Hello all,

I planted about 50 acres of Ofada rice earlier in 2017 and I had a severe attack of quelea quelea birds on the rice. And they destroyed what I think was over 90% of the harvest.

My farm is in Ibaragun town close to Ijoko under Ifo local government Ogun state

I shall chronicle what I did, including the good and bad moves that I made. I will also be discussing what I think I'll do differently in the future, if I attempt rice again.

Some estimates put the total population of Quelea quelea birds at upto 2 billion across the world. But more than 95% of that population is in Africa. Those birds can destroy hundreds of acres of rice fields in a week.

Some states up north deploy aerial spraying of chemicals to kill the birds using aeroplanes. They actually get the support of state government and in some cases the Federal government. This way, the birds are killed in thier millions. But they reproduce so quickly that they are not in anyway endangered; regardless of millions of them being killed across; several African countries yearly.


More details later...

Following...

I wish you had done a pilot on max of 2.5 acres (1 hectare) before going on 50. The main lesson I have learned is to perfect intensive cultivation on a smaller scale first. Why? In your case, if one sits down and use technology to double or triple yield on every plot, then, there will be less area to safe guard against attacks at the initial stage. By the time the whole 50 acres are utilized, there will be maximum efficiency output. I am very much interested in your story. I read some of your comments on the usage of some chemicals and how you flew a drone over your farm to scare away birds on another thread. Quite interesting.

What people like you are doing are what research institutes are suppose to have done. What are they doing? There should have been researches for your area that the agricultural department should not only recommend but guide you very well but they won't. They are after fertilizer, seeds and seedlings subsidy programs where they can embezzle millions. This Nigeria. Too bad!

Let us read your story.

fluentinfor:
I wish you had done a pilot on max of 2.5 acres (1 hectare) before going on 50. The main lesson I have learned is to perfect intensive cultivation on a smaller scale first. Why? In your case, if one sits down and use technology to double or triple yield on every plot, then, there will be less area to safe guard against attacks at the initial stage. By the time the whole 50 acres are utilized, there will be maximum efficiency output. I am very much interested in your story. I read some of your comments on the usage of some chemicals and how you flew a drone over your farm to scare away birds on another thread. Quite interesting.

What people like you are doing are what research institutes are suppose to have done. What are they doing? There should have been researches for your area that the agricultural department should not only recommend but guide you very well but they won't. They are after fertilizer, seeds and seedlings subsidy programs where they can embezzle millions. This Nigeria. Too bad!

Let us read your story.

Thank you for quality feedback.

I agree with you on the need to perfect a process (almost any process) small. Then scale it up using the learnings acquired.

In fact, many of my friends told me I shouldn't have done that much so early. That is a no-brainer.

However, I reply them by saying that I would not have appreciated the magnitude of the various challenges that I faced if had done say 1 hectare. This might sound like a weak defence, but I can substantiate it.

Much of the data I worked with was defective or just false in some instances.

I'lI try to focus on the bird issue out of all the issues I had to contend with.

If I had done 1 ha of the rice, my single drone would have been enough, I believe, to deal with the birds. But I was informed that some guy deployed a drone in a town in Cameroon or so to great success. The drone drove the birds away from that entire area to the benefit of all the rice farmers. I swallowed this testimony hook line and sinker.

It didn't even occur to me to question the limitations of the drone. All I thought about was that once I got the drone, I was good to go. The drone and accessories cost me over $1,500. If my drone can cover 50 acres, why cultivate 2.5 acres? As far as I knew, the other issues with the rice were handled. I thought I had everything covered.

I almost succeeded in spite of the odds. I think most of the attack happened a week or so to harvest. So last week I had close to 50 acres of rice harvest expected; this week it was all gone. I harvest less than a ton of rice where I expected 100tons.

Let me start my story from the beginning.

I am an accidental rice farmer. I was not interested in rice from the start. I thought rice was going to be too complicated. (I was right). Recommendation from my soil tests, and the history of that community favoured rice and maize.

I opted for maize.

I leased 100 acres. I started clearing in April. Got two bulldozers in. After 2-3 weeks of clearing, we had a downpour. The farm became water-logged. It was obvious maize was not going to do well. Apparently, we were late by two months if we were to plant maize.

I had spent money clearing. I had paid for the land for the year and the next. There was no going back. Plus I found out at about that point that the farm was in the flood plain of Ogun river. (Details were still sketchy at that point though). Whenever the Oyan dam on Ogun river was opened, every farm or community on its flood plain was submerged.

The information we had at that point suggested that the flood happened every 2-3 years. The last one was in 2016. So I thought there was a good chance there wouldn't be any in 2017; but that the chances for it to flood in 2018 was higher.

l was therefore determined to not waste 2017.

I recalibrated, reconsidered rice, and ended up a rice farmer.

I sought all the help I could get from different people. The cultivation, and related practices were taken care of. I got my self a DJI Mavic Pro drone after weeks of doing drone research. I got 3 spare batteries. Each battery was rated to give a flight time of upwards of 25minutes. I planned to make provision for charging the batteries on the farm.

I had everything covered. I mean, what else could go wrong?

Of course many things did go wrong.

Your story is similar to many farmers in the game. It is the agricultural institute who should have worked with surveyors and geo- whatever they are called to know what kind of land is available. All we need to do is to check their data. So, that you went through the troubles and pains signify you are on the right path. So, you have data with you and you understand the area more than your first attempt; hence, you can easily improve your efficiency.

