₦airaland Forum

1money:
Wow! I love your story and I love your spirit. Keep it coming, learning a lot. Thanks

My ogas. Thank you sir

I supply tomatoes to mile 12 just few times before my tomatoes finally pack up. I still visits the market whenever i am in Lagos to keep abreast of sales. I have also made several contacts through Musa for some other products.
Despite this, I believe Mile 12 should not be the end of my vegetable market. So i still continue in my search for market.
Mile 12 is a seasonal market. I cant afford to be a seasonal farmer if I want to break even in agriculture. I need something constant. I need to be able to budget and plan my earnings in a year. So I need more supplement market.
This brings the need for standard market search

Musa only deals with cucumber and water melon but he has brothers that deals with other vegetables.
I travelled back to Ibadan to return Baba's ID card and to say a very big thank you.
And that begins my sojourn into Mile 12 vegetable market.
Dont forget i started with 2 types of market. I have just narrated my experience with the open market.
In subsequent write ups I will be giving few details about the other type of market that i refered to as standard market. Stay tuned

Oh I know this man.
"hmnnnn. you know am"
Yes. I know am. Na our customer. Na im dey bring cucumber and lettuce"
Mallam please check well
I say i know am. he dey come from Ibadan.
Wow. I exclaimed. At long last
That was my third day in Mile 12 market.
Baba was identified a green pepper seller, one out of the numerous people that i have been showing the passport photograph to .
So i requested for Musa. Baba's contact.
That was how my search became fruitful.
Mallam called Musa on phone, I spoke with him and after some second i finally met him.

All roads lead to Abeokuta next tomorrow. Catch you there.

Blurry:
Amazing stories here....
Its hard to believe this Jethro is a woman. Such doggedness and tenacity is so uncommon.
God bless you and your hustle dear.
Respect!

Thank you sir.

jeffmyson:
You are right! Lovely quote.
Some of this Youth will even go to the nearby Vendors stand to argue about GEJ vs GMB and some will even go to the ridiculous extent to be arguing how much mikel is paid at chelsea and how he even earns more than lampard and some of them will even tell you where he ate dinner last weekend and the family names of his russian girlfriend and their net worth!
All this time could be used for better engagements that will move them to the next level.

Most are contented with where they are. While some are looking for sharp sharp money. We also have those that are waiting for the non existing government to send assistance. They keep forgetting that God help those who help themselves

boluwajokosegun:
Jethro2 , i must confess that you are determine & focus in agric biz. I can now understand what you experienced last year. But as we all know experience is the best teacher.
What you had put up here is worth hundreds of thousand naira if you are to do a good market survey & back it up as a practical consultant
Welldone for the good works & keep it up.

Thank you sir

jeffmyson:
I love the spirit you put into your business!
The big problem we have with our unemployed youths is their lack of initiatives and love of white collar jobs. They don't want to succeed on their own. They are more happy to roam the streets hawking GNLD products and other rubbish MLM scams around.

Sir, my people say whoever will scoop honey from the rock will not be checking the edge of the axe.
Success does not come easy but most of our youth are searching for it non challantly

daemperor1:
I quite agree with you to follow the Kenyan model. One can source materials on youtube and contract some local builders and it's done, it won't hurt to start small.

daemperor1:
It's getting very interesting.

Thank you sir.
We have enough local materials here. Its better to source that than importing

Baba gave me one of his ID card with passport photograph, the name of the contact and the vegetable shed he most likely stays.
It was with this information that i headed to Mile 12 market in Lagos.
hmmmnm
Considering the distance between my house in Okokomaiko to mile 12 in relative to the almost impossible mission at hand, I opt to stay in an hotel in ketu.
First day i enter mile 12 market. The search begins.
Mallam I beg i dry find Musa. That's me asking.
Wetin be him papa name?
I no know
Weting he dry sell?
Cucumber
Call him number now!!!!!!!
I no know im no
How you wan come find am?
I go find am.
The mallam go just walk away from me.
I will now move to the next person
And the next
And the next
First day

Despite the facts that my tomatoes are not much to move to market again, i decided to continue in my search for tomato market.
If not for now, but for some other time.
Then i remember an elderly farmer i met sometimes ago. Baba has been selling vegetables in Mile 12 for over 20 years.
I pick my phone and called baba.
"ha how can you say you don't have market when you know me"? He exclaimed.
I have contact that sells in mile 12. They will sell for you.
But....
Another but, I thought.
" I don't have his no again. Baba said"
Is that it? I asked. I can locate him
Okay come to Ibadan to take the description

@liferace. Thank you.
@karlxavier. Believe me with what i know now.
@ufeolorun. Someone told me Ibadan market is not it. (I later learnt to investigate every saying)
@mercylicious. Na so sooooo

Then i create a thread on nairaland.
"Sell my tomatoes in your neighbourhood and get 10% from the sales.
What to do
Find minimum of 50 tomatoes sellers in your neighourhood.
Each must be willing to pick atleast 2 basket.
Make arrangement for where to bring the produce for pick up. (I will visit to see if the road is accessible)
We bring the tomato at a better price than mile 12.(We will be saving transport fare for the women and stress)
Imagine those that moves from Okoko to Mile 12.
I posted this on several threads. I even went to job section to post. Lets create jobs
There was someone there that said "is this job?
Please go to advertisement.
I keep updating this until i have no tomatoes again.
During those period i visit some intending marketers place in Lagos.
Yes to that extent.

