Hello guys,

I'll be documenting my experiences as an "accidental" farmer and hobbyist through this thread. I manage the Rabs N Veggies brand, what I'll like to describe as a modern farm.

How it started
I'll probably have objected if someone had told me that I'll be venturing into agriculture ten years ago. In fact, my sole dream was to leave school and get a white collar job as an engineer over ten years ago.

This desire to take paid employment changed a few months later after I concluded my industrial training experience at an oil servicing firm. I realized I wasn't cutout for the office politics and lobbying. I decided there an then that I was never going to take an office job (definitely the ramblings of an inexperienced chap).

To cut the long story short, it's been roughly 10 years and I've managed to keep to this decision. Howbeit, with it's ups and downs. Ten years of experimenting, failures, successes, and lessons.

On how I jumped into agriculture. I have always frequented the Agric section from the early days of pavore, the cucumber guy in Imo state, and the guy that sells land in Ogbomosho (Sadly, I can't remember all their usernames). I witnessed all the drama of those cultivating plantains and all.

At one point, I travelled down to Imo to meet the cucumber guy. I've also journeyed to Ogbomosho to meet the land guy. Or was it my trip to enugu to checkout @oblo's rabbit farm?

What I didn't know was that I was slowly sowing a seed of interest. For me, I was just looking for an alternative source of income that will be stable.

Present times
Fast forward to 2021, my dad gifted us some snails and the thought of raising them crossed my mind. I was still in a rented apartment, rounding up with my personal property.

What I did was crazy. I took the 15 snails he gave us and was raising them in a rubber bowl in the kitchen. It was a messy one but surprisingly none of them died.

I did this for over a month and only 1 snail was lost. Over at the new place I constructed three pens close to the fence and proceeded to purchase about 20 other snails from roadside sellers, two of which died by the time I got home.

Moving into our new property, the snails performed excellently well. For almost a year, I recorded 0 deaths. Yes, all 33 snails survived on paw paw leaves, moringa, bitterleaf and others for close to a year with no deaths.

They also began to lay eggs and I tried the different suggestions from Youtube videos, including trying to hatch in a bowl of sand. What I observed was only half or less hatched when I used this method. So, I decided to leave the snails without disturbing their eggs.

At one point, I had over 150 baby snails and more than 200 eggs from my 33 snails. Given that my house is in an area that was still developing, other snails constantly crawled into my compound - Archatina Fulica (aka city girl). Once in a while Saturis crawled in. My snail bank began growing and in no time I had over 100 snails that were all laying.

Tragedy Strikes
At one point, my snails began to die in huge numbers. On some days one, other two.

I couldn't place my hand on what the cause was exactly. A number of factors could have contributed. I felt it was my general lack of care. Other activities had taken hold of me and I barely had time to attend to the snails. Looking back, I also think I allowed snail predators to enter the pen because I was carefree.

Few months later (now in 2022), I decided to get serious once again. I bought a bag of snail from the bush for about 20k.

It contained about 200 snails of different sizes. I ate the larger ones and kept the relatively smaller once for production. Guess what?

They kept dying in their numbers. This was despite my efforts to till the ground and eliminate predators. One morning I got fed up and asked my wife to kill and the remaining snails. Of course, I enjoyed the numerous delicacies that came out from them.

Let's take a pause on the snail aspect for now.

Image: A testament of my failure a year later.

Fish Farming
In April 2022, I decided to "experiment" with fish, catfish to be precise.

Quick note: Aspiring farmers, always ensure you learn before venturing into agribusiness. There are a lot of pitfalls that having a mentor can help you scale. Every business has its trade secrets.

That said, I spoke to a christian brother who was already into the business on a small scale. He gave me tips on how to treat the pond with plantain leaves and all that.

I went out one morning and purchased a tank for about 19k and followed all the steps prescribed. A week later I purchased my first batch of 250 fish (#10 per fish). In between, I had already constructed a filtration system comprising of a fountain pump, bucket, gravels, and charcoal.

Tragedy Strikes again
Guess what? All 250 fish died by the next morning after I turned off my filtration system.

I was puzzled, made calls and I was told I didn't treat the pond properly. Well this time, I repeated the same steps above for 2 weeks and restocked with 150.

Yet again, over 100 fish had died by the second day.

Downtrodden, I decided I was going to use the fish tank to plant sweet potatoes or ugwu if I tried a third time and it failed.

God willing, the person I buy my fingerlings from came around to test my water. And my water was the culprit all along. It was acidic.

All I needed to solve my problem was sodium bicarbonate of 900 naira.

Still skeptical, I bought around 50 juveniles for my experiment. This brought my entire stock to around 90.

By November, I was excited and happy with myself. Minimal deaths moving forward and by December, my fish had attained over 2kg weight. I gave most of it out to family members as Christmas present.

This is interesting




]Fish Farming[/b]
In April 2022, I decided to "experiment" with fish, catfish to be precise.