Soil test. I laugh so much at the tests around here in Nigeria. If Israel can grow on rocks, what is that telling us? My brother, be careful with the recommendations of these glorified research institutes, private companies or whichever organization that you consulted. Sit down again and analyse everything you have. Many times, these companies give recommendation based on salt level, ph level etc and they advise that certain crops will do well. Lol. Whereas, they were to tell you something like this: you can grow crop A on this land but if you want to grow crop B and C, you need to increase the ph level by adding ammendment X at this quantity per square foot. Is this not better than saying you can grow just crop A?

I will love to still read more of your story; however, you need not to do just 1 ha now. You should have an idea of the capacity of your drone. If its just one week to harvest you lost the crop, brother, i congratulate you.

What should you do? You mentioned that you need around 4 to 5 drones. So, i believe your drone can handle 5 to 10 hactares. So, go for it.

In additional, look at your nutrient management. Look again at the variety you have planted.

Something came to my mind. Check the pilot of your drone. How good is s(he)? Is there a special skill required to use the drone on larger hectares? You may need to learn how to fly your drone yourself.

Again, check the total weight your drone can lift in the air. Perhaps, you can use your drone to spray chemicals in the atmosphere that will chase away the birds. You know that drones are used to create artificial rain by spraying some chemicals in the cloud. Right?

Finally, rice is big investment which need very large area of land. I suggest you learn vegetables cultivation(cucumber, tomato, eggplant, local vegetables etc) and get one of these on one acre to serve as your running cost. If you get veggie right, it will be your risk management tool. Vegetable can make good profit on even just one acre but you need to be fully ready for it too. Please, look into it very well.

Seriously, the main problem with soil is diseases. And i doubt most laboratories do such tests. What they do is nutrient, salinity and ph which can be easily be manipulated. What you should be concerned with is if it is ecomomical reasonable to ammend such land. Even, diseases can be killed too but is it wise to do it?

fluentinfor:
Your story is similar to many farmers in the game. It is the agricultural institute who should have worked with surveyors and geo- whatever they are called to know what kind of land is available. All we need to do is to check their data. So, that you went through the troubles and pains signify you are on the right path. So, you have data with you and you understand the area more than your first attempt; hence, you can easily improve your efficiency.

Soil test. I laugh so much at the tests around here in Nigeria. If Israel can grow on rocks, what is that telling us? My brother, be careful with the recommendations of these glorified research institutes, private companies or whichever organization that you consulted. Sit down again and analyse everything you have. Many times, these companies give recommendation based on salt level, ph level etc and they advise that certain crops will do well. Lol. Whereas, they were to tell you something like this: you can grow crop A on this land but if you want to grow crop B and C, you need to increase the ph level by adding ammendment X at this quantity per square foot. Is this not better than saying you can grow just crop A?

I will love to still read more of your story; however, you need not to do just 1 ha now. You should have an idea of the capacity of your drone. If its just one week to harvest you lost the crop, brother, i congratulate you.

What should you do? You mentioned that you need around 4 to 5 drones. So, i believe your drone can handle 5 to 10 hactares. So, go for it.

In additional, look at your nutrient management. Look again at the variety you have planted.

Something came to my mind. Check the pilot of your drone. How good is s(he)? Is there a special skill required to use the drone on larger hectares? You may need to learn how to fly your drone yourself.

Again, check the total weight your drone can lift in the air. Perhaps, you can use your drone to spray chemicals in the atmosphere that will chase away the birds. You know that drones are used to create artificial rain by spraying some chemicals in the cloud. Right?

Finally, rice is big investment which need very large area of land. I suggest you learn vegetables cultivation(cucumber, tomato, eggplant, local vegetables etc) and get one of these on one acre to serve as your running cost. If you get veggie right, it will be your risk management tool. Vegetable can make good profit on even just one acre but you need to be fully ready for it too. Please, look into it very well.

Seriously, the main problem with soil is diseases. And i doubt most laboratories do such tests. What they do is nutrient, salinity and ph which can be easily be manipulated. What you should be concerned with is if it is ecomomical reasonable to ammend such land. Even, diseases can be killed too but is it wise to do it?

Interesting.

You are very deep and grounded. It will be a pleasure to engage you more extensively.

Trivial....I taught myself to fly the drone before reaching my people. I didn't want anyone crashing $1,000+.

My drone isn't designed to deliver liquid payload. There actually are agricultural drones designed specifically for that function. They are much more expensive- upwards and/or multiples of $4,000. I could still explore the possibility of adapting my drone for such specialised agricultural use.

Even though I came to conclude that for the drone bird scaring option to be effective, one would need an appropriate number of drones for the size of the farm, each drone requires a dedicated pilot. So apart from the cost of acquiring the drone, one would still need to pay well trained pilots who would be required to work everyday for upto a month. This might challenge the economic viability of this bird control option. The success of this option is also contingent upon each drone pilot executing their beats effectively and conscientiously.

The bird control option that I currently favour above all others after careful considerations, is bird netting. I am currently researching options for the netting from the USA and China. The netting is widely considered to be the most effective solution against birds. It is also, unfortunately, the most expensive. There are categories of the bird netting that are rated to last at least 10 years; some are rated 5 years...while we also have those with one-year life span.

I intend to explore the option of locally available nets of appropriate mesh size for cost, and life spans.

My preliminary cost benefit analysis of bird netting isn't looking too fantastic. Not with repeated calls by our governments to get rice selling as low as possible. I don't think rice (the FARO varieties) will be profitable if they sell lower than NGN 15,000 per 50kg bag. There is a better chance for Ofada to be profitable because it commands a higher premium.

