Lack of market cripples strawberry farming in Jos




[b]A year ago this reporter traced a community where strawberry is grown in commercial quantity. Some readers were surprised to know that the fruit grows here in Nigeria.
One year after, the reporter returned to the community to see what changes have occurred, what new technology has been brought into the farming of the crop; and whether the product’s marketing challenges have been solved.

From Vom in Jos South, driving through the dust-red road, which passes in front of the main gate of the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, one sees open fields of cultivated land and of the recently done harvest .
That journey will take you a few kilometres and then you will start noticing pockets of dry season farmers. With a simple question as to the location of strawberry farmers, you will get direction into the heart of strawberry farms on the outskirts of Chaha village.
Strawberry farming, which until recently, is not a common practice here in Nigeria, is now the most important produce that shapes the economy of the people of Chaha, where almost every adult has a strawberry farm.
The farms are also surrounded by coffee, and avocado farms whose owner, I am told, lives abroad.
Chaha seems to have huge potentials for strawberry, coffee and other fruit trees, as a visit to the community convinces one.
With the cold weather that characterises the highland of Plateau State, the ground favours the production of strawberry, which has now been domesticated in the village since 2001.
The fruit has the potentials to breed new generations of millionaires in Chaha if access to market is broadened, because the farmers are between the ages of 20 to 35.
Gyang Matthew Victor is the Secretary, Chaha Strawberry Farmers Association. He reiterates that a lot of farmers want to expand their farms, but access to markets is the major challenge.
Victor, who has a hectare of the product, harvesting 300kg twice a week, laments that unavailability of storage facilities ,worsens the situation, pointing out that “you cannot keep the fruit for even two days, if you don’t have where to store them.”
The 32-year-old farmer stresses that you have to have somebody who is willing to buy the product before you harvest the fruits from the farm,and “if you don’t harvest, it will spoil.”
“I harvest about 600kg weekly, but I end up selling 400kg because you have to give ‘Jara’(an extra on the quantity bought) to the women buying,” he says.
His counterpart, Haruna Dagwong, a civil servant who started strawberry farming last year, believes the women who hawk the product in the town are the backbone of the farmers.
His reason has been that the women are the only ones who buy this product from them. “If they are not here we can’t sell, and we can’t keep it as well. Where are the cold rooms?” he asks.
The 29 year old government worker said he would have resigned if the market for strawberry is strengthened ,because one can generate huge money if he expands the farm.
Dagwong posits that having cold rooms for storage and linkage to markets, will be the greatest thing to happen to the lives of the farmers who are not only found in Chaha, but also elsewhere on the Plateau.
He opines that all the youth in the area can avoid crimes by farming, if the market for the product is there, adding that if a person buys 5kg, you end up giving him or her 6 or 7kg.
The civil servant produces over 200kg which he said ends up getting money for only 150kg, because according to him “the rest are given as incentive to motivate the buyers.”
For Christopher Elvis Choji, a 21-year-old student of the Federal College of Land Resources Technology, Vom, the future for strawberry farmers is bright if only government provides a cold room facility and links the farmers to markets.
“We don’t just know where else to sell this product ,but we are told that the demand is high in some places in Nigeria. Most of our farmers here have not travelled outside Plateau State,” he noted.
The young farmer emphasizes that he would want to grow the farm he started last year and become self-reliant, rather than move around looking for jobs after graduation, because according to him, government is struggling to pay salaries these days.
Isaac Michael, another young farmer ,shares Christopher Choji’s opinion on rather remaining in the farm than looking for a government job ,if access to markets or a cold room storage facility is made available.
“Even if we have to pay to store our product, it will be a welcome idea. At least we will sell when we want. Now, we can’t because we don’t have these facilities, and no company is here to solve this problem,” Michael worries.
Currently, strawberry is at the peak of production and sells for N700 per kg. During early harvest in December, it sells from N1000 to N1, 500 per kg.
So with this market challenge, how are the women who are merchants, selling this product? I put that question to Mrs. Sarah Ishaya, one of the women selling the crop.
Speaking in Hausa, she tells me: “We buy from the farmers here and sell along the major high ways, particularly at major security check points.[/b]
[b]The 35 year old mother of five says a lot of travelers get surprised when they see them selling the product.
“They often ask us whether it is imported or produced here in Nigeria. When we say it is done here in Jos, they marvel,” Mrs. Ishaya stated.
She makes between N500 to N600 as profit for every kilogramme she buys at N700. The money she says, keeps her relevant to the family.
With huge potentials for money seen everywhere in Chaha-for coffee, strawberry, Avocado and other vegetables, proper intervention by government or a meaningful private initiative, will definitely present a win-win situation for the farmers and the government and/or investors.
But for now, some of the big malls in the country are busy importing the product, while our farmers here don’t have where to sell theirs.
The Plateau State Government can generate millions from the red fruit, if the state could, on behalf of the farmers, link them to markets. It will apparently deal with the volatile situation and reduce the urge to commit crimes by youth in the state.[/b]

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/business/lack-of-market-cripples-strawberry-farming-in-jos/134550.html#xH2kvFV152tI25Ut.99

CastedDude:
lalasticlala food is ready

xpac01:
Finally We're beginning wake up from Oil induced slumber

aresa:
I'm so extra happy about this project.

Plateau state alone should able to provide a huge chunk of our food supply because of the favorable climate in the middle belt, there's almost nothing you can not grow in that region. You can grow Avocado, grapes for wine, tomatoes, coffee, potatoes, apples, wheat, barley and strawberry.....