It was then it dawn on me that "oh girl" you ve got to step up your marketing.
You are not yet there.
Don't forget that all this while my tomatoes are already bidding me farewell.
I went back to Lagos again to visit the market. All this while i have not deem it fit as every one keeps telling me there are cabals.
Some of the market i visited are Agbara market, Pampaida market, Ile epo market, Arigbagbuwo market, Ifo market. Just few of them.
Most of the market have unions, Iyalojas etc.
Most have a specific person that is in charge. Funny enough, he or she does not even sell that specific commodities
At Ifo, the woman said i cant bring it to the market but she will be coming to pick it from me in the farm.
I said yes ma and
I smiled within.
It was not an easy experience.
Some market women that i offered to sell directly said they cant buy from anywhere else unless they get to their usual market.
The more rejection i get the more determined i am to get and create my own market

BACK TO MY STORY
I was sort of hopeful for the second trip since
1. I have sorted the tomatoes into sizes
2. I took my time to select the good ones.
3. My basket was of the same size through
So i headed for Lagos, same woman.
Since i already envisage the price for each basket at minimum N1000 each, What i did was to handle the tomatoes over to the woman and turned back to farm.
I was still on the road when her call came in to tell me the buyers insisted N700.
I told her no. She said i should speak with the woman on the phone. I said No
I told her not to sell less than a thousand naira.
I would rather loss all the tomatoes than allow them extort me the second time.
I was that determined.
I don't expect any complained after all the stress of sorting and all
And i off the phone.
(Meanwhile before the second trip, she was constantly asking for when i will bring tomatoes again. That a lot of people are expecting)
I didn't hear from her again until evening.
The tomatoes has been sold.
Yes sold.....
No single one remaining.

Austin234:
What is this greenhouse all about?

Green house are use for planting vegetables. Its a control or regulated environment to reduce or prevent some factors. Please consult google to get more pictures

stint:
Please what is this YOP 1 about?

YABDI Ogbomosho Project 1
There is currently a cucumber joint project for the group.

choiceman:
@liferace, I will buy greenhouse from dizengoff, the actual cost is about 1.1m, installation and other materials will make it about 1.6m, I have the quotation from them but thank God for this thread, I will first of all go by Jethro's way,i.e open field tomato farming between now and April. I am just waiting for January salary to raise funds for land preparation as irrigation. We shall overcome insha Allah.

Na soooo my brother. If I have N1.6m for dry season irrigation for tomatoes means i will be tripling that amount by the end of the season. So why would I go for Dizengolf green house? Preferably i will source for raw materials like bamboos to construct my own green house at an affordable expenses

Liferace:
Choiceman,are you buying green house from Dizengoff or building one from scratch?.I'll like to visit your farm if permitted to learn as am trying to set up one.I also see you have marketing skills which am dying to tap from you .

Jethro,please i see in one of your pictures you use the film.Are you using it in the green house or open field ?.

I am using it the mulching film for open field

Pavore9:
@choiceman, am glad over your wife's interest as it makes the work easier. see u busy making silent money from ewedu! We also have ewedu here in Kenya and they call it murenda. They add milk to it when preparing it, please don't ask me how!

Ewedu has always been a money spinner during dry season. My first experience in planting vegetables was ewedu. I still have some seed left. Still planning to get back to it at some Point in time

choiceman:
@Kalusam, i thank you for the input. I may have approached the wrong people for seeds but at the same time, i had limited time that was why i decided to import. Like i told you, i always run a pilot project before embarking on large scale, so the cost of seeds wasn't an issue to me, TIME was the main issue. Now, @kalusal and Soloxam, where can i get seeds in Lagos? How much is the weed barrier and how can i get it ASAP(Plastic Mulch). Please tell me now before I import o. Laugh!!!! (but i am serious).

I work in office 7am to 6pm everyday, the windows i have are Sat/Sun plus Public holidays, I work like donkey on these days with the help of my beautiful wife, very hard working. You can see reason why i cannot wait for so long for these farm inputs. Dry season farming is more profitable and we have very short window especially in Lagos that you cannot determine when the rainy season starts.E.g, I have been making money from Ewedu(Corchorous Olitorius) since December, I sell a bed of 3 feet by 7 feet 1,200 Naira minimum thank God for people that supply the seeds from Abeokuta we wouldnt have been able to get it easily. During rainy season the bed goes for as low as 300 Naira max, 500 and i have like 160 beds( free money) a paint rubber of the seed cost 4,500 anyways but we still churn out high profit. You can see the difference in dry season farming compared to rainy season.

PLEASE PARDON ME FOR MENTIONING EWEDU AS WE ARE DISCUSSING TOMATO. Didn't mean to deviate from our discussion,I just used it to drive home a point. House forgive me please.

Time na money my brother.