Unfortunately, Ofada itself is low yielding. I understand we don't have improved/high yielding Ofada rice yet.

I still have further analysis to do before making a go-no-go decision on cultivating rice again.

And to your suggestions about my going into vegetable. That's exactly what I am currently doing. I am talking to vegetable farmers. I have a private training on vegetable farming Thurs/Fri this week. And I have another for most of next week. I smiled when I read that portion where you mentioned vegetables. We are operating at frequencies not far apart.

Like I said, you are clearly someone I would love to engage more extensively beyond the walls of nairaland.

I appreciate you once again.

I appreciate you too sir.

The road you are travelling is what I have traveled and I can easily spot a brain myself. Though, most brains do not know they are.

Now listen to me sir. If you want to know what works well, look at the wealthy guys. As soon as one can read financial plans, one can easily tell what to concentrate on. Why do we think Aliko Dangote chose to do vegetable processing? Lol. Or do we think he does not realise Mr. President has cattles, so might be cattle rearing is a rich man's game? People, study how rich people invest. Let us learn from them.

I love your comments on drone. Yes, I foresaw that happening. You need real pilots. Yeap. You are right. And paying the pilots salary inceases your expenses. I always tell people that i cut down spending on expenses and I spend more on assets. The secret here is to be able to differenciate between assets and expenses. Many do not know.

Bro, please, do not leave this rice and maize. Why? They are very good. You can make more profit by storing them till the time they are off season. Lol. You make big cash. I think corn is more rewarding with this approach. Sir, if you get the right variety of corn, it seems it is even more profitable than rice. And with less challenges. It does not mean you still cannot do rice. I trust you that you will do something nice.

Again, if you are going on a large scale, doing vegetable all year on large acres can be cumbersome. So, maize can be a very good crop rotation crop to combat disease accumulation in the soil. And you should plant legumes too to fix nitrogen frequently on your soil which reduces the cost of fertilizer or manure that is needed.

Profit making is not just about high ROI crops. It is about reducing cost of production. Last crop you had on your farm might be a nutrient fixer which can reduce the amount of money you spend to fertilize the present crop. And in most engineering practice achieving optimum efficiency is one of the ways to reduce cost of production. This method is what almost all oil companies have adopted.

I will be straight with you. There are secrets to importation that you can use. And one secret is networking. Earlier this year, i met someone who was a blessing to me when it comes to importation. I read about prices of irrigation here but i just laugh. Some of these people buy from my guy and they still come here to say they are the ones importing the stuff when they are buying from this guy. You can still get your net at cheaper cost.

Good nets are expensive, you are perfectly correct. I know this for sure. I build nethouses and greenhouses ( I do not sell but i build for my personal projects). Or let me say, i import and assemble because I do not want to have anything to do with local fabricators. Never and never will i use them. They are with bad attitudes and characters. Once you pay them, they turn to wild beasts or they simply fly away like eagles. Lol. I understand what you mean exactly by saying some last for 10 years.

For example, most mulch sellers will just tell you they are selling mulch for this price. They will not give the details. The color, the texture, the micron, protection level against sun and reflection ability matters a lot. Many just assume black is the color of mulch they should use. So funny how people make terrible mistakes. There was a mulch I bought some months ago, i was looking for 100 microns but i ended up getting a good deal for 140microns. My brother, i used blade on that stuff and it was still not tearing. I used my hands to pull it apart and force it hard before I could tear it. Lol. But the cost of 140 microns is crazily high to small scale farmers. If you tell them to even use 30 microns mulch (not my spec but very common here), they can curse you. Lol.

Good you are going for training but really, you can train yourself. I am telling you the truth. With what you have done so far, you need just guidance and tips. Really, i will tell you to save your money by not attending most glorified trainings. Though, there are good trainings around and some of them are around but i do not publicly endorse anyone. Not my style. But I can give freely what you should research on and how to go about it. You willl get it right i can assure you.

With the kind of research you made to get to where you are, if you put that energy into vegetable self study training, you will teach the fellow who you want to train under in few months from today. Lol.

Let us see how it goes. All you need are the right materials and access to them to practice and they are very cheap. You can buy them yourself and shoot on.

I think we should allow you tell your rice farming story here. Let us not divert into another topic here. I am sure your story will be a blessing to many. We can find another way to discuss privately vegetables or we open another thread for it. But really, there are too many vegetable threads here already. Lol.

Men, lots of knowledge flowing here. Abeg make I dey jott points

Thanks @fluentifor once again.

All your comments are noted. I will reach out to you on vegetables shortly.

Let me try to pick up the story where I left it.

There are several angles to my rice farming experience. But I will try to focus more on the Quelea quelea birds in this thread.


The Quelea quelea birds (or just quelea) attack rice at two major stages of the rice development before harvest. Rice as we know it, is hard. But it starts off as a milky liquid. It then hardens as the plant matures towards harvest.

The Quelea sucks the milk so that the husk is empty at harvest. Even when you manage to escape the attack during the milky stage, your rice is vulnerable till you harvest. Unfortunately, you cannot harvest rice unless it is ready.

Birds attack maize. I had planted some maize. After all, I had cleared 85 acres of land; I had bought some maize seeds; and I was only going to do 50-60 acres of rice. So I had planted about 10 acres of maize. The maize journey is another story. But in addition to the various challenges I faced with the maize, the birds attacked my read-to-harvest maize.

The maize were ready to harvest about two months before the rice got to the stage milky stage that the birds could feed on. The birds, which were already in the vicinity of my farm at this point discovered the maize and started attacking it. Meanwhile, my maize was mature and ready for harvest but it was not yet as dry as I wanted it. When I noticed this attack on the maize, I had to order that we did an early harvest of the maize.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that you can harvest maize early if birds start attacking it. But you cannot do that to rice.

