₦airaland Forum

chigomiced:
Oga carry you assumptions dey go


Dem no teach you fixed cost and variable cost for school

excanny:
How far with this experiment? How many fruits now? Is it up to 40 yet?

EMMAACHILE:
Broilers if you process and sell in kg with a frozen store to end users will give margins as high as even 100% under 8 weeks.
The key is to process and don't sell in the open to market women. But this also depends on the farmers capacity to run a farm and also run a frozen shop.

Pistotita:
Animal Husbandry

I have been thinking how to write about animals, and I have decided to put everything together. This is a tough area in Agriculture. If you do not have the time to supervise the farm yourself, let it slide. It is not worth the effort.

Poultry
Do you know you can grow a kind of chicken from few grams body weight to 2kg or more in 6 - 8 weeks? These kind of breeds are sold to eateries and fast food joints. You may want to consider the egg sales aspect of the business too. This is also very profitable. The main threat to poultry business is theft. Workers steal eggs. Deliberate vandalism and man made mortality is another threat. Workers intentionally strangulate birds on regularbasis to feast on them, or sell them to enrich themselves. I know the case of a farm where CCTV revealed the truth, and the workers were immediately arrested. I don't think anyone in diaspora should get involved with this business.

Piggery
Forget about sales of pork in the north. That's the first rule of the game. In my opinion, you need to get involved with Artificial Insemination if you want to produce good pork.

Grasscutter
To me, this is very lucrative too. Sales is encouraging, but the main challenge is theft too. It is better for a small scale farmer at this point of our economy.

In general, animal husbandry is not as profitable as crops. This is the pure simple truth, but this branch of Agriculture can generate reasonable income. For example, I advice anyone looking into fish production to be extremely careful as many farmers are presently complaining bitterly about losses incurred due to high cost of production. The cost of feeding animals in Nigeria is on the high side.

Pistotita:
I use fertilizer too. I have shared my story here, and different approaches I use. It's an open secret which I have revealed here many times. But it is like people want magic.

1. Soil preparation is the first key. I even went to the extent of saying 10tons of compost per acre. This is like 1kg per plant since the standard population. Even Mr. Emeka said same how he digs holes and dump compost/manure inside. And I add basal fertilizer. This is the biggest revelation I give farmers but they do not take it serious. Why don't you try it? Cos it seems you think I use special spray. Yes, I do, but this is far more important.

2. After this cycle you are doing, if you want to relax, go home for 2 months and perfect your prunning skills at home. If not, get yourself a pilot space. I have mentioned it here many times. You must try many seeds. I even gave tips on mixing cultivars which no one has ever told farmers here. And I have been reading how farmers are trying different combos. These are secrets I got on my own that I shared.

3. When people say prunning works, and only you say it doesn't work, then, check yourself again. Return to pilot and prune gynecious how it should. Prune monoecious how it should. Don't use scissor for pruning as it spread diseases,except you use a sterilizer like 99% alcohol or hydrogen peroxide to clean it after using it on every plant. This usually slows me down, so I adopt using hands.

4. Your main challenge is that immediately you harvest, like flowers on 10 nodes above the fruits you harvest everytime abort and it delays harvest to every 10 days or more. Your mission is to minimize the abortion rate. Note that if you feed well, and there're limited abortion rate, you should harvest every 2 days. Harvest fast = super yield. You don't allow Cu999 get big cos they say it can reach 1kg. It will definitely cause abortion of flowers.

5. There is no reason to modify sex of cucumbers since every kind of sex is available. Let that slide.

6. Pottasium, Calcium and Magnesium are very necessary as soon as you start improving.

7. Do you think I don't want to return to my old style of minimum of 1 acre? But I don't have the man power. Only you cannot prune 10,000 plants. And if you leave it with those boys, they will spoil your plants. So, I guess it is why everyone keeps saying prunning doesn't work. So, I downsized drastically.