Some valuable points. Thanks for sharing

mercylicious:
@jethro, u still have 2questions pending
no 1- how did u solve problem of baskets
no 2- how do u treat soil dt u suspect wont be good?

@choiceman, i forgot to tell u to ask jasper where to get cocopeat.

Question 1
I later discovered basket are sold in Mile 12 at N3,000 for 30 in a roll. Each trip to market i bring back several rolls.
My village basket weavers were making at N300 per 1
Question 2
Part of what i just learnt is to treat with poultry waste, rice bran/shaft, and others.
Training on soil treatment continues at YOP1

stint:
Oga mi Am just a learner o. Throwing in suggestions. Please how much seed is needed for an acre.
Can you make a summary of the basic steps to take in planting tomato.
E.g
1. Acquire land
2. Create a nursery
3 make ridges/ apply fungicides etc
4 Transplant to the open field
5 Manure
6 market
7 Harvest
8 sell
It will help create a mental map of everything . This will enable identify the parts we teally dont know enough about yet

An hectare requires between 150 -250g of tomato seed.
The land need to be treated to prevent any infestation from previously planted crop and sometimes to restore the soil fertility
( I just learned this from Jasper during the YOP1 project.
Nursery making entails a lot.
One can use nursery tray or make the nursery in a local way. I use the local method.
Marketing is an important issue. Its always targeted. Your planting must be tailored to meet the season.

choiceman:
Sorry guys, I fail to add that there could be 3 circles in a year. Each circle gives an average of 2.3tons per circle, that is 2300kg by 400 = 920k/circle

Thank you so much for assisting with the calculations on the profitability of green house. I am not sure i could have done better. Thank you

jeffmyson:
Can you prove this with hard data? Can you do a computational analysis showing the possibility of breaking even within 1 year? You don't need to upload it here, just do it so that you will be convinced yourself, you have to factor in the best case scenario, worst case scenario and mid point scenario and then use the average.

I still maintain my stance, it will take you minimum of two years to break even and 3 years max!

I am glad @ Choiceman for attending to the questions here. Atleast I m not the only one that is saying that.
Though the Dizengolf amira kit is expensive. But even at that one will break even within a year.
The market is there for good quality tomatoes.
Green house tomatoes quality always dictates price. When i say price i meant good price

daemperor1:
What an exciting conversation going on here.

@Pavore9: thanks a lot for always keeping us abreast with how agriculture is thriving in Kenya, the fact remains that they're miles ahead of us. 'Would like to visit Kenya someday and hope you'll show me around.

@ Choiceman : your posts have being very inspiring I must confess! Your 'can do' spirit which is explicit on your posts has lit a flame in me. I hope to visit your pet project sometime, at your convenience, if you don't mind.

@Jethro2: I duff my hat to you madam. Without your setting up of this tread I wonder what would've have happened to all those who' ve been inspired by this tread. You are truly an inspiration to the generations before, now and after. Ma' am, this is not your first tread and I know it wont be the last. Keep inspiring lives through agriculture.

@All: When embarking on a task, sought out both the possible risks and rewards therein. Do not let the enticing sound of the reward cause you to throw away caution, do not let the fear of the risks make you in-active. It is better do something and fail than to sit back and do nothing.

Thank you sir

nikaShow:
Jethro , and everybody , thanks for the expose on greenhouse ,

Please can we come back to the less 'expertised' production of tomatoes ,

Jethro2 , what was your production schedule like the first time you planted and lost and please tell us your current 'schedule from production to sales' that makes it profitable...

Some of us are not yet looking at grenhouse , but we are looking at tomatoe production , please Jethro2 , back to your 'real and practical story'...

The first time planting was a total disaster.
First, my production was trial and error. We were using internet calculations.
After that, I have been to trainings on good agricultural practises, sourcing for good seeds that are compatible with our climate in Nigeria, pest and diseases control etc.
As a farmer, one have to become a crop doctor. Learn to detect diseases and pest.
Marketing is complete work on its own. No one can do that for you. The market is out there. Don't plant if you don't have market.
I was searching for market when my crop was due for harvest.
Using open markets need targeting. Target the seasonality of the market so you can time your production

TAEpiphany:
Oh la la....it's starting to look promising again. Thanks Pavore, where have you been all my life. Next thing I would be worried about is quality. Shei there's a proverb which says the house built on sand na wind go carry am...how does one protect against strong winds and rain during raining season? Abi it's safe to say 9ja winds no dey carry house /roof......
You know this looks to me like tents people be putting up for wedding ceremonies, haba I'm surprised a lot of Nigerians haven't tapped into this. Just put up tent and add fan and sand na...una don build GH be that

What's the size of this one?

That's the spirit. Green house can be constructed locally. Local materials are available in Nigeria

stint:
What if u guys just go half way on the green house. Is it the sunscreen or the net or temperature control? Since open farming is also profitable. You can just throw in some functions of the green house without actually having a green house e.g you can import the uv stuff and use it to make a roof for your plants. See how that changes things.

Thank you sir for this. That's where innovation comes in

Wow. What a great discussion going on here. Sincerely i wish the time is there for me to post. Thanks all for contributing.