If your rice come under attack of these birds, and you are overwhelmed, you realise you are handicapped. You are helpless. You can only stand there and watch your potential harvest deplete ton by ton.

If you harvest rice prematurely, when it's being processed, instead of giving you the hardened grains, the paddy will give you powder.

That's how you will stand there watching your money get eaten away by these tiny birds.

A farmer right beside my farm had planted Ofada rice. He had planted his in March. I started planting the bulk of my (50-60 acres) rice in June (May 30, actually). I had planted about 5 acres mid May, though.

I think the Ofada planted by neighbour attracted the birds to our area. My farm and his had not been cultivated in decades. So my farm was not and shouldn't have been on the radar of the Quelea.

Anyway, my neighbor's rice brought the birds to our farms. He had planned to combat the birds using manual scaring. Manual scaring essentially involves people (sometimes called bird 'boys') chasing birds all across your farm; shouting and making as much noise as they could generate using different crude means. They use whistles, beat metallic objects... anything that will generate noise.

They also use catapults, sticks etc. They resume work in the morning before 6...and work till probably 7pm daily for the 3-5 weeks leading to harvest.

This method is very inefficient. It can be effective, though - if you only have one or two acres of rice and you have ten people chasing the birds. Some smaller scale farms pack all their children and wives and other relatives to the farm during the weeks leading to harvest. Many times they are able to effectively combat these menace of a bird. Such farmers get to effectively control the birds. They do not get to pay their wives or children directly for that service. So to them this is an inexpensive but effective means to control the birds. That's why this method will continue to be in use into the foreseeable future even though it's not efficient.

If you have 15 acres, like my neighbor, theoretically speaking, you might need 100 people physically scaring the birds 12-14 hours daily for 5 weeks for it to be effective. If you do not have enough people, the few you have will tire out easily because they will have a wider area they need to cover. The birds will keep flying to areas where there are no one as you pursue them all over the farm. No rest for the birds, no rest for the people chasing them.

The bird scarers are not cheap; understandably so. They are expected to be on their feet for hours in the sun without resting (if you actually believe that they don't rest) days on end. You will pay them alot of money and you still do not get the guarantee that you will have a reasonable harvest.

My neighbor was so disappointed with his harvest that he decided he would use his harvest as seeds which he would plant in the future. Imagine all that he went through only for him to make just about enough for seeds for his next planting. Unfortunately, my harvest was close to this outcome.

You the rice farmer buy Ofada seeds...which aren't cheap. You prepare your land. You plant. You control weed. You fertilize. You control deseases. You spend a fortune scaring birds. You harvest, pay harvesters....and then you realise that your harvest is only about the size of the seeds you planted....maybe only a few bags more...

Op, you re very good at english infact i'm following you just to add little grammar to my own.thanks sir

You must be a very strong passionate person to survive this experience. And I think you are blessed to have not used loans or investments. I wonder what would have happened if you borrowed the money for it or you collected investment.

I understood your conclusion that net is the most appropriate for combating birds. You install it and there is no more servicing it till one harvests. But to cover 50 acres.....lol. This is just 20 hectares.

Readers do not still get what we are saying but when you really show them figures, they pick race. Most people here saying they are experts should be laborers on farms, honestly. Not to say there aren't brains. My point is when you read posts and find quark, cheap, unverified methods, it is obvious failure is knocking on the door. And then those are what readers are hailing and interested in just because they sound affordable is very funny. Readers just want cheap methods and they rush into it. They return thenafter with nothing and absolutely nothing to use to try again. What a pity! Invest more in assets and stop the crazy spendings on expenses so that when the ship is almost down, you still have equipment to work with. As soon as you have standard assets, cost of production is always very lower than having no assets. And it becomes easier, better and more profitable every time you cultivate.

If I was a rice farm village developer, i would cancel using birds chasers like those boys because it is just not efficient. Using this method means we could plant limited land. We limit ourselves unknowingly.

Then, we talked about drones. Sure i still love the analysis and it is possible to use them but one still depends on the pilots who probabaly one must train and mostly, they will start behaving somehow later on as soon as they know that one depends on them and there is no replacement for them at that particular time. They do not have brains they think with. They just think about today, now, and this second only. Honestly, working with either a frustrated person in life, a poor man who agrees to take low salary at the initial stage and you are happy it is fine, an illiterate, or a bitter human being is the worst decision any small business owner make. Unfortunately, all workers on most farms fall in one of the categories I have mentioned. I think using drone is possible if the standard of the human resources department of such owner is solid.

Which way to move forward? Nigeria, which way to go? Which way? I ask again. Processors of agricultural products are relocating abroad. One tomato paste owner closed his company in Nigeria and went to Ghana. Another preferred to close his and set up in China to import to Nigeria. Is Nigeria really cursed? I mean, what is wrong? And it is getting worse daily.

The population of Nigerians who are farm workers have been reduced. The hausas we used to rely on have suddenly found bike riding business as means of offering transport service; therefore, they are no more into farming business. I was on a visitation to a place called Idi- Iroko in Ogun state. The place shares border with Benin Republic and illegal farm workers used to flood farms there (i do not support illegal farm workers but it seems it is the main option there). But i was shocked that they were scanty these days. Someone told me that their reward is the cost of a used bike these days. Lol. Just like we go abroad to do dirty work to pay our school fees, these boys have turned farming to a way of buying bike in Nigeria and using that bike to make money.

