500.
Same within streets in Lagos. It was a terrific first time experience.
We finally got to our destination by 2am

To offload, driver said we didn't bargain for loading and offloading.
Abeg please help me for this one. I will make some other arrangement next time.
He assisted me amidst complains.
We offload.
Some tomatoes have been thrown out, some have been pressed by the basket. It was not funny.
Been the drivers first time in that area, I have to escort out to show the way.
Amazingly the other side of the road was another set of policeman.
They insisted on collecting money despite the fact that the basket are empty.
Another hour wasted, with N1000 compulsory parting gift. The vehicle was released.
It was 5am by the time I left them at Iyana Ipaja to get back home.

The woman has kept for herself the tomato from my farm.
Other tomato sellers has arrived to pick theirs.
And the story changed.
"This tomatoes are not big"
"I thought is Cotonou tomato"
"There is too much "esa"
Yet they were selecting theirs.
The woman now called me aside that the buyers said they will buy at N700 per basket

My step mum wouldn't hear of it. She tried. She was actually the one that was now negotiating on my behalf.
Left to me, i was completely pissed up and messed up the whole sales.
She was cajoling, pleading and whatever before they could pick majority at N1000.
Despite that there were some that we just have to let go at whatever price

jethro2:

24m by 8m.

Thanks I have spent most of today online looking into this. Someone said it cost over 1M Naira from Dizengoff . This seems high ,also I found it is much cheaper in Kenya. Can it me made locally and how well?

Back in farm to restrategize.
I took in every complains that the women gave.
Try to findvsolution to it
I repackage the second time and took another set to her.
I got to work on time to move. Not too early and not too late.
If you can pass through Iseyin early, you get to miss some unauthorise police post.
For Abeokuta, make sure to pass before 5. You will be saving much. Instead of 6 post you got one.
In Lagos, move in with the Lagos traffic, police men are yet to come out.
They flash touch but are not bold to stay on the road.
For tomatoes
I repackage in the vehicle
None was thrown over
The basket were almost equal.
I did improve on a lot of things

omonnakoda:

Thanks I have spent most of today online looking into this. Someone said it cost over 1M Naira from Dizengoff . This seems high ,also I found it is much cheaper in Kenya. Can it me made locally and how well?

You are welcome

jethro2:
If Abeokuta is bad, Lagos is worst at night. Every bus stop in Lagos has a policeman by midnight. No N100 for Lagos.
There was a particular one that said the driver was trying to dodge. He delayed us for an hour and we begged before he finally collected N500.
Same within streets in Lagos. It was a terrific first time experience.
We finally got to our destination by 2am

This produce toll is one of issues agro business face in Nigeria that eat into our bottom line! The majority of them are touts and the levies are illegal! The Minister of Agriculture must urgently address this issue as it is becoming too much! Its worse in southern states and Benue!

I have written to the Agriculture ministry, trade and investment sometimes in 2013 about the issues and yet we have not seen anything meaningful being done to address this problem!

I think agri business groups should always try to address this issues if they have any opportunity of meeting the minister at events or town hall meetings!

jeffmyson:


This produce toll is one of issues agro business face in Nigeria that eat into our bottom line! The majority of them are touts and the levies are illegal! The Minister of Agriculture must urgently address this issue as it is becoming too much! Its worse in southern states and Benue!

I have written to the Agriculture ministry, trade and investment sometimes in 2013 about the issues and yet we have not seen anything meaningful being done to address this problem!

I think agri business groups should always try to address this issues if they have any opportunity of meeting the minister at events or town hall meetings!

I agree but it is a wider problem of unemployment or unemployability.If they are not doing that what would they be doing .? That is why you have kidnapping and all the other criminality

Thanks Jetro for this rich expose. You've always been an inspiration. Right from our 1st meeting at Ogbomosho at the YABDI training you've not ceased to amaze me in your depth of knowledge of the subject of farming. Please keep up the good work.

jeffmyson:


This produce toll is one of issues agro business face in Nigeria that eat into our bottom line! The majority of them are touts and the levies are illegal! The Minister of Agriculture must urgently address this issue as it is becoming too much! Its worse in southern states and Benue!

