We got a contract to supply high quality plantain to a baby food processing company here in lagos but we couldn't meet up our weekly supply since December 2014.

So we've decided to throw the offer open please contact me immediately if you have plantain for sell we buy in kilo.

world1:
We got a contract to supply high quality plantain to a baby food processing company here in lagos but we couldn't meet up our weekly supply since December 2014.

So we've decided to throw the offer open please contact me immediately if you have plantain for sell we buy in kilo.

how much do you pay for a kilo and do you have a specific plantain specie you buy from people?

your contact please or better still call 09022402529 for better discussion.... we have up to 15acres of already mature plantain in farm that due for harvest....

drop ur contact.

shakol91:
how much do you pay for a kilo and do you have a specific plantain specie you buy from people?

The standard price is N30 per kilo we buy all species.

world1:

The standard price is N30 per kilo we buy all species.

according to my calculation,a big branch of plantain which is around 25kg (hope I'm right) will cost 750naira only that's really small. If you can analyze more,we can make deal and I can get them in my area. What I mean by analyzing is,will I have to go to market with scale (which is not possible) and secondly,what's the least kg a customer can supply you

can you come to ondo state to buy?

IM INTERESTED, PLS SEND UR NO

realghy:
your contact please or better still call 09022402529 for better discussion.... we have up to 15acres of already mature plantain in farm that due for harvest....

Great.
Where is you farm located?

jumyinq:
IM INTERESTED, PLS SEND UR NO

Please check my signature for the number. I get banned anytime I post my number I don't know why though.

heywhy4u:
can you come to ondo state to buy?

You will have to make the supply yourself.

shakol91:
according to my calculation,a big branch of plantain which is around 25kg (hope I'm right) will cost 750naira only that's really small. If you can analyze more,we can make deal and I can get them in my area. What I mean by analyzing is,will I have to go to market with scale (which is not possible) and secondly,what's the least kg a customer can supply you

If as I farmer I can sell my plantains directly to a company or consumer for N750 per bunches then am blessed.
I noticed you are a middle man not a farmer if so the deal will not be okay for you.

world1:

If as I farmer I can sell my plantains directly to a company or consumer for N750 per bunches then am blessed.
I noticed you are a middle man not a farmer if so the deal will not be okay for you.

indirect confession



at least better than promising people of making millions from one or two acres of plantain plantations.

GGfadar:




indirect confession



at least better than promising people of making millions from one or two acres of plantain plantations.

You people. Na wao always looking for trouble.

Good morning.
As a partner in an Agribusiness consultancy firm we get calls everyday from intending/existing farmers across different states majorly Lagos asking for solutions to some already made but avoidable agronomy mistakes and various questions ranging from land matters, clearing methods, what to plant/rear, how to plant/rear, best time to start and many more.

I noticed that alot of people want to go into Agriculture majorly livestocks and crops farming because someone told them it's lucrative or they read online how people are now making millions from farming.

Dear Friends.
Agriculture is not a get rich quick kind of business you need to put a system in place and watch/mentain it carefully as it grows. It requires money, time and superb management skills.

Agriculture is a multifacet and highly dynamic field. Like never before its currently one of the best line of business to invest in now in Nigeria.

But....... Before you start crop/livestock farm please try to do a proper/detailed research on that particular section of agric you intend investing on.

Don't believe 100% in what you read online make sure you visit pratical farmers or send someone to learn on your behalf. For those intending farmers based abroad and the working class make sure your Agric consultant is a pratical farmer not those that write without no result to show.

It pains me when people waste their hard earn money and precious time on farm project that has no reward.

This is my little advice.
Once again do your home work thoroughly before you invest in Agriculture.

God bless you.
Adeniyi Sola
CEO Natural Nutrient Limited.

Mr World1,

Don't take it personal, I don't think he meant that statement to be an attack on you. GGfadar is one of the truth-tellers regarding plantain on this forum. Check a lot of the articles, you are led to believe plantain can be sold between 1000 - 1500 per bunch always. There are talks of demand being higher than supply, and that it's a farmers market.
But here you are professing that if you get 750 per bunch you are lucky. I'm thinking the per kilo will not include the plantain stalk, so the person calculating 750 is generous, it sounds to me more like 400- 600 per bunch depending on the size. Even lower if the plantains are not bulky.
Produce market can be very dicey, there are times in the ever ready Mile12 market that a bunch has been sold for 150 naira per bunch, just like cassava there was glut. Too much produce not enough buyers, I haven't seen any of these internet farmers advice on how prices can crash just like the forex market. No price control, you can sell for 1500 naira today in Mile12 and 150 naira next week. Other markets? Everybody is looking for a deal and an opportunity to rip-off. As a farmer with a perishable item, you receive the short end of the stick.

world1:

You people. Na wao always looking for trouble.