I read this article about strawberry farmers languishing and perishing their product because of poor demand and lack of storage facilities...


[img]http://cms.dailytrust.com.ng/cms/gall_content/2016/2/2016_2$largeimg121_Feb_2016_002957967.jpg[/img]


Lack of market cripples strawberry farming in Jos




[s]A year ago this reporter traced a community where strawberry is grown in commercial quantity. Some readers were surprised to know that the fruit grows here in Nigeria.
One year after, the reporter returned to the community to see what changes have occurred, what new technology has been brought into the farming of the crop; and whether the product’s marketing challenges have been solved.

From Vom in Jos South, driving through the dust-red road, which passes in front of the main gate of the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, one sees open fields of cultivated land and of the recently done harvest .
That journey will take you a few kilometres and then you will start noticing pockets of dry season farmers. With a simple question as to the location of strawberry farmers, you will get direction into the heart of strawberry farms on the outskirts of Chaha village.
Strawberry farming, which until recently, is not a common practice here in Nigeria, is now the most important produce that shapes the economy of the people of Chaha, where almost every adult has a strawberry farm.
The farms are also surrounded by coffee, and avocado farms whose owner, I am told, lives abroad.
Chaha seems to have huge potentials for strawberry, coffee and other fruit trees, as a visit to the community convinces one.
With the cold weather that characterises the highland of Plateau State, the ground favours the production of strawberry, which has now been domesticated in the village since 2001.
The fruit has the potentials to breed new generations of millionaires in Chaha if access to market is broadened, because the farmers are between the ages of 20 to 35.
Gyang Matthew Victor is the Secretary, Chaha Strawberry Farmers Association. He reiterates that a lot of farmers want to expand their farms, but access to markets is the major challenge.
Victor, who has a hectare of the product, harvesting 300kg twice a week, laments that unavailability of storage facilities ,worsens the situation, pointing out that “you cannot keep the fruit for even two days, if you don’t have where to store them.”
The 32-year-old farmer stresses that you have to have somebody who is willing to buy the product before you harvest the fruits from the farm,and “if you don’t harvest, it will spoil.”
“I harvest about 600kg weekly, but I end up selling 400kg because you have to give ‘Jara’(an extra on the quantity bought) to the women buying,” he says.
His counterpart, Haruna Dagwong, a civil servant who started strawberry farming last year, believes the women who hawk the product in the town are the backbone of the farmers.
His reason has been that the women are the only ones who buy this product from them. “If they are not here we can’t sell, and we can’t keep it as well. Where are the cold rooms?” he asks.
The 29 year old government worker said he would have resigned if the market for strawberry is strengthened ,because one can generate huge money if he expands the farm.
Dagwong posits that having cold rooms for storage and linkage to markets, will be the greatest thing to happen to the lives of the farmers who are not only found in Chaha, but also elsewhere on the Plateau.
He opines that all the youth in the area can avoid crimes by farming, if the market for the product is there, adding that if a person buys 5kg, you end up giving him or her 6 or 7kg.
The civil servant produces over 200kg which he said ends up getting money for only 150kg, because according to him “the rest are given as incentive to motivate the buyers.”
For Christopher Elvis Choji, a 21-year-old student of the Federal College of Land Resources Technology, Vom, the future for strawberry farmers is bright if only government provides a cold room facility and links the farmers to markets.
“We don’t just know where else to sell this product ,but we are told that the demand is high in some places in Nigeria. Most of our farmers here have not travelled outside Plateau State,” he noted.
The young farmer emphasizes that he would want to grow the farm he started last year and become self-reliant, rather than move around looking for jobs after graduation, because according to him, government is struggling to pay salaries these days.
Isaac Michael, another young farmer ,shares Christopher Choji’s opinion on rather remaining in the farm than looking for a government job ,if access to markets or a cold room storage facility is made available.
“Even if we have to pay to store our product, it will be a welcome idea. At least we will sell when we want. Now, we can’t because we don’t have these facilities, and no company is here to solve this problem,” Michael worries.
Currently, strawberry is at the peak of production and sells for N700 per kg. During early harvest in December, it sells from N1000 to N1, 500 per kg.
So with this market challenge, how are the women who are merchants, selling this product? I put that question to Mrs. Sarah Ishaya, one of the women selling the crop.
Speaking in Hausa, she tells me: “We buy from the farmers here and sell along the major high ways, particularly at major security check points.”[/s]
[b]The 35 year old mother of five says a lot of travelers get surprised when they see them selling the product.
“They often ask us whether it is imported or produced here in Nigeria. When we say it is done here in Jos, they marvel,” Mrs. Ishaya stated.
She makes between N500 to N600 as profit for every kilogramme she buys at N700. The money she says, keeps her relevant to the family.
With huge potentials for money seen everywhere in Chaha-for coffee, strawberry, Avocado and other vegetables, proper intervention by government or a meaningful private initiative, will definitely present a win-win situation for the farmers and the government and/or investors.
But for now, some of the big malls in the country are busy importing the product, while our farmers here don’t have where to sell theirs.
The Plateau State Government can generate millions from the red fruit, if the state could, on behalf of the farmers, link them to markets. It will apparently deal with the volatile situation and reduce the urge to commit crimes by youth in the state.[/b]

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/business/lack-of-market-cripples-strawberry-farming-in-jos/134550.html#xH2kvFV152tI25Ut.99