₦airaland Forum

bassdow:
well, except I take out time making detailed Videos, only reasonable way is a physical viewing which I'm sorry might not be feasible.
Some of us value privacy to an extent especially to people (strangers) met on public fora.

Didn't write such epistle to brag or anything. Just to let you know anything is possible. you just need think outside the box.

Mind you, such data is of no value to your original questions / intents.

Even pros in poultry world, would wonder how possible it would be to site a poultry capacity of about 5,000 in whatever is left on such space despite all I already mentioned it currently occupies. Well time would tell.

As I got no interest in ever leaving the country despite having gotten said opportunity a few times, na to try create my own Abroad for inside Nigeria as much as I could.

I understand

bassdow:
You really can't tell the tree apart from the normal local variety. The main difference is on the plantain fruit it's self.
Also those varieties I listed are popular.

No no boss,

I am trying to have a mental picture of the arrangement and the spacing and all
I am in awe of the whole thing just to have a face to the name.
Thanks

jidestroud:
Most of the details needed is embedded in this thread.
In summary, for vegetables farming you need lots and lots of water & manpower depending on the size of your farm. According to you 1 plot is your target, get some capable hards. How you plant also determines your weed control system. For some, it is a straight long bed that runs across the farm. The vegetables are densely grown together. This helps manages the weeds but I am not much of a fan of that methods. I prefer transplanting on my preferred beds in rolls and columns. This is more tasking but it gives better yields against crowding the vegetables together.

Likewise, your soil also determines. If you need to amend the soil, get enough manure and do just that. Here in Ogun state, you know it's more of clay red soils, so I have had to amend my souls over the times of planting with lots and lots of compost that the planting area is so dark and full with activities in the soil. Then, water is key factor.

Please Note: The rains are coming back so returns of vegetables is greatly affected. Ewedu will be greatly reduced, shoko will go down & Tete too. Ugu will go down but still a good vegetable to look at, even at the end of it all, you get the seeds to sell.

As the rain approaches, I do most times just shift focus to other aspects of my farm; ofcos there's the Pig, Chickens, Ducks and my Plantains. Plantains is also a good business in the rains.

Thanks

bassdow:
1. ugu is not a Short term plant Oooo. Ugu would keep giving you vegetables for close to 1-year before developing Pods (which you could either plant, or sell)

2. For a start, 1-plot of land is perfectly Okay. You make enough money to cover your stress, while learning and should you make mistakes, your loses would be low. Just like gamble (e.g baba-Ijebu), the higher the stakes, the higher the Profit or Loss.

3. Even as a first times, with small guidance via Google (including Nairaland threads) and fellow farmer(s), you should have very little issue. As for Fertilizer, they ain't that expensive especially since you could buy in small custard bucket. Ask and they would even direct you on how to apply them.

4. I am a Gardner, not a full time Farmer. I currently manage 1-plot of land which is part of my 2-plots of land where I reside.

5. Currently have approximately 100 plantains (Elephant and Cameroonian varieties) which occupies less than half plot using a plant spacing of 6ft square. Might phase out one of the variety since it's taller than the other BUT at the moment no issue.

Have 17 PawPaw trees (2 different varieties) inside the compound using a mixed plant spacing of 6ft and 8ft. the pawpaw trees are planted along the fence wall lines inside the compound.
Outside the land which is fenced, Have extra 5 PawPaw trees there which are mostly the local Variety and 2 Male trees of each variety I planted inside the compound. The spacing used is approximately 4ft.

Also have a total of 5 Scent leaves plants which are planted in-between the spacing of the pawPaw trees inside the compound.

Have 3 big Bitter leaf plants which have grown as large as a tree since it's rarely consumed.

Currently have about 4 Garden egg plants (both the green and white Variety). Actually planted 6 but only 4 managed to survive. they still young sha.

Have a couple of okra plants - 4 last year but this year, I am increasing it by planting them any spacing I see would receive enough sunLight.

Have 1 Moringa tree which is still at it's very early rooting stage since I propagated via stem cutting.

Have 1 SourSop tree which is still at it's very early nursery stage since I propagated via seeds.

Have 1 Avocado pear tree which is still at it's very early nursing stage.

Have mapped out space Guava tree though yet to get it's seeds.

Currently planted Tiger Nuts on a space of 3ft by 11ft resulting in a total of 16 heaps containing a total of 20-plants

Currently planted water melon on a space of 2 sets of 3ft by 7ft resulting in a total of 20 plants.

Currently planning to plant yam (3rd attempt which would be successful) along the inside of the front fence wall. Plan having a total of 20 big heaps for each yam plant.

