₦airaland Forum

Cocoa, oil-palm, rubber, groundnut, sesame seed, cashew were the golden crops. The beautiful crops.

But.........

Sadly, our fathers generation abandoned ds "golden" crop 4 white collar job........

They abandoned the golden crops for the black gold.


We are manifesting the result of their collective "foolishnence"....

In 1950's uptill early 1980's, Nigeria was d highest producer of cocoa in d world..........

we are far far behind 2day..........because our fathers abandoned farmin/agric.......

we are paying d consequences 2day.

we are paying for their collective foolishness.

we are paying for their myopic view of the future.

we are paying for their ignorance.

we paying for their greed & avarice.

we are paying for their amnesia.

The question is.....
What happened? Why did we derailed from being pace setters to back benchers?
Why?
Why?
What went wrong?

Cocoa was the backbone of the wonder years of South West under Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

With proceeds from cocoa, he recorded the firsts in many areas of our lives:

First television Station in Africa (before France & Ireland)

Cocoa House: The tallest building in Sahara Africa......and one of tallest still standing.

Free education

Free health

Liberty Stadium....first in Nigeria

E.t.c e.t.c

Cocoa is a cash crop that has played an important, vibrant role in rural economies in Nigeria & anywhere in the world where it is planted.

It is a crop that enjoys consistent global demand. It provides families with income and raising the standard of living in thousands of communities where it is grown and harvested.

For Nigeria, Cocoa is the second largest foreign exchange earner after crude oil.

The global market for cocoa is very huge, growing at an average of 3% per annum.

Nigeria’s cocoa export has equally grown over the years by an average of 40% annually and a cumulative of 280%.

Nigeria is the world’s 4th largest producer and exporter of cocoa.

Paradoxically, over 90% of the cocoa produced is exported.

The target markets for cocoa are food and beverage companies, chocolate companies, soap making, companies both local and international.

The selling price of cocoa beans as at today varies between $2,195 - $3,130 per ton.

@Organicfoods

The future of Nigerian agriculture lies majorly on plantation agriculture.

Plantations provide a steady pay check, health insurance and every other benefit that other multinationals provide. Its just that it takes a minimum of 3-5 years before bankable results show.

I call this, saving for the rainy day. Posterity measure, Generational investment, Inheritance for the children and I can keep on qualifying it...

As earlier said, am an accidental (cocoa) farmer.

I have some great people that have inspired me a lot in this farming vocation.

People like @Pavore9 @Organicfoods .......to mention a few & I shall be using some of the materials they have brilliantly spun in this forum before.

Apologies & appreciation to them for being the forebears of agriculture, agricbizness & agroprenure.

Am an