I have written to the Agriculture ministry, trade and investment sometimes in 2013 about the issues and yet we have not seen anything meaningful being done to address this problem!

I think agri business groups should always try to address this issues if they have any opportunity of meeting the minister at events or town hall meetings!

I wish we have more Nigerians like you. You not only complain, you took your time to write to 2 Ministries! If we all do that, our servants (that is what they are) have no option than to serve us better

You did not tell us how you solved the problem of the baskets.

Wow! So much to gain, thank you very much for this immense contribution Jethro. I'm so excited to find time to catch up. Thanks all.

The Greenhouse can be constructed locally but there are constraints. You will need the following:

1. UV screen/film of about 200 microns which is not readily available in Nigeria
2. Insect Net( not the regular ones o but very strong one.
3. Dripkit
4. Training, which the most important. There are processes like desecaring, fumigation, pollination and tempearture control, these are not that easy even if you read extensively like i have done on precision farming, i will still advise you have practical knowledge. You can easily get these knowledge from Diezengoff but it is included in the total package of 8m x 24m greenhouse.

Other things required are plastic mulch and improved seeds. These also sound simple but i can bet you they are not readily available. You have some people that know the market very well the likes of Jethro and Kalusam they should be able to help you. I am just a farm enthusiast though a trained extension farmer but work in a power plant (All about the benjamins Bro)

Let me share some pictures of what i mean.

You can do an extensive research on youtube and farms in Kenya because they are far ahead of Nigeria especially when it comes to Agriculture as a whole.

choiceman:
The Greenhouse can be constructed locally but there are constraints. You will need the following:

1. UV screen/film of about 200 microns which is not readily available in Nigeria
2. Insect Net( not the regular ones o but very strong one.
3. Dripkit
4. Training, which the most important. There are processes like desecaring, fumigation, pollination and tempearture control, these are not that easy even if you read extensively like i have done on precision farming, i will still advise you have practical knowledge. You can easily get these knowledge from Diezengoff but it is included in the total package of 8m x 24m greenhouse.

Other things required are plastic mulch and improved seeds. These also sound simple but i can bet you they are not readily available. You have some people that know the market very well the likes of Jethro and Kalusam they should be able to help you. I am just a farm enthusiast though a trained extension farmer but work in a power plant (All about the benjamins Bro)

Let me share some pictures of what i mean.

You can do an extensive research on youtube and farms in Kenya because they are far ahead of Nigeria especially when it comes to Agriculture as a whole.

So can one make money with this Dizengoff kit at that Price??

omonnakoda:

So can one make money with this Dizengoff kit at that Price??

Yes! You will make money but it will probably take you upto 2 years to go through the learning curve and then at around 3 years you will break even!

Agri business is slow and steady mate!

omonnakoda:

So can one make money with this Dizengoff kit at that Price??

They are taking advantage of being the big fish in the sector, if strong competition steps in prices will crash as it has done in Kenya.

omonnakoda:

So can one make money with this Dizengoff kit at that Price??

Why not? you can make money earlier than expected but your shoe go chop. Except you have a good marketing network then you can smile to bank easily but you know marketing no easy. The trick here is packaging. Identify the market, device means of attracting people to get your product. I have a poultry farm, i work in a corporate environment, i always ask the janitor to collect A4 paper rim packs with this, i sell eggs to my colleagues at the very good price better than what i will sell to middlemen that tend to eat all the profit. You could get a ziploc bag, take your product to offices, schools where you have women with persistence i am sure you can make money fast. i am sharing my some of my ideas with you FOC. But serious it works, just a little push. Sometimes people overlook the average/middle class citizens but to a large extent that is where the money is just win their hearts and you don hammer.

@choiceman, l feel ur knowledge of greenhouse farming. UV sheets is an issue in Nigeria, l visited a farm in Nairobi that had a set up of 24ft by 72ft @N500K including irrigation tank, disease-resistant seeds from lsreal. U need to see the tomatoes!