Quick note: Aspiring farmers, always ensure you learn before venturing into agribusiness. There are a lot of pitfalls that having a mentor can help you scale. Every business has its trade secrets.

That said, I spoke to a christian brother who was already into the business on a small scale. He gave me tips on how to treat the pond with plantain leaves and all that.

I went out one morning and purchased a tank for about 19k and followed all the steps prescribed. A week later I purchased my first batch of 250 fish (#10 per fish). In between, I had already constructed a filtration system comprising of a fountain pump, bucket, gravels, and charcoal.

Tragedy Strikes again
Guess what? All 250 fish died by the next morning after I turned off my filtration system.

I was puzzled, made calls and I was told I didn't treat the pond properly. Well this time, I repeated the same steps above for 2 weeks and restocked with 150.

Yet again, over 100 fish had died by the second day.

Downtrodden, I decided I was going to use the fish tank to plant sweet potatoes or ugwu if I tried a third time and it failed.

God willing, the person I buy my fingerlings from came around to test my water. And my water was the culprit all along. It was acidic.

All I needed to solve my problem was sodium bicarbonate of 900 naira.

Still skeptical, I bought around 50 juveniles for my experiment. This brought my entire stock to around 90.

By November, I was excited and happy with myself. Minimal deaths moving forward and by December, my fish had attained over 2kg weight. I gave most of it out to family members as Christmas present.[/quote]

Farming isn't easy.. Once had 7 ponds for hatchery, shootout n adults. I experienced both losses and profits.. but the most important advice to any startup farmering especially livestock is that it takes balls to do so cos they don't talk when they're sick or in need.. they won't even cry sef and that's the worse part.. they just die off

It's always good to start small.

vastolord4:
Farming isn't easy..

Exactly, couldn't have said it better.

Foodqueen:
It's always good to start small.

Starting small gives you room to experiment and leverage if things go south.

Lessons from my past experiments

Before continuing my story, I'll like to draw some lessons from my experiences.

1. Learn
This cannot be overemphasized. Every trade has its secrets. It is your duty as an intending farmer to learn these secrets. Beyond the YouTube videos and online practicals you "may" need to take some form of paid class. Alternatively, you can choose my route by learning from experience.

Remember, they said "experience is the best teacher." Like my mum used to say, experience may sometimes be a bitter teacher. So, unless you have the resources, time, and need skills to experiment, just pay someone to teach you.

But then, I must warn you. People are economical with knowledge. It's hard to find someone who will willingly give you all they know about a trade. You may still need to learn some things through experience.

2. Start Small
I've hard various stints at business - photocopying and printing while in school, a delivery company during my NYSC, a drive-by BBQ after school, and several others. I've always strived to keep my startup cost low.

For my snail experiment, startup was less than 20k (housing inclusive) and for my early fish business, the startup cost was less than 30k. Losing these amounts meant almost nothing but they gave me room to learn.

So, while you may be tempted to invest your live savings on a business with the certainty that it will blossom, remember that things can go south, and quickly too.

3. Farming requires time
Forget all the stories about setting up a system and leaving it. Na lie. Farming doesn't work that way. Like someone said above, it is hard work, and requires your constant monitoring. This is at least true for snails and fish.

Your absence for an entire day or week could mean you lose your entire investment. For example, I recently installed the shaded nets for my snail greenhouse. I had fastened it to the galvanized pipes with binding wires with hopes that I'll finish up the next day.

Guess what, it rained heavily that evening and was very windy. My saving grace was that I decided to check the farm that evening and was inside when it started raining. Otherwise, my net would have been blown away.

4. Have an idea
Experts are good but my simple advice will be venture into what you like and know about. Don't leave this requirement to a supervisor or farm employees. They'll run you down.

You must be willing to get dirty and show them the right way it is done.

There's this story of a fish farmer in Rivers State that started with 80k fish. She had almost zero knowledge. Didn't count the fingerlings when they were delivered. Sorted after two months only to find out what she had was just 25k. You can imagine the loss.

I believe they under supplied her, she didn't sort, and also employees stole some.

Image 1: My abandoned snail pen after experiencing serious mortalities.

Image 2: My in-house pond setup

Image 3: Part of the setup

Image 4: Second fish experiment doing well

Following. Interesting.

Second Attempt
Following the initial success I had from my first fish experiment, I decided to try a second time.

This time, my core focus was to check the profitability of the business.
.In my first attempt, all my focus was on the fish surviving, plus I already knew that I was giving them out as Christmas presents. I fed with foreign feed until about 4 months (Ziegler and Coppens). I switched to Blue Crown when I could no longer get either of the brands.

Going through some of the threads on fish farming here, I noticed a lot of farmers complained about the profitability of the business. So, I wanted to try things out myself.

I went on to purchase two additional tanks as seen above, each priced at around 19k. Given the state of my water, I bought 450 worth of Sodium Bicarbonate.

