Pavore9:


l did mention horticulture on the first page, living in Nairobi and seeing what is going on, l swore never to have anything to do with cassava farming, let those who are in love with it continue! Coming to flowers, Kenya and Kenyans are reaping it big from flower export as every night different airlines air-freights flowers to Europe for sale the next morning as 70% of roses sold in European Supermarkets are from Kenya. Most
painful is that Nigerians import those same flowers from Europe!

Anyone that tells me that their weather favours flower growing more than Nigeria is high on fermented plantain root (l have drank it ). Our weather distribution is vast just like Kenya's. Their Northern part is just like ours dry and dusty though there are places as cold like Scotland.l could liken Nairobi's weather to that of the Middle-belt. We just lack the will and capacity to be involved in it.

l would rather do vegetables like cabbage, lettuce, carrots, French beans, Eggplants etc as these crop accrue more income at a shorter time frame than the traditional cassava we are used to though there are also profit in it but the market structure does not favour the farmer who spent many months on the farm but individuals who are involved after it leaves the farm.

This links can give anyone an idea of what l am talking about.

http://www.royalseed.biz/seeds---domestic.php

http://www.royalseed.biz/seeds---export.php

Click on the picture of the desired crop and read the details.

jethro2:
Dear Nairalanders
The essence of the thread is to give people the général view of what is currently happening in the cassava sector.
I am presently not a cassava advocate so please stop sending mails, calls or whatsapp on cassava stuff to me.
I am an ordinary farmer who have information but can not assisst or write business plan or feasibility study for any crop at all.
Please consult with professionals to do that for you
Henceforth those messages, mails or whatsapp remain ignore.
Thank you

Fhemmmy:


I personally think if you are able to do this, it will clear a lot of doubts and help all the novice to know more about how to make money from cassava farming. ... of course with permission from the farmers...... I am still following you too to learn.... but wanna make sure I dont get burnt in the cassava venture before I do, so would to verify all verifiableS

jethro2:
Dear Nairalanders
The essence of the thread is to give people the général view of what is currently happening in the cassava sector.
I am presently not a cassava advocate so please stop sending mails, calls or whatsapp on cassava stuff to me.
I am an ordinary farmer who have information but can not assisst or write business plan or feasibility study for any crop at all.
Please consult with professionals to do that for you
Henceforth those messages, mails or whatsapp remain ignore.
Thank you

IHate9ja1:

Am afraid to get caught up in uncertainty, when am ready I guess cocoa is the way to go for ME and my FAMILY!
I have discovered many rush into agribusiness thinking of spending little to earn more,many are rushing into plantain farming too having be told sucker cost N100 and you sell for 1k,to clear anyone mind visit mile 12 plantain market,it sells for N500 deduct labor and transport cost.
Cocoa plantation cuts it for me. The only problem is the middlemen/agents who rip farmers off their labor. I am awaiting response from Olam to know how to deal directly with them.
My only regret is that we didn't look after our inherited plantation from our 3rd generation of more than 60years now,majority got burnt but mind you when things where tough it served us even though it was of the old variety and its still does In fact my dad has started re- planting with the hybrid. This income is not quite much but it is reliable and the market is readily available.

IHate9ja1:

Am afraid to get caught up in uncertainty, when am ready I guess cocoa is the way to go for ME and my FAMILY!
I have discovered many rush into agribusiness thinking of spending little to earn more,many are rushing into plantain farming too having be told sucker cost N100 and you sell for 1k,to clear anyone mind visit mile 12 plantain market,it sells for N500 deduct labor and transport cost.
Cocoa plantation cuts it for me. The only problem is the middlemen/agents who rip farmers off their labor. I am awaiting response from Olam to know how to deal directly with them.
My only regret is that we didn't look after our inherited plantation from our 3rd generation of more than 60years now,majority got burnt but mind you when things where tough it served us even though it was of the old variety and its still does In fact my dad has started re- planting with the hybrid. This income is not quite much but it is reliable and the market is readily available.

noblefarm:

Pls how much do hybrid cocoa cost nd what's the duration of maturity?

IHate9ja1:

@ Ibadan it cost N70,maturity is 3years.

noblefarm:


Thanks. I heard there's 18months variety now

stagger:


The book that contains the maps is not even in print anymore. I am working to get another copy through one of the authors. If I succeed, I will tell you how to get it.