8. The better alternative is educated people forming alliances, but not Nigerians. Since we have been saying it that it is not cheap to set up well, why can't people think of alliances? Nope, they just want to force it anyhow. I saw that you use fertigation, now what about that man using hose on 1 acre, doing side dressing weekly. Too hard. I don't advise alliance though I know it's the way forward. lol

9. Return to drawing board and keep practising till you can reduce abortion drastically. That's what is keeping you from improving yield. And it comes with observing your plants. We are different. What is good and easy for you may be hard for me. I have noticed this. When I tell people that Murano is my favorite, they don't believe it. Perhaps I am saying it here the first time. But there is one lion seed cultivar, I think it's called Popular that I enjoyed too. But it's life shelf is poor. If there is glut, that cultivar is real challenge to sell. You may check Suntech. They have got new breeds that are good.

10. If you do the above well, no one will advise you to downsize too. You will just see it clearly that it is in your own best interest to downsize and be efficient.

11. Then, you start thinking of consistency. How many farmers have you seen doing open field cucumber back to back? They relax at a stage because it is not easy.

12. My brother, no one will tell you to start thinking about covered production. You think about the energy you put in. But when you do beds just once a year, you have lesser plants to manage, and you make profit consistently, you feel fulfilled.

13. Watermelon is another alternative to cucumber. No wahala like cucumber. Just save cash to get galvanized pipes for stakes. Or painted steel pipes.

After doing all these, you will definitely understand every word in my thread. There is no secret I have not revealed.

Ok. The last is parthenorcarpic cultivars. But 10,000 seeds will be N500k to N850k. Lol. Of course, when farmers were in unity last 14 months, I imported such that 1,000 seeds were like N15,000 as against N55,000 to N85,000 these importers are selling. These people make huge profit that they don't need to practise farming again. But everyone wants to go "solo".

noblealuu:
You may have to remove how much you earn and put just an estimate on your investment capital. This is a public forum fam.


BTW, are you in Cross River State?

EMMAACHILE:
The only solution so far is covering the fruits with nets. That's very tasking for a large no of trees.

Hasib04:
I need your whatsap number sir.

vosquare:
Got up to 420 bags in about 7600 darina seeds

Please rate it

FMCASH
Cocoboms
Okoroemeka

EMMAACHILE:
Pawpaw with yields of at a least N5000 per tree per year and about 2000 can be planted on a hectare.

Moringa even if local can give about N3000 per harvest per year with 2 harvest a year. I have a local one in the village giving about 3kg per harvest. You can grow about 1600 per hectare.

The best bride if there is capital is the wambugu apple. I learnt one of the cons is the attack from birds so I didn't order to plant. Anything not safe from birds is a headache for me.
It could give at least N50,000 per tree with about 640 per hectare. It could last for a 100 years and over. The startup for Apple is very high.

To get these yields, we must farm smart with irrigation.

Pistotita:
Cucumber is not, and will not be the most profitable crop
The rate nairaland farmers are promoting cucumber scares me. But everything which goes up must come down. I predict that in max of 2 years, it will normalize. Normally, cucumber is more expensive in rainy season if things are ok, but the ovation is too loud. During rainy sesson I used to sell extreme curved and yellow fruits too because cucumber is always very expensive, and those ladies making salads in take-away plastics usually go for them at discounted price. For the fact that farmers have accepted using drip (actually, it took many so long, but when they realised watery cans and hose cannot do the job, they accepted it. The question is that are these farmers not the same farmers who complained they could not afford drip? Where did the cash come out from? Perhaps heaven), it shows I always say the truth. That truth will soon find uou out.

Every crop you do has got over 85% chances if survival on a virgin land (I wrote virgin and not a rested land). There can be a second good harvest. But from the third, it us over. Therefore, good farners practise crop rotation. Why should you have 1 acre and put cucumber on the whole 1 acre? Except it's a leased land you font want to use sgain after max of 1 year.