What is my point? Your analysis buttress my main agony which is that there arent farm workers anymore. So, to farm succesfully, you need to change the game. This year was a terrible one for most farm owners as a result of this. Since I know the problem, I am determined that the rest of this year must end in praise. This is why I discuss extensively with whoever wants to learn. It is a must this year must end in praise because I am destined to rule. Simple.

Which way to go Nigerians?

For the benefit of readers, let me make a short net analysis per hectare (2.5 acres) of a rice farm.

The top cover is approx. 10,000 sqm. Then you need to have net round it. (Perimeter). The shortest height will be 2m. I think 3m is more appropriate. Anyway, let us use 2.5m height. For one hectare, one possible area of net can be: 2.5m multiplied by the perimeter of your hectare. I can only make a rough estimate as perimeters of farms differ. A good guess is using 100m by 100m dimension (just for calculation purpose). So that the total side area needed for the net is 1,000sqm.

For my plot estimation, total net will be 11,000sqm plus extra just to a good setup will be around 11,100sqm.

Let us do something. Please, kindly give us the estimated cost of net per square meter of
1. The one which can last 10 years
2. The one which can last 5 years
3 The one which can last just 1 year.

In addition, let us get the cost of poles which must be erected to install the net. What about the cost of sowing the nets together or accessories one must buy to join pieces of net together or attach them to the poles?

And then, let us put these figures with other input cost against the so called N6,000/bag FG says they will make rice cost to be. Seriously, i do not know who give these leaders figures they use. No wonder they fail year in, year out.

Bro, let us do this and show readers the point you made earlier that deploying net is almost not possible to make reasonable profit. And bringing farmers together in a place or building farm villages with amenities and providing stand-by market for farm products should be the business of governent and not providing fertilizer subsidy they embezzle with.

@op, I am interested in knowing how much you leased your land and location. Thanks.

JustCryptos:
@op, I am interested in knowing how much you leased your land and location. Thanks.

Farm is in Ibaragun Town close to Ijoko,close to Sango, Close to Agbado Crossing. Under Ifo Local Government, Ogun State. I paid NGN5,000 per acre per annum

fluentinfor:
For the benefit of readers, let me make a short net analysis per hectare (2.5 acres) of a rice farm.

The top cover is approx. 10,000 sqm. Then you need to have net round it. (Perimeter). The shortest height will be 2m. I think 3m is more appropriate. Anyway, let us use 2.5m height. For one hectare, one possible area of net can be: 2.5m multiplied by the perimeter of your hectare. I can only make a rough estimate as perimeters of farms differ. A good guess is using 100m by 100m dimension (just for calculation purpose). So that the total side area needed for the net is 1,000sqm.

For my plot estimation, total net will be 11,000sqm plus extra just to a good setup will be around 11,100sqm.

Let us do something. Please, kindly give us the estimated cost of net per square meter of
1. The one which can last 10 years
2. The one which can last 5 years
3 The one which can last just 1 year.

In addition, let us get the cost of poles which must be erected to install the net. What about the cost of sowing the nets together or accessories one must buy to join pieces of net together or attach them to the poles?

And then, let us put these figures with other input cost against the so called N6,000/bag FG says they will make rice cost to be. Seriously, i do not know who give these leaders figures they use. No wonder they fail year in, year out.

Bro, let us do this and show readers the point you made earlier that deploying net is almost not possible to make reasonable profit. And bringing farmers together in a place or building farm villages with amenities and providing stand-by market for farm products should be the business of governent and not providing fertilizer subsidy they embezzle with.

I was saving discussions about the bird netting for last (especially because my research is still far from finished on it). But let me share what i have so far. This can form basis of preliminary viability analyses. it can also provide a basis for comparison with locally available options; in terms of cost and durability.

The nettings are made from Polyethylene (High Density Polyethylene HDPE) or Polypropylene. The nettings made from HDPE are the longest lasting ones.
• The HDPE that are made to last for a minimum of ten years cost as much as $1,750 (or more) for 50 ft by 100 ft. (excluding accessories delivery costs from the USA)
• The HDPE that are made to last up to five years cost about $1,740 (or more) for 50 ft by 100 ft. (excluding accessories delivery costs from the USA)
• They don’t usually make the HDPE larger sizes than 50 ft by 100 ft because of they are heavy. I guess this weight would also make them tougher to install.
• The Polypropylene nettings are cheaper, and in two categories; regular and premium. The premium option is rated to last up to five years. The regular option is rated to last for 6 seasons (which is about 1 year 6 months)
• Premium Polypropylene cost $3,895 for 14ft by 3,000ft (excluding accessories and delivery to Nigeria)
• The regular Polypropylene cost $2,595 for 17ft by 5,000f. (excluding accessories and delivery to Nigeria)
• You estimate the accessories at about 15% of the cost of the netting; as well as an additional 5% for delivery to Nigeria
• These are the prices from one the more reasonable sources in the USA. I am yet to get verifiable estimates from China. However, my preliminary search suggests that prices from China are not much cheaper. The China search is still on-going

This thread should be endorsed and supported to the home page, not all those e-farm threads we see in the agriculture section.

Op I wish you could back your thread with pictures periodically.

You going through what all farmpreneur go through, first year is always a massive disaster but you gain invaluable knowledge and on your way to been a professional

On the good side if you succeed there is always a market


Op you too much

TangoAlpha:


Farm is in Ibaragun Town close to Ijoko,close to Sango, Close to Agbado Crossing. Under Ifo Local Government, Ogun State. I paid NGN5,000 per acre per annum

That's a very fair one. Land in the West may eventually force me to relocate. A property agent told me 700k/annum for a fenced plot down South South.