@pavore9, you are right. I have spoken with some farmers in kenya and they are surprise why it is that expensive in Nigeria considering we are giant of Africa. Dont worry my brother, by the time we lay our hands on this UV film/screen and other greenhouse materials they will be surprised because i con confidently tell you that I can construct the greenhouse( High Tunnel) perfectly.

I am looking for an agric marketer that visits china or Turkey often we can beg them to import those things for us cheaply then we will surprise Diezengoff. I imported sweetbaby water melon and beafsteak Tomato from germany expecting them Tomorrow.

@choiceman, if u can get in the UV sheet the sky is your limit! lf l am setting one up it would be for grapes, strawberry, butternut squash, broccoli and eggplants. Hybrid seeds from lsreal has very high output rate.

@ Jethro.
You are a pride not only of this generation but also the generation to come.
Keep your head up, be open to suggestions and as well criticms.
@Choiceman, don't let go of your expertise. The future awaits your innovations now.
@Jeff they'd hear us bit let us not keep talking about it.
All the best

I am guessing this is the sort of thing used for the Greenhouse though the price seem high. I am sure they can be got cheaper.The issue is whether there will be difficulty with importing

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sheets-Greenhouse-Polycarbonate-Sheet-617x1215mm/dp/B002Y4ALPO/ref=sr_1_3?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1422010297&sr=1-3&keywords=greenhouse+sheets
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clear-Mono-Tarpaulin-Heavy-Duty/dp/B00EXMCOSC/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_0_2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Multi-Skin-Greenhouse-Running-525-695mm-Including/dp/B00GOONX78/ref=sr_1_9?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1422009363&sr=1-9&keywords=uv++sheet

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clear-solid-polycarbonate-colorless-PC/dp/B00Q1MQASC/ref=pd_sim_sbs_lp_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1GVRT9N62SSS782QJDD4

@Omonnakoda, your link is showing glass or glass-like material for greenhouse. This will only work in tropical region like ours if you add temperature control equipment like A/C or heavy duty exhaust fans. The materials is good in temperate regions with their is winter frost etc. The best material for us is the cloth like UV material of 200 microns and heavy duty insect net for proper aeration and also to prevent insect from entering the tunnel. Farming has gone beyond digging the soil that is why i want young Nigerian to try experiment with little capital we must have kept for luxury. See the picture below: it is from a farm called victoria's Vegetable in the US but it is still a tunnel farm. A front/back yard tomato farm that can fetch money and improve standard of living.

choiceman:
@Omonnakoda, your link is showing glass or glass-like material for greenhouse. This will only work in tropical region like ours if you add temperature control equipment like A/C or heavy duty exhaust fans. The materials is good in temperate regions with their is winter frost etc. The best material for us is the cloth like UV material of 200 microns and heavy duty insect net for proper aeration and also to prevent insect from entering the tunnel. Farming has gone beyond digging the soil that is why i want young Nigerian to try experiment with little capital we must have kept for luxury. See the picture below: it is from a farm called victoria's Vegetable in the US but it is still a tunnel farm. A front/back yard tomato farm that can fetch money and improve standard of living.

Those are roof materials it is a PLASTIC but one is tarpaulin
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clear-Mono-Tarpaulin-Heavy-Duty/dp/B00EXMCOSC/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_0_2
can we use that alongside other materials for the sides I am here to learn. I think my main concern is the powerful rains we sometimes have which can even damage buldings .I think we suffered that in Lagos last year but that website also sells polythene
http://www.amazon.co.uk/QVS-Shop-Polythene-Protector-Greenhouse/dp/B00C7QBY1Y/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_5
http://www.amazon.co.uk/QVS-Shop-Polythene-Sheeting-Protection/dp/B00C7QD3QS/ref=sr_1_23?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1422016439&sr=1-23&keywords=polythene+greenhouseagain I think that is retail price and it can be got cheaper but the other issue is workmen/builders that wont damage the material

This is simply great.
Using keywords from this discuss on green house, I got a seemingly promising find on tstplasticnet.en.alibaba.com
Check it out, and see if its gonna be useful.
thank you.