TAEpiphany:
Mr World1,

Don't take it personal, I don't think he meant that statement to be an attack on you. GGfadar is one of the truth-tellers regarding plantain on this forum. Check a lot of the articles, you are led to believe plantain can be sold between 1000 - 1500 per bunch always. There are talks of demand being higher than supply, and that it's a farmers market.
But here you are professing that if you get 750 per bunch you are lucky. I'm thinking the per kilo will not include the plantain stalk, so the person calculating 750 is generous, it sounds to me more like 400- 600 per bunch depending on the size. Even lower if the plantains are not bulky.
Produce market can be very dicey, there are times in the ever ready Mile12 market that a bunch has been sold for 150 naira per bunch, just like cassava there was glut. Too much produce not enough buyers, I haven't seen any of these internet farmers advice on how prices can crash just like the forex market. No price control, you can sell for 1500 naira today in Mile12 and 150 naira next week. Other markets? Everybody is looking for a deal and an opportunity to rip-off. As a farmer with a perishable item, you receive the short end of the stick.

Good evening.
I can tell for sure that it true that demand is higher than supply..
Currently we have groups of guys looking for weekly supply of plantain in tonnes.

world1:

If as I farmer I can sell my plantains directly to a company or consumer for N750 per bunches then am blessed.
I noticed you are a middle man not a farmer if so the deal will not be okay for you.

alright I got your message. It's not suitable for middle man

Good-Evening bro,

Mmmmmmmmmhhh.........
We are gonna have to agree to disagree on this one.
The law of supply and demand states that if there is low supply and high demand, the price will be high. In contrast, the greater the supply and the lower the demand, the lower the price will be. Now you say demand exceeds supply, at what price? N30 per Kg? Well if there's massive desire for the product as you claim, trust me farmers will be selling for N300/kg, then you can rightfully say there's more demand than supply. Not because a group of people want supply every week at less than desirable price to the farmer.


The thing with plantain is that you will always sell, but at what price? For example you would like to buy at 30/Kg. A farmer that cannot find an alternative market will sell at that price out of desperation because a) It's perishable b) He can't find a better offer price. It tells me buyers are calling the shots. Now, that wouldn't be the case if demand was higher than supply and plantain was terribly scarce, then I'm sure you would be more than ready to buy at N150/kg, you get my drift?

Same thing happens in Mile12, there are times a dozen is sold at N18000 - N24000, recently same bunch of same quality, was between N1500- N4000.
How do you explain that? Glut, there were trailer loads of plantains without enough buyers at that present time. If demand is truly and steadily always higher than supply then we would have a steady market rate for plantain. A lot of people have gone into plantain farming, I'm sure they heard that plantain was selling for N2000 per bunch, well that's was because it was scarce at that time and people would pay a premium to buy it. Funny thing is no matter how cheaply the plantain is bought it never reflects in prices to direct consumers. If there's a price change it will just be slightly lower. For example, we know that a good packet of plantain chips/boli on the street of Lagos goes for an average of N100, whether the seller bought a bunch of plantain for N150 or N1500.

world1:

Good evening.
I can tell for sure that it true that demand is higher than supply..
Currently we have groups of guys looking for weekly supply of plantain in tonnes.

TAEpiphany:
Good-Evening bro,

Mmmmmmmmmhhh.........
We are gonna have to agree to disagree on this one.
The law of supply and demand states that if there is low supply and high demand, the price will be high. In contrast, the greater the supply and the lower the demand, the lower the price will be. Now you say demand exceeds supply, at what price? N30 per Kg? Well if there's massive desire for the product as you claim, trust me farmers will be selling for N300/kg, then you can rightfully say there's more demand than supply. Not because a group of people want supply every week at less than desirable price to the farmer.


The thing with plantain is that you will always sell, but at what price? For example you would like to buy at 30/Kg. A farmer that cannot find an alternative market will sell at that price out of desperation because a) It's perishable b) He can't find a better offer price. It tells me buyers are calling the shots. Now, that wouldn't be the case if demand was higher than supply and plantain was terribly scarce, then I'm sure you would be more than ready to buy at N150/kg, you get my drift?