JustCryptos:


That's a very fair one. Land in the West may eventually force me to relocate. A property agent told me 700k/annum for a fenced plot down South South.

N700K/plot lease is not for farming. I guess it is in a rural area.

fluentinfor:


N700K/plot lease is not for farming. I guess it is in a rural area.

Urban area you mean. Generally land are much more expensive in South South. I am certain I will relocate in the nearest future.

TangoAlpha:


Farm is in Ibaragun Town close to Ijoko,close to Sango, Close to Agbado Crossing. Under Ifo Local Government, Ogun State. I paid NGN5,000 per acre per annum

So many revelations on this thread. I will appreciate it if you can bring out the total financial report so many can learn; thereby able to prepare better financial plans for their farm businesses.

The truth is that land clearing and preparation can be more expensive than the land itself. It is why you want to clear with bulldozer a land you can have access to for a long time or you can easily buy.

I laugh at any novice who thinks using tractor or farming large hectares is efficiency. You just assume because you see this guy using hoes that he is stupid. Of course not. Take a look at what he deploys after his local style of land clearing and you will be surprise he spends more than that man who is tilling 50 hectares with a tractor. Perhaps, you are the foolish one afterall to think he is stupid. Lol. Why? He achieved his aim by fooling you.

I love the Asians and Israelis. They stopped growing horizontally and moved vertically. So, you need less land.

Holland isn't as big as Lagos, yet they produce the best tomatoes in the world. Ask anyone in the tomato business. You need super seed, check with the Dutch first. They also grow vertically.

Tell me why I should deploy bulldozer and tractor to an area land owners are opportunists. They see you remove tree stumps, (very technical and expensive operation) they kick your ass out of the place. Lol. The value of that land has increased with that operation. They can lease out yearly at higher price now. They dont need to fight you physically. When you see "juju" at work, no one will tell you to run for your life. And you may even forget your equipment there. So, it is now spiritual battle between the forces of dark and light in Africa. I hail you oooo Africa. Lol.

So, maybe the guy who disguises his potential by using cutlasses and hoes isnt stupid afterall. What do you think?

TangoAlpha:


I was saving discussions about the bird netting for last (especially because my research is still far from finished on it). But let me share what i have so far. This can form basis of preliminary viability analyses. it can also provide a basis for comparison with locally available options; in terms of cost and durability.

The nettings are made from Polyethylene (High Density Polyethylene HDPE) or Polypropylene. The nettings made from HDPE are the longest lasting ones.
• The HDPE that are made to last for a minimum of ten years cost as much as $1,750 (or more) for 50 ft by 100 ft. (excluding accessories delivery costs from the USA)
• The HDPE that are made to last up to five years cost about $1,740 (or more) for 50 ft by 100 ft. (excluding accessories delivery costs from the USA)
• They don’t usually make the HDPE larger sizes than 50 ft by 100 ft because of they are heavy. I guess this weight would also make them tougher to install.
• The Polypropylene nettings are cheaper, and in two categories; regular and premium. The premium option is rated to last up to five years. The regular option is rated to last for 6 seasons (which is about 1 year 6 months)
• Premium Polypropylene cost $3,895 for 14ft by 3,000ft (excluding accessories and delivery to Nigeria)
• The regular Polypropylene cost $2,595 for 17ft by 5,000f. (excluding accessories and delivery to Nigeria)
• You estimate the accessories at about 15% of the cost of the netting; as well as an additional 5% for delivery to Nigeria
• These are the prices from one the more reasonable sources in the USA. I am yet to get verifiable estimates from China. However, my preliminary search suggests that prices from China are not much cheaper. The China search is still on-going

Before the end today, i will translate your quotation to one hectare by the grace of God.

JustCryptos:


Urban area you mean. Generally land are much more expensive in South South. I am certain I will relocate in the nearest future.

Yes, urban. Typo****

fluentinfor:
I appreciate you too sir.

The road you are travelling is what I have traveled and I can easily spot a brain myself. Though, most brains do not know they are.

Now listen to me sir. If you want to know what works well, look at the wealthy guys. As soon as one can read financial plans, one can easily tell what to concentrate on. Why do we think Aliko Dangote chose to do vegetable processing? Lol. Or do we think he does not realise Mr. President has cattles, so might be cattle rearing is a rich man's game? People, study how rich people invest. Let us learn from them.

I love your comments on drone. Yes, I foresaw that happening. You need real pilots. Yeap. You are right. And paying the pilots salary inceases your expenses. I always tell people that i cut down spending on expenses and I spend more on assets. The secret here is to be able to differenciate between assets and expenses. Many do not know.

Bro, please, do not leave this rice and maize. Why? They are very good. You can make more profit by storing them till the time they are off season. Lol. You make big cash. I think corn is more rewarding with this approach. Sir, if you get the right variety of corn, it seems it is even more profitable than rice. And with less challenges. It does not mean you still cannot do rice. I trust you that you will do something nice.

Again, if you are going on a large scale, doing vegetable all year on large acres can be cumbersome. So, maize can be a very good crop rotation crop to combat disease accumulation in the soil. And you should plant legumes too to fix nitrogen frequently on your soil which reduces the cost of fertilizer or manure that is needed.

Profit making is not just about high ROI crops. It is about reducing cost of production. Last crop you had on your farm might be a nutrient fixer which can reduce the amount of money you spend to fertilize the present crop. And in most engineering practice achieving optimum efficiency is one of the ways to reduce cost of production. This method is what almost all oil companies have adopted.