These yoruba farmers are new set. And reality will land on them very soon. It has happened before, and as a good analyst, I tell my fellow farmers to quit cucumber temporarily. Or better they put their minds into learning veggie farming and not cucumber farming.

Their farms will soon be destroyed with pests.
Many of them will not be able to cope with cucumber pace and it's rigorous work.

Cucumber is fast, but can you do 1 acre to 1 ha beds, dress them, bla bla bla 4 times a year that you turn yourself to only cucumber farmer? Before you say anyword, cucumber is the holiest, and "fast fast fast fast". Be smart. If you do not have workers, and you cannot cope with the pace, it's not for you. Medium term crops with gradual and consistent sales at the end of the day are more profitable which is the plan of most readers in this section.

Must you land in hospital because of fast money? You need to consult more. Please, do not take my words like that, but go out and meet farmers to hear the other story about cucumber.

Mark my words, these farmers will not rest until they destroy cucumber market in Nigeria. This is the typical Nigerian man way. Once they get tricks to achieve little success in anytjing, they must crash it because everyone rushes into it. Like they would have crushed me if I had allowed it. Lol. If I tell you what workers are doing, and how they mess up farms, you will be extra careful. Cucumber is just a "too much task demanding" crop. Can you be on farm to monitor workers like kindergartens 24/7? Please, disregard this post if you are in the north, or there the youth in the community your farm is located are into farming.

If you prune very well, and you feed the plants very well, I expect you to make 1,000 bags from 1 acre. I am not criticising anyone, but telling you the fact. However, that money you get from that 300 - 1,000 bags, if you do not rest, it will rest you very soon. If it is easy as promoted, many will never move to other crops and just stay with cucumber. Why will I want to divert into any other area if cucumber can do it like how it is promoted? But just think well.

And after 2 years, the whole ovation will die down cos spectators will be crushed out by then. And real farmers can return to it again. New set of spectators will rish in again, they will come into it, and then, crash out, on and on. LOL..Farmers quickly use them to make cash. Hehehhe. This is the cycle. I looked at the whole stuff recently and I decided to stay away permanently from slicing cucumbers. Many farmers are like me too. I promoted cucumber too. In fact, people said I am one of the people who made too many people rush into it because I gave out too much tips. LoL. Even the person critiquing me that I should give him robotic instruction pointed to a very good lesson he learned. All is well. A child who appreciated the little gift of yesterday will receive another today. No be so? The man who knows how to use soft words will receive "much more". I believe I am not wrong. And if I am with these elderly words of wisdom, kindly correct me.

In all, we give God the glory. Be a veggie farmer, and not just a cucumber farmer. To be fore-warned is to be fore-armed.

More bountiful harvest to all farmers in this section. Amen!

Wizs2019:
Jorad planted on 2.5 plots with plant density at 3300,
CU999 planted on 3.4 plots with plant density at 6500.

Wizs2019:
So quick update on the progress of my current season, after 4 harvests we have got just over 400 bags. Breakdown is; 139 bags from Jorad (it should have been more but plants got infected with downy mildew after the first harvest) and 262 bags from Cu999. We are still expecting another 100bags by God's grace. God has been good. �

okoroemeka:
composting manure takes a lot of time,we had access to free chicken manure from a mega poultry farm close to us,the only catch is that it's from battery cage ,wet and dangerously hot with ammonia and nitrogen,so what do we do ,make it even wetter by soaking in water and leaving it to ferment for 4-5 days,the first two days will be hell because of the nasty smell of organic gases coming out,but after that it will calm down and subsise,that is when u can use it,for example we brought in a load 3 days ago with our farm truck and poured into culvert rings buried in soil,we will start applying it tomorrow on our new flowering 4,000+ cucumbers.pls don't apply directly on stem,leave a space of 2-3 inches from stem and aviod the mixture touching the leafs it Burns without mercy.