Same thing happens in Mile12, there are times a dozen is sold at N18000 - N24000, recently same bunch of same quality, was between N1500- N4000.
How do you explain that? Glut, there were trailer loads of plantains without enough buyers at that present time. If demand is truly and steadily always higher than supply then we would have a steady market rate for plantain. A lot of people have gone into plantain farming, I'm sure they heard that plantain was selling for N2000 per bunch, well that's was because it was scarce at that time and people would pay a premium to buy it. Funny thing is no matter how cheaply the plantain is bought it never reflects in prices to direct consumers. If there's a price change it will just be slightly lower. For example, we know that a good packet of plantain chips/boli on the street of Lagos goes for an average of N100, whether the seller bought a bunch of plantain for N150 or N1500.

well composed and articulated posts sir, with a good knack for economics. nice one.

Let me just say this. what every farmer prays for is ready made market for his product. if that market comes in form of a supply contact at a reasonable price then that's fantastic.

Because, that will help the farmer know how to plan his production cost and also cut down on wastage.

The truth remains that you can't get contract supply at the peak price, this is because come scarcity or glut your selling price remains the same. the price usually has to fall between the peak price and the least price.

please where are you located for supply so we can check the distance for transportation and again i will need your number so we can agree on prize . i buy direct from farmer in the east.

regards
Kenneth Alice Ltd

Jasper my broda,
How we wish, in an ideal world we would all sign contract and everybody will be smiling to the bank. First of all where are these processing companies or iya lojas that would sign contract with you? Please let me know. How many are they? The ones promising market have you tried contacting them to hear the BS dem dey spit? Infact you will laugh at some people's tom foolery. Are the companies willing to come in at a reasonable price or like everyone else they are looking for awoof?
Are they able to take all your produce in at once? Absolutely not, they probably have an order management system and would only order as needed. So if I have to sell 1000 plantain bunches and company requires only 100, who would take in the remaining 900? The problem here once again is the perishability, unlike buyers, farmers are racing against time. Please I understand you can process, but not everyone can go into processing.

Until we have a solid supply chain management system in Nigeria, produce market would somewhat remain a gamble. By SCM I mean, the market will have an inventory control system, all sellers must register with the market and each time they want to bring produce in the market, they have to log how much they are bringing. There has to be a limit to how many tonnes/truck of plantain that can be allowed in the market at a time. They have to determine at what point does the supply of plantain cause the price to drop drastically. Is it after the 4th trailer or maybe 5th? With that they can determine, oh at any given day, given so so amount of buyers the market can only sell 5 trailers of plantain, so if there is already a log that 5 trailers are coming in, you can't bring your produce that day.
You might think that's impossible to do, but check this, the day plantain flooded Mile12, they had to start stopping trailers from offloading. There was market on ground that were not sold yet, so it made no point to offload. We can't just leave it to the elements else we will be making huge profits and losing money at the same time.
Now farmers can't control a lot of things due to the nature of plantain.......at least not yet. Forget all the 'nansense' some are peddling about harvesting all at once because their sucker get juju. If you have 400 plantain trees, you will not harvest all at once. Remember consistent harvest depends on a lot of factors like, specie, water, fertilizer, management, weather, some of which you can't absolutely get right 100% of the time. Maybe in the future with more studies on plantain or getting info from advanced world we will get there....until then.....

You can only guess how much you are able to harvest per week, sometimes you are right on , sometimes na F9. If the harvest is not that much, e no make sense make una hire trailer transport am to market. By the time your harvest is ready, the market could have changed.
Now if before setting up your farm you have solid data on the open market system based on analytics, then you can start doing batch farming.
The open market system can still work but I think the authorities might have to weigh in a little bit, install necessary systems so buyers and sellers are better informed.
Or secure before hand a contract like you said, and if it's a giant company work according to their needs. For example lays potato chips have farmers all over their country, the farmers cater to them only. They are more advanced in Agriculture and they are able to achieve some level of consistency in potato propagation, so frito-lay knows when to expect the harvest and they would have predicted the amount their manufacturing plant can process based on past data. The farmers plant based on this information and they all live happily ever after......

jasper7:

well composed and articulated posts sir, with a good knack for economics. nice one.

Let me just say this. what every farmer prays for is ready made market for his product. if that market comes in form of a supply contact at a reasonable price then that's fantastic.

Because, that will help the farmer know how to plan his production cost and also cut down on wastage.

The truth remains that you can't get contract supply at the peak price, this is because come scarcity or glut your selling price remains the same. the price usually has to fall between the peak price and the least price.

@TaEpiphany. Nice write up. But u need to understand dat market evolves. D current plantain market is just approaching a technical stage from d viagrance of price determinant by a somewhat monopolistic arrangement to a contract based. I sometime weep wen I hear u say glut. Glut is impossible in a global market. All plainntains produced in Nigeria today cannot meet local market demand let alone international market. If government fails in his responsibility to open market,let us without delay just as what Kenyan as done for flower.