I will be straight with you. There are secrets to importation that you can use. And one secret is networking. Earlier this year, i met someone who was a blessing to me when it comes to importation. I read about prices of irrigation here but i just laugh. Some of these people buy from my guy and they still come here to say they are the ones importing the stuff when they are buying from this guy. You can still get your net at cheaper cost.

Good nets are expensive, you are perfectly correct. I know this for sure. I build nethouses and greenhouses ( I do not sell but i build for my personal projects). Or let me say, i import and assemble because I do not want to have anything to do with local fabricators. Never and never will i use them. They are with bad attitudes and characters. Once you pay them, they turn to wild beasts or they simply fly away like eagles. Lol. I understand what you mean exactly by saying some last for 10 years.

For example, most mulch sellers will just tell you they are selling mulch for this price. They will not give the details. The color, the texture, the micron, protection level against sun and reflection ability matters a lot. Many just assume black is the color of mulch they should use. So funny how people make terrible mistakes. There was a mulch I bought some months ago, i was looking for 100 microns but i ended up getting a good deal for 140microns. My brother, i used blade on that stuff and it was still not tearing. I used my hands to pull it apart and force it hard before I could tear it. Lol. But the cost of 140 microns is crazily high to small scale farmers. If you tell them to even use 30 microns mulch (not my spec but very common here), they can curse you. Lol.

Good you are going for training but really, you can train yourself. I am telling you the truth. With what you have done so far, you need just guidance and tips. Really, i will tell you to save your money by not attending most glorified trainings. Though, there are good trainings around and some of them are around but i do not publicly endorse anyone. Not my style. But I can give freely what you should research on and how to go about it. You willl get it right i can assure you.

With the kind of research you made to get to where you are, if you put that energy into vegetable self study training, you will teach the fellow who you want to train under in few months from today. Lol.

Let us see how it goes. All you need are the right materials and access to them to practice and they are very cheap. You can buy them yourself and shoot on.

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TangoAlpha:


• The HDPE that are made to last for a minimum of ten years cost as much as $1,750 (or more) for 50 ft by 100 ft. (excluding accessories delivery costs from the USA)

24 pieces + 20% = $50,400

TangoAlpha:

• The HDPE that are made to last up to five years cost about $1,740 (or more) for 50 ft by 100 ft. (excluding accessories delivery costs from the USA)

24 pieces + 20% = $50,112

TangoAlpha:

• Premium Polypropylene cost $3,895 for 14ft by 3,000ft (excluding accessories and delivery to Nigeria)

3 pieces + 20% = $14,022

TangoAlpha:

• The regular Polypropylene cost $2,595 for 17ft by 5,000f. (excluding accessories and delivery to Nigeria)

2 pieces + 20% = $6,228

TangoAlpha:

• You estimate the accessories at about 15% of the cost of the netting; as well as an additional 5% for delivery to Nigeria

Note: 20% = 15% accessories + 5% shipping


I think China can offer better prices with the same quality.
I am not sure 15% includes the cost of poles for the nethouse. It is better and cheaper to import even galvanised poles. This will be crazily expensive too. Here is a very rough guess:
Dimension: 100m × 100m
Lets say you have 5m btw poles
You will have 21 rows and 21 poles in each row. Total = 441 poles.
Galvanised pipes are in 18fts which is approx. 5.4m. If you divide one into two, by the time you bury 1 ft, you will have around 2.5m height. So, you will need 221 full length poles. Can 1 inch pipe diameter be situation for this job? Maybe 1.5 inches or 2 inches. Get the cost of each amd multiply by 221. Lets say the one you choose per unit is N2,500, you are spending N552,500.
Then add installation prices: cost of cutting the poles, cost of cement to make the poles fit inside the soil firmly, cost of adding flat tops to the poles, perhaps you need to weld some parts too etc. Finally, the cost of logistics (transportation) and labor should be added.
Now look at this price and see what it is if you are doing 20 hectares.

Note, the quantity of net for the sides ( perimeter) will be lesser. You can not just translate my projections above and multiply by 20. It will be lesser. However, multiplying by the number of hectares is a very rough good guess.
Best of luck everyone.

T

fluentinfor:

24 pieces + 20% = $50,400



24 pieces + 20% = $50,112



3 pieces + 20% = $14,022



2 pieces + 20% = $6,228


Note: 20% = 15% accessories + 5% shipping


I think China can offer better prices with the same quality.
I am not sure 15% includes the cost of poles for the nethouse. It is better and cheaper to import even galvanised poles. This will be crazily expensive too. Here is a very rough guess:
Dimension: 100m × 100m
Lets say you have 5m btw poles
You will have 21 rows and 21 poles in each row. Total = 441 poles.
Galvanised pipes are in 18fts which is approx. 5.4m. If you divide one into two, by the time you bury 1 ft, you will have around 2.5m height. So, you will need 221 full length poles. Can 1 inch pipe diameter be situation for this job? Maybe 1.5 inches or 2 inches. Get the cost of each amd multiply by 221. Lets say the one you choose per unit is N2,500, you are spending N552,500.
Then add installation prices: cost of cutting the poles, cost of cement to make the poles fit inside the soil firmly, cost of adding flat tops to the poles, perhaps you need to weld some parts too etc. Finally, the cost of logistics (transportation) and labor should be added.
Now look at this price and see what it is if you are doing 20 hectares.

Note, the quantity of net for the sides ( perimeter) will be lesser. You can not just translate my projections above and multiply by 20. It will be lesser. However, multiplying by the number of hectares is a very rough good guess.
Best of luck everyone.