Also mapped out a space of 5ft by 7ft for cultivation of Tomatoes which would give me approximately 11 to 12 tomato plants.

Also mapped out space of 2 rows of 10ft by 2ft for cultivation of Ginger and Tumeric. The tubers are ready. Just to do heaps and plant them.

Currently looking for a good enough place to plant Onions.

Planted 3 Hospital-too-far plants. Yorubas call it efo Iyana-ipaja

Have planted 2 bread fruit (Yam-Type) trees. they act as divider between the 2 plots though it's more on the 2nd plot (where I do plantings) than on the first plot.

Have a few ugu plants though I plan creating a small bed to plant a few seeds. Don't want them occupying space since I mostly plant things along the fence lines.

Currently have 5 Banana trees (2 are what the Yorubas call Ogede Omimi, and the remaining 3 is the Cavendish variety)

Currently have 8 Pepper plants; 7-Yellow variety (the type sold by Ibos which is like 3 pcs for 100 naira) and the normal red variety. Didn't even buy Seeds. Just harvested seeds from the pepper I bought from market and planted.
At the moment, only about 4-pepper plants are doing well, because during the dry season, the sun was super hot and some were too stressed + since it was my first time, failed to quickly detect signs of lack of enough watering.
I plan relocating the pepper plants to a part of the compound where they would receive enough SunLight but not too much so that during long dry season, there would be less stress. of course those Farming pepper commercially don't need to stress themselves as they plant New ones yearly.

Also have plans to plant some special plants like Flax, Garlic, Chia, Uda, Fennel, etc but each would be 1 or 2 each.

NB: Mind you, except the Plantains and Banana, the rest of the Plants and Trees, all are planted along the fence lines hence over half of the 1-plot has space to either build something or for compound.

Already mapped out where to do mini-large scale Poultry of approximately 5,000 Layers, and few other things.

How do I currently control weed. I planted potatos on space occupied by Banana and plantain, Not for consumption, but so their vines (crawling leaves) spreads everywhere and keep the weeds (almost) out and for 2-years I started that trick, works well. The rest of the space, either got few potato vines or have been partially cemented while they were molding blocks.

out of the 2-plots, 1-Plot is 100% for residential. if there would ever be a tree there, mayBe 3 or 4. the Second plot is where I do ma plantings.

And yea, the plots are together and fenced together.

Do I have farming background before now, the answer is NO. I relied via the internet, including here on Nairaland. Could spend hours going through threads especially the likes of OkoroEmeka, and others.

Do I ever plan on expanding, doubt I would since I have my full time work and work from home BUT if I ever plan on such, would start from acres. Right now, Just for personal consumption, Sell or Gifting people (neighbors sabi awoof even though they see you as silly while you work) the excess.

of course I plan having a number of Goats and Fishes on a small level. As e dey do me now, if I fit plant Maggi, and salt, I go don plant am

Lol maggi and salt bawo 😂
This is a testament that you can do a lot with the information online if you have determination.
This is awesome and inspiring.

Maybe I'll settle for ugu then.

I have been hearing good buzz about it from gaterms lately.

bassdow:
Mind you, apart from the clearly and clean lay out trees and plants, the only place that looks like a farm is mostly the space occupied by Plantain and Banana.

Can you please share a pic of two ?

bassdow:
NB: Ugu (especially the large leaf variety often called Ibo / Calaba ugu) commands more price than Efo & shoko & ewedu.

You could add Cucumber also but trying to do both vegetable and Cucumber on a plot of land would be small for commercial purpose.

Still it's doAble. You could dedicate Half plot for Ugu and remaining half for Cucumber.

Alternatively, have you thought of Red Pepper ? if I were in your shoes, would replace the Cucumber with red Pepper, run it for the first planting season, after which I compare which gave me more returns, then take it from there.

1. How much should my budget be for a plot be
This is location dependent but mostly, all you need are the necessary seeds (buy Ugu Pod if planting ugu), and a few tools such as cutlass, and hoe.
it's good thing you already have land.
Except it's virgin land, you equally need fertilizer; and even on a Virgin land, if planting pepper, you must need fertilizer.

2. Is a plot too small ? Not SMALL for a beginner. You don't want to commit more than you could comfortably loose. Take these as baby steps. After at least 2 planting seasons, you would have learnt enough to increase the farm size by 2 or 3 plots.

When you good enough, you could upgrade to 1-acre (6-plots) and that becomes a starting point.

Right now, you learning a lot of things. Doesn't even matter if you've got a mentor or not. No one would manage your business like you doing the spending.

it's from these lessons, you learning the necessary things and also have buyers. Imagine having 50-baskets of pepper or lots of aging (ready to harvest) Vegetable, but struggling to find buyers. You would end up loosing because you would be taken advantage of.