If you need a trailer of plantain i will get it for you in less than a week here in osun state but we must agree on some terms e.g either you will come down and carry them or you will guarantee me that if I bring it down to lagos u will buy everything at reasonable price, a kilo of plantain is too cheap for #30 unless u will measure it with the stick,for like how many years will I be supplying the company and many other things but if you are ready for business you can contact me on 08067635332

But how? Ain't that the million dollar question? How come no one has been able to answer this question? How do we go about exporting Agric produce?
There ought to be some type of price regulation, else......

senato123:
@TaEpiphany. Nice write up. But u need to understand dat market evolves. D current plantain market is just approaching a technical stage from d viagrance of price determinant by a somewhat monopolistic arrangement to a contract based. I sometime weep wen I hear u say glut. Glut is impossible in a global market. All plainntains produced in Nigeria today cannot meet local market demand let alone international market. If government fails in his responsibility to open market,let us without delay just as what Kenyan as done for flower.

AONO:
If you need a trailer of plantain i will get it for you in less than a week here in osun state but we must agree on some terms e.g either you will come down and carry them or you will guarantee me that if I bring it down to lagos u will buy everything at reasonable price, a kilo of plantain is too cheap for #30 unless u will measure it with the stick,for like how many years will I be supplying the company and many other things but if you are ready for business you can contact me on 08067635332

Boss.
You make me laugh. I get this kind of reply everyday. When it comes to supply nothing to show. Can you imagine someone came to the office to sign MOU when he can not even supply 50 bunches.
If you have plantain just supply, infact we are ready to pay you for sample come with just 200 bunches first then we know you are serious.

kennethalice:
please where are you located for supply so we can check the distance for transportation and again i will need your number so we can agree on prize . i buy direct from farmer in the east.

regards
Kenneth Alice Ltd

NATURAL NUTRIENT LIMITED
8/10. Moringa Close.
klm.18 lagos/ Abeokuta Expressway Lala town after Awowo Town. Beside Obasanjo farm Akinjole along Obada Oko Road

We need constant supply of plantain in large quantity.

This your statement is so true and has caused a lot of disquiet. Infact, i guess it has resulted in a caveat emptor abi na disclaimer on nairaland and facebook.

GGfadar:

indirect confession
at least better than promising people of making millions from one or two acres of plantain plantations.

Please don't jump into Agribusiness.
http://newsroom.nannewsnigeria.com/entrants-agriculture-fail-due-lack-research-planning-says-expert

Hello TAEpiphany. I have to commend your clear, logical analysis of the market situation. As an intending plantain farmer myself, this is a huge concern for me. Unsteady market prices with farmers usually at the mercy of buyers is a turn off.

It seems to me that there's more value in processing than in having to sell at prices one can not plan or bank on.

Can I have your email address? I'd like to have some more of thoughts.

mine is madekola@live.com

Cheers
- Kola

TAEpiphany:
Good-Evening bro,

Mmmmmmmmmhhh.........
We are gonna have to agree to disagree on this one.
The law of supply and demand states that if there is low supply and high demand, the price will be high. In contrast, the greater the supply and the lower the demand, the lower the price will be. Now you say demand exceeds supply, at what price? N30 per Kg? Well if there's massive desire for the product as you claim, trust me farmers will be selling for N300/kg, then you can rightfully say there's more demand than supply. Not because a group of people want supply every week at less than desirable price to the farmer.


The thing with plantain is that you will always sell, but at what price? For example you would like to buy at 30/Kg. A farmer that cannot find an alternative market will sell at that price out of desperation because a) It's perishable b) He can't find a better offer price. It tells me buyers are calling the shots. Now, that wouldn't be the case if demand was higher than supply and plantain was terribly scarce, then I'm sure you would be more than ready to buy at N150/kg, you get my drift?

Same thing happens in Mile12, there are times a dozen is sold at N18000 - N24000, recently same bunch of same quality, was between N1500- N4000.
How do you explain that? Glut, there were trailer loads of plantains without enough buyers at that present time. If demand is truly and steadily always higher than supply then we would have a steady market rate for plantain. A lot of people have gone into plantain farming, I'm sure they heard that plantain was selling for N2000 per bunch, well that's was because it was scarce at that time and people would pay a premium to buy it. Funny thing is no matter how cheaply the plantain is bought it never reflects in prices to direct consumers. If there's a price change it will just be slightly lower. For example, we know that a good packet of plantain chips/boli on the street of Lagos goes for an average of N100, whether the seller bought a bunch of plantain for N150 or N1500.