Thank you @fluentinfor for taking time out to crunch the numbers. It would be a valuable guide for many of us going forward.

I expect the prices from China to be less; but I doubt if it will be a significant difference.

You can readily see that the HDPE are not viable even without detailed analysis.

For the HDPE, at $50,000 per hectare @ 365 naira per $; the net costs over NGN 18 million (let's even assume that is all the cost; which it isn't)

Paddy sells for say NGN 130,000 per ton
You record a yield of 4 tons per hectare. (Ofada). Farro44 could give up to twice that yield.

Also assume you plant rice 3 times a year

3 * 4tons * 10 years * 130,000 naira (3 * 8tons* 10 years * 130,000)

After 10 years you have

15.6 million (31.2 million)

Break even (or is it payback time) is somewhere in the 6th year (not considering time value of money or other costs incurred) if yields are up to 8tons per hectare. The farmer is not likely to break even (or payback) within the ten year lifespan of the HPE nets if the yield is less than 5tons per hectare.

On the bright side; if the rice is not sold as paddy, but processsed further before sale, the payback time becomes shorter.

From the top of my head, I can say the the premium polypropylene nets with the five year life span has potential of being the optimal of the options. That is the option I will most like drill down on.

Thank you once again for your invaluable inputs.

TangoAlpha:
T
Break even (or is it payback time) is somewhere in the 6th year (not considering time value of money or other costs incurred) if yields are up to 8tons per hectare. The farmer is not likely to break even (or payback) within the ten year lifespan of the HPE nets if the yield is less than 5tons per hectare.

On the bright side; if the rice is not sold as paddy, but processsed further before sale, the payback time becomes shorter.

From the top of my head, I can say the the premium polypropylene nets with the five year life span has potential of being the optimal of the options. That is the option I will most like drill down on.

There is no investor that will dabble into a long term investment like this. 5 years? Lol

Again, everyone keeps talking about processing. Yes, it is the right way to go but in a situation power is not available it is not worth doing it. Like I wrote earlier, a tomato paste manufacturer relocated to Ghana. Another moved his factory far away to China. (Laugh Wan Kill My Enemies Die; LWKMED).

But regardless of what it is, i have a strong feeling that selling it as paddy might make it attractive; hence, your recommendation makes sense.

Ok. We have problems here, let us look as solutions and let us develop a financial plan for it. I am solution oriented individual.

Every problem is a big opportunity.

- - - MY SUGGESTIONS - - -

1. The main challenge is combating birds. Let us look at the various options we have apart from this net option. For example:
a) using birds chasers, not effective.
b) using drones only. What capacity do we need? How many hectares to 1 drone? How many pilots? And what is the cost of training pilots and managing the system (how to manage the drones and rhe pilots)?
c) using drones which can spray chemicals into the air. What does it entail?
d) using a drone that will not only move in the air but can release lightings, terrible sounds, can shoot fireworks that will make a single drone cover many more hectares. For example, fireworks sent to 500 meters distance and gradual delaying/releasing of the fireworks after releasing the mini rocket can be really effective and it can cover a very larger circumference. This will be super. Perhaps, a single drone can manage 20 hectares farm. Who knows?

2. We can develop a pilot program to test 1 or 2 of the listed options we feel are afordable and effective.

3. We develop a financial plan for it.

4. If possible, we implement it.

5. We have a drone already. So, let us capture the video of the pilot project and post it here.

6. Can we really teach these dead research institutes how real researches should be done? Can we show them how to find solutions to challenges and not just find ways of embezzling funds?

Can this be done? I guess we can only know ONLY after brainstorming it. Anyway, if we cannot do it, someone might pick up our analysis someday. I just feel like doing something good.

@ TangoAlpha, you said that your maize had matured 2mths before it was attacked by this birds. Can you kindly give me the exact month(including the week of the month) you first noticed the presence of quelea in your farm?

Secondly, what stage of production was your rice paddy at the time you first noticed quelea?

Lastly for now, How did you ascertain for a fact that the pest that attacked your farm the most where birds and that the birds where Quelea quelea for sure?

Thanks for your anticipated answers.

TangoAlpha:
T

Thank you @fluentinfor for taking time out to crunch the numbers. It would be a valuable guide for many of us going forward.

I expect the prices from China to be less; but I doubt if it will be a significant difference.

You can readily see that the HDPE are not viable even without detailed analysis.

For the HDPE, at $50,000 per hectare @ 365 naira per $; the net costs over NGN 18 million (let's even assume that is all the cost; which it isn't)

Paddy sells for say NGN 130,000 per ton
You record a yield of 4 tons per hectare. (Ofada). Farro44 could give up to twice that yield.

Also assume you plant rice 3 times a year

3 * 4tons * 10 years * 130,000 naira (3 * 8tons* 10 years * 130,000)

After 10 years you have

15.6 million (31.2 million)

Break even (or is it payback time) is somewhere in the 6th year (not considering time value of money or other costs incurred) if yields are up to 8tons per hectare. The farmer is not likely to break even (or payback) within the ten year lifespan of the HPE nets if the yield is less than 5tons per hectare.

On the bright side; if the rice is not sold as paddy, but processsed further before sale, the payback time becomes shorter.

From the top of my head, I can say the the premium polypropylene nets with the five year life span has potential of being the optimal of the options. That is the option I will most like drill down on.

Thank you once again for your invaluable inputs.

When you say processing would make the venture more profitable, wont the cost of processing still move further the payback date?