Pistotita:
My brother, it is not that technical. I will address it very soon. And you will see it clearly. I have been burnt by it too just like cucumber, but I sat down and asked myself several questions. And boom! I got it right. If I share the concepts, you may be tempted to abandon cucumber. Infact, it's golden melon I prefer cos I like solving problems. It's not like some things are hard, but copying here and there is the issue.

CLUE: Have you ever cultivated Cucumber "Akito" from Technisem? Anyone who has done it successfully can cultivate watermelon successfuly, and vice versa. I dived into pathenocarpic from Akito. Till date Akito gives reasonable profit to those who understand it. Yet many who can handle Murano always call it "ogbanje".

But there is a slogan for cucumber, it is a backbone killer and very tough if staked. It is the Ogbanje of some other farmers too. Be it murano, nagano, porano, nesono, magnarano, raskimono, or whatever. lol.

I always deal with facts and not general saying. General saying are myths. Pure reasoning to solve challenges is what I do during pilots because I try to predict what I am going to face on farm, and just get ready. And if I cannot solve it, I don't do it. Like I said, I do not have solution yet to using efficiently those workers presently available around. While many are forcing it, I withdrew to my drawing board to find solution. Fortunately, the solution was to downsize which I love so much.

okoroemeka:
I got information from a farmer that harvested cukes 15 times,I normally will not believe such cock and bull story till I went there today and I was speechless,he did his farm on an old flood plain near a big river,the total accumulation of alluvial silt over the centuries has turned the soil to black,That is the key to unlock #500k from 1 plot,by October ending we will proceed to the site not too far from us 5km max with our truck,shovel,workers and 1500 empty ,cement bags,we will use the soil from the best part of the site take it back to our farm,nstall 40cm drip on it with 2 crops per bag,treat with manure and other ingredients and let me see how we will not get #500k from one plot,t.he most surprising part is that the farmer said he has planted twice on same place and the current crop is the third batch and he is still getting same results,hmmm,very interesting.

excanny:
Nice one, Jasper. This is exactly what you said.

How it was misconstrued into something else is still an anathema to me.

I really admire your composure when it's understandable if you had reacted angrily.

I've seen many people call "watermelon" Ogbanje. There's always an iota of truth in a general rumour.

So your caution is in line.

jidestroud:
For experimental purposes only, I will do more Rodeo just to see if I can push up the fruits per plants. And since I still have my stakes used for the cucumbers, I would be using them for holding them.

Idemujoseph:
I planted long variety of okro 3 months ago. And it was rejected by my local market.

jidestroud:
2.5kg is terrible boss now that you draw my attention to it. Seeing this only makes me feel I need to accomplish more. 5kg per plant from open field? and what variety?

7kg could only be achievable with cobra in a greenhouse (may be wrong sha ooo).

okoroemeka:
yes,basal manure application is a must with watermelon,and pls be careful about melon,it's not rugged like cucumbers,it can die anyhow,for me melon is 50/50

jidestroud:
On the update promised.

I must confess, I have been unjust to the Cobra in terms of size. The tomato fruits ain't bad at all in term of size. And the fruiting per stand is around 20-25fruits after almost doing the pollination thingy (very tiring).

For the Rodeo, the fruits were bigger but highest I recorded per plant was 10fruits, Lot's of the flower kept dropping (will look into that later).

The Cobra won't be a bad one after all.

vosquare:
Please who knows the functions of these and their applications

Cc FMCASH
Cocoboms
Pistotita

jidestroud:
Doing perfectly okay, most are at the breaker stage at the moment. Will be waiting to get to the red all ripe stage before harvesting.

Will upload pictures later tomorrow.
Thanks for the check up.

ifedola28:
Hybrid Cucumber seeds

opeyemiabdullah:
Where is your farm? How to contact you

Konafas:
Pls what is the quantity of the Epsom salt when to start using it and how often