Agricultural commodity producing states in Nigeria and Differences in their quality output

Nigeria has two distinct seasons-the dry and the
rainy season. The dry season runs from November
to march while the rainy season runs from April to
October. Being the tropics (Tropic of Capricorn) the
rains are understandably heavy. In the northern
Nigeria, the dry season is longer. The landscape runs
from equatorial rain belt in the south to arid desert in
the north.

With virtually large land mass of Nigeria, the land is
mostly fertile for agricultural activities and all states
in Nigeria produces one, two or more different crops
at the same time or different seasons. Farmers depend
mostly on irrigation during the dry season in the
north because of the elongated period.

Mostly four or five different states in Nigeria can
produce the same crop because they share the same
geographical weather attribute but nevertheless, the
quality output is always differ due to many factors.

1 land fertility
2 Mode of harvest
3 Technical know how of the farmer (Literacy
measure)
4 Method of preservation
5 Quantity of output

Land fertility: because of prolong farming activities
in some states and the over dependent of fertilizer, the
quality of output decline because of the in ability of
the soil to generate quality nutrient. These changes in
quality output it is not always visible or notice until a
standard text is done in the laboratory and mostly,
exporters and traders ignore this point because they
can mix the low quality output with high quality crop
from another state to arrive at a preferred
specification.

Mode of Harvest: most state with long time farming
experience can have a very high quality output than
the state that just started the farming of the same crop.
For instance, quality of cocoa bean seed from Ondo
state is higher than cross river state because when
farmer from Ondo state takes time (like 6days) for
their cocoa to ferment, cross river farmer ferment
cocoa for 3days which makes slatty to be much during
quality checking process.

Technical know-how of the farmer (Literacy
measure): From planting to harvesting of crops, most
un-educated farmers do not know how to handle their
farming. No seminal is attended to learn more on
how to use herbicide and pesticide to generate good
quality output they stick to olden day’s method of
farming thereby limiting their quality output. When
other state farmers are being enlighten on how to
plant well formulated seedlings, other illiterate
farmers does not have the access to such information
because they are limited to a place.

Method of preservation: Most farmers still use
harmful chemicals for preservation thereby
increasing the percentage of aflatoxins in the
harvested grains/crops. Low number of agricultural
extension has contributed to this factor and still
contributing. Most farmers are running away from
shortages after harvest, they use harmful chemicals
which are dangerous to human consumption for
preservation this differs from state to state in Nigeria.

Quantity of output: Most of the time, because of low
quantity output of grains/crops most farmers use
dubious means to increase the weight i.e. tonnage
before selling to prospective customers/client. During
the harvest, when most farmers discover low output
they will add up sand or heavy impurities to increase
the weight in the bag and these practices had made
most exporters/traders to run away from some states
and buy from other state even when the price seems
higher, they paid because of assured quality.

Hint* Picking samples from state to state might not
help you because you might be lucky to pick the best
sample at a point and during large quantity buying,
quality might be differ. Ask other people on the field for
the best state that produces good quality and move
your buying sport to this location it will help you more.

more article

https://sehgatehub./2019/01/20/logistics-problem-kill-business-faster-in-nigeria-than-any-other-factor-relating-to-agro-business/

Nice write up....

julshairport:
Nice write up....

Thanks