On the DIzengoff website they claim their 24x8 will produce 5-7 tonnes within 6-8 months if I’m reading correctly. They also claim that’s the equivalent of what you will get from 1 hectare if you used traditional means. Jethro can you speak to this? I know you mentioned you were told you can get 20tonnes from 1 hectare.
If we place the total price to get the greenhouse running at 1.5 million and you produce at least 5000Kg (5 tonnes), and you sell in worst case scenario at 100/kg, you will be making a measly 500K after first harvest. This means it will take about 4 cycles (about 3 yrs, all things being equal) before you can even make your investment back. And you have to consider, cost of maintenance too. The figures are not looking attractive to me. They sound like a rip-off

TAEpiphany:
On the DIzengoff website they claim their 24x8 will produce 5-7 tonnes within 6-8 months if I’m reading correctly. They also claim that’s the equivalent of what you will get from 1 hectare if you used traditional means. Jethro can you speak to this? I know you mentioned you were told you can get 20tonnes from 1 hectare.
If we place the total price to get the greenhouse running at 1.5 million and you produce at least 5000Kg (5 tonnes), and you sell in worst case scenario at 100/kg, you will be making a measly 500K after first harvest. This means it will take about 4 cycles (about 3 yrs, all things being equal) before you can even make your investment back. And you have to consider, cost of maintenance too. The figures are not looking attractive to me. They sound like a rip-off

Sounds like a real Monkey dey work Baboon dey chop scenario. The problem is there is not a significant demand for these products and that is why the price is high. I understand they cost about 300k in Kenya and they are complaining. Still how much will it cost to get one hectare??There is no easy solution Anyway how many businesses will you make your capital outlay in 3 years. My concern is that with the kind of weather in Nigeria those structures might not last long. I will suggest anyone serious needs to travel to go and see where this s actually working in a place with similar weather to Nigeria

Though Dizengoff is ripping off l suggest whoever is setting up a greenhouse to make sure it is high yielding & crops that are expensive in the open market. Will try & upload short videos of young Kenyans growiog cucumber & capsicum in a greenhouse.

Pavore9:
Though Dizengoff is ripping off l suggest whoever is setting up a greenhouse to make sure it is high yielding & crops that are expensive in the open market. Will try & upload short videos of young Kenyans growiog cucumber & capsicum in a greenhouse.

My take on the issue has always being the same! It will take minimum of 3 years to break even with the Dizengoff systems. I suggest anyone who wants to buy the dizengoff system to grow crops that are not native to Nigeria for either export or expatriate market for quicker breakeven!

The stuff is very expensive and fragile and I still maintain it should cost nothing more that 250k to 300k. I will advice anyone who really wants to do greenhouse farming to travel down to kenya to see first hand how it works! It will be worth your investment.

jeffmyson:


My take on the issue has always being the same! It will take minimum of 3 years to break even with the Dizengoff systems. I suggest anyone who wants to buy the dizengoff system to grow crops that are not native to Nigeria for either export or expatriate market for quicker breakeven!

The stuff is very expensive and fragile and I still maintain it should cost nothing more that 250k to 300k. I will advice anyone who really wants to do greenhouse farming to travel down to kenya to see first hand how it works! It will be worth your investment.

How can anyone realistically export based on 1 unit of the Dizengoff system. That does not seem like a realistic option either . Let us examine some figures for any specific crop you are suggesting. What would me more realistic would be to be located close to customers and sell directly to them e.g if you think about it 8x24 =1/3 of a plot so if so have land around Agege then growing tomatoes and selling directly by retail is actually a more productie use of that land than building property and housing tenants. That scenario is certainly worth analysing.
I do not disagree with you about the cost but a 3 year pay back period is not an unreasonable time the key parameter is what is the lifespan of the system. In business we have to be realistic and not sentimental. We analyse based on what things cost not what they should cost.

If we think of any business with a major capital outlay on a depreciating asset e.g Transport (Trucks buses etc) ,how many pay back before 3 years . The reaal issue is would there still be any juice in it after 3 years? My view would then be Perhaps a more permanent structure should be built. Here I would suggest something outrageous. Imagine in lagos you build a 3 bedroom flat with AC etc would it be more profitable to rent it out to humans or to grow tomatoes in it . This should be a question of analysis with facts and figures not sentiments