IHate9ja1:


Business plan?
Farming is practical and not theory which is why I value your write up,iita said new variety yield 49 to 53 tons per hectare,I knew better and that was how I stumbled on this thread to hear the realities of cassava farming.
Kudos to you,I only value the input of people who have first hand experience on how things are done e.g a man once told me when I went for training @ ISPON he said,nigerians phd holders in petroleum engineering cant put 1 and 2 together to operate a viable oil sector/refinery yet they call the Niger deltans who build illegal refineries illiterate! Who is an illiterate here? This how agric investment is.
all this rubbish and unrealistic business plans and blog articles online is misleading to individuals who can't undergo independent research to sieve the wheat from the chaff. I appreciate your input

FKBZ:


Pls do u have anyone contact in iita,need to get plaintain sulkers

IHate9ja1:

no,i visited their website where i mailed them and they in turn got back to me. I suggest you do the same

noblefarm:
Was in my cassava farm yesterday, 10 months old now. Need buyer soon

jethro2:
I discussed with my IFDC contacts.
If you where my brother I would have given u a hot slap. You don't have sense. You are nothing but a fool. Everyone knows u can't relay on government. Are you the first that will go into it?? Your story is not tap you are disorganize there are other ways of marketing goods. U don't know what you are doing. Obasanjo will never go into something that is not lucrative. You would have sold it when u got that offer. Because you failed urself you want our young youth to be scared. Cover ur face abeg. I wasted my time to read your yeye story. They refered me back to the Madam that offers N10,000 per tonne.
After all her place is the nearest compare to other processor. I would be able to save some cost.
"Sorry, I already have farmers supplying me and your farm is too far to my factory was her response"
My locality to her factory is about an hour and a half journey.
Meanwhile the farmland that her contact gave my partner for the failed cassava project is not less than 3 hours.
Na so life be

jethro2:
Dear Nairalanders
The essence of the thread is to give people the général view of what is currently happening in the cassava sector.
I am presently not a cassava advocate so please stop sending mails, calls or whatsapp on cassava stuff to me.
I am an ordinary farmer who have information but can not assisst or write business plan or feasibility study for any crop at all.
Please consult with professionals to do that for you
Henceforth those messages, mails or whatsapp remain ignore.
Thank you

stagger:
A very enlightening story, but not strange for those of us who have done some business with government. The truth is this: you can never put critical aspects of your business in the hands of government or those claiming to represent govt.

I have had people bring proposals to me worth hundreds of millions of naira. For that particular business, the YouWIN grant gave me massive capacity to the point where I now deal with foreign clients. So I have Nigerians bringing proposals, hoping to leverage on my capacity. They tell me things like "the Minister is interested in this.." or "I have a link to the Presidency..." to "this job is for the government of so so and so state. In fact, we just met the governor the other day..." and all the blah blah blah blah blah.

When they come with this big talk, I laugh. I have been doing business since I was a teenager in the 80s. I can tell you I have seen a lot of things. People come with all sorts of big talk, big promises, big dreams. I simply laugh and put a few questions to them and puncture everything they say. Some rethink the whole job, some get annoyed, leave and then run into an endless frustrating cycle.

Back to our agriculture. You see, anyone who clearly studied OBJ's agric program which was led by Boma Anga will see that there was a lot of loopholes in the whole stuff. Noble idea, but bad implementation. No legal framework to back anything up. When it comes to cassava, you can NEVER make any money hoping to sell to processors, unless maybe like Legsupnigeria, you just have the good luck of meeting processors who can respect a commodities futures contract the way it is done abroad.

The only way to go is to buy your own processing equipment, then identify a market for your product BEFORE planting. The high perishability rate of cassava puts farmers at the mercy of processors and the processors know it. The processor can hold out for as long as possible. The farmer can not and eventually, the farmer will have to give in.

Everything in life has a plan. If you are in cassava and you are not making any plans to build your own processing factory, no matter how small, you will be in for a very long and frustrating journey. That is just the way it is.

We should also look at a number of factors. There is a lot of talk of E-10, which is supposed to be the new fuel for cars in Nigeria with 90% petrol and 10% ethanol. Do you think that project will see the light of day as long as the fuel import cabal is in place, donating billions to the ruling party? I think not. Point here: try not to depend on a govt policy. In Nigeria, policies are only as old as the governments that formulate them. We can see how difficult it has been for the composite flour policy to take off.

My 2 cents is this. Farm other crops, save money, buy your cassava processing equipment, identify a ready market for your PROCESSED CASSAVA (not raw tubers), before you actually start planting. You can sell gari, starch and flour to end users with good marketing and make your money. You do not need to put yourself in the hands of the mobile processors, companies like GIZ and all. Not worth it.

Lesgupnigeria:

There is no large scale cassava processing company in south west that i have not sold cassava to in one time or the other, so i can tell you the best scenarios to deal with them to make good profit and otherwise.