3. Any other input is fine from

How to market to

Enter market and speak with direct sellers (please avoid middle men/women) before even the produce are due for harvest.


Now if you could afford to LIVE on said land, abeg do so to enable you secure your crops else dem go help you harvest them. You could build a room using blocks or wood covered with Nylon/Cement sacks.
Hopefully, there's nearBy water supply.

Any other things, search on Google + have 1 or 2 farmers who currently farm same crops you intends farming so you learn from them.

As for labor, you don't need any at this time hence you alone would do most if not al the works such as clearing, and planting to keep costs low

This is Gucci(golden)
I thank you for taking your time to add to my knowledge

Its not like I am against pepper especially chilly pepper
I just mentioned those two based off the fact that their barrier to entry is low I don't need a lot of capital to start and the harvest period is short (since I don't have a source of income at the moment.

If generally I am guaranteed that pepper will take in more money I could find a way to increase it to two plots of land one for the short term(ugu) and the otter for the sub long term

And also I mentioned a mentor on the basis of have a decent farming practise before things becomes an habit
Especially when it comes to pests and how to tackle them what is my first aid and from what I have heard from a dozen or so farmers prevention is better than cure so I'd rather know to do things to prevent pest rather than seeking means to repel them after they have infested my farm.

By the way are you a farmer ? If yes what do you farm ?

jidestroud:
Lol.
That's why I said you have to be conversant with market prices. For all those who come to the farm to buy for home consumption, you just cut same way it's being sold in the market, maybe just add a little to it as incentives. For me, I sell, 100, 200, 300, even as much as 5k to direct consumers. I already know what 200/500 naira worth of vegetables is in the market. So for someone buying 500naira worth, I simply sell 500naira worth of vegetables and add 100naira fisi, Jara, etc

Your 2nd question.
I have also answered you by saying, know what's obtainable in the markets. You can do your market survey by going as early as 6:30am on markets days (depending on the markets though). You will see some farmers come with their vegetables to sell to first buyers, who in turn resells. You will see how the bundles is being packaged.

Well, for me, I don Sabi the Market well well so from time to time, I know how to cut for market women coming to buy in bundles.

N.B: Some may offer to help you cut it sef. But mind you, you will be cheated from time to time . Las las, you sef will be become a master of measurement.
By looking at a bed sef, you can tell how much it will fetch you in returns.

Those market women will teach you and you will learn 😂
This is experience talking, thanks man.
But I'll like the time of the day to discuss on telegram even 10 min is enough

soccerlite:
I understand you, there's some work of offer I can't accept too

I have done casual worker on a farm for 3yrs, I can't do such again

Your statement made me mention that

May God show you favour. Amen

Amin
I appreciate your prayer man.

By the way are you a farmer now or you have left the industry ?

soccerlite:
Scary!

How much you get? Maybe if you know how to drive tricycle you can add it to your business

I have done that in the pas, from ikd garage to ita olowo sometimes to ogijo busy stop as far back as when it was sold for 800k new (like 4 years ago or so)

It's more gruesome than it looks, I can't go back to. That profession ever,

But thanks man I appreciate you trying to help a guy out 👍

I need guidance from those of us that are experienced
I mean my experienced nairaland farmers

I want to venture into leafy vegetables
(Efo shoko,ewedu)
Or
CUCUMBER
(I AM UNDECIDED HERE WHICH TO HO FOR)

The idea behind it is because of their short harvesting period.

I have a plot (just to start)

I have no experience in farming at all

But I am willing to walk the walk

1. How much should my budget be for a plot be

2. Is a plot too small ?

3. Any other input is fine from
How to market to
How to handle customers to
How to get said customer to e.t.c
Any tips that has worked for you

4. If you were a younger less experienced farmer what would you have done differently?

The said site is a new area they don't even have electric pole sef

Please Nairalanders My income depends on this
I have been without job since January 2025

I just though what's there to lose again lemme just kukuma follow my passion
(though I am completely inexperienced)

Any input is welcome (so far it's informative)

jidestroud:
I also heard some scale it to sell though I am not familiar with that.

For me, it's selling directly to consumers around, sell to market women in bundles, and that's all.

Just be conversant with market prices if you have any around you.

How do you now measure for your neighbours
Is it that you have a fixed measurement per price
Say maybe you sell 500,1000,1500
No in-between?

2. How do you even measure the bundle of you are not using scales sef ?x

Sorry for my long write up on Tele

@jidestroud can you add me up on WhatsApp ?
07053625944.