Here's a breakdown of my total cost for my second experiment.

STARTUP EXPENSES
2 tanks - 19,500 each // 39,000
1 Water reagent - 4,500
Sodium bicarbonate 0.5kg - 500
250 juvenile fish - 7,500 + 1,500
Salt - 300

Total - #51,800

In case you are wondering where the extra 1,500 for the fish came from let me explain.

I paid for 250 juveniles. I didn't bother counting them when I went to pick up, based on trust.

My plan was to sort and count two weeks later. But one night while feeding, I noticed a bigger fish had swallowed a smaller one, with the tail sticking out. I immediately began sorting that night and noticed what I had in the tank was just 205 fish. I didn't want to assume I was cheated from the seller, so I purchased an extra 50 two days later to complete my test of 250.

Upon sorting, the fish were split into three tanks based on their sizes.

JustCryptos:
Image 1: My abandoned snail pen after experiencing serious mortalities.

Image 2: My in-house pond setup

Image 3: Part of the setup

Image 4: Second fish experiment doing well

.
That your snail pen, do you normally wash off the slime? I think that can cause mortality too.

FarmTech:

.
That your snail pen, do you normally wash off the slime? I think that can cause mortality too.

No, I don't. The floor is not concrete, I left the bare natural sand there. You may be right since I started having casualties when the population grew.

@farmtech Another funny thing is that after the snail pen was cleared they missed two relatively smaller snails and 3 baby snails. They aestivated through the harmattan season and began coming out when the rains started this year.

Can you believe these 5 snails are still roaming freely in my compound and are bigger now? I caught them this night feasting on fallen moringa leafs.

JustCryptos:
@farmtech Another funny thing is that after the snail pen was cleared they missed two relatively smaller snails and 3 baby snails. They aestivated through the harmattan season and began coming out when the rains started this year.

Can you believe these 5 snails are still roaming freely in my compound and are bigger now? I caught them this night feasting on fallen moringa leafs.

.
I thing the problem here might be population density. Next time try and google the correct population density so that they have enough space.

FarmTech:

.
I thing the problem here might be population density. Next time try and google the correct population density so that they have enough space.

Might be one of the root causes. Research recommended a stocking density of between 20-40 per square meters for breeding snails and 75-100 for hatchlings.

JustCryptos:


Might be one of the root causes. Research recommended a stocking density of between 20-40 per square meters for breeding snails and 75-100 for hatchlings.

.
Solved.

Continuing my story... I took a brief break to focus on farm setup (expansion efforts have been on the way since February).

Meanwhile, I've processed most of the fish in my second attempt. I have less than 15 pieces left. I'm on my third attempt with 500 fish.

JustCryptos:
Continuing my story... I took a brief break to focus on farm setup (expansion efforts have been on the way since February).

Meanwhile, I've processed most of the fish in my second attempt. I have less than 15 pieces left. I'm on my third attempt with 500 fish.

Is it profitable?

Following this

Femiman8:


Is it profitable?

Everything is profitable if you know your way around.

Since my last post, I've gone on to experience with 250 fish, which I've sold/processed. I've also restocked 500 juveniles and another 700 juveniles after a month.

Our 4k capacity snail greenhouse has also been built and running. Overall, it's been a massive learning experience.

Needless to say, I'm also experimenting with Black Soldier Fly to cut down on my feeding cost. I've been able to achieve a full production cycle from eggs to adult flies and back to eggs.

JustCryptos:
Since my last post, I've gone on to experience with 250 fish, which I've sold/processed. I've also restocked 500 juveniles and another 700 juveniles after a month.

Our 4k capacity snail greenhouse has also been built and running. Overall, it's been a massive learning experience.

Needless to say, I'm also experimenting with Black Soldier Fly to cut down on my feeding cost. I've been able to achieve a full production cycle from eggs to adult flies and back to eggs.

how many weeks or months does catfish take to grow to 2kg

Pennywise2:
how many weeks or months does catfish take to grow to 2kg

With proper feeding, you should be able to attain 2kg in 8 months. But feed is expensive now, I raise to 2.5 to 3 months, smoke and sell off.

Furthermore, you won't get the same results using foreign feed throughout vs. switching to local feed (which is more affordable) at 3mm.

JustCryptos:


With proper feeding, you should be able to attain 2kg in 8 months. But feed is expensive now, I raise to 2.5 to 3 months, smoke and sell off.

Furthermore, you won't get the same results using foreign feed throughout vs. switching to local feed (which is more affordable) at 3mm.

how many times a day do they feed ? What quantity of food ? How do i get fingerling in lagos

Pennywise2:
how many times a day do they feed ? What quantity of food ? How do i get fingerling in lagos

Feed twice daily once they reach juvenile stage. At 3 months, you can start feeding once daily.

As for quantity, I recommend feeding until they are satisfied. Little at a time, so you don't waste feed.

I am not in Lagos, so I don't know. There are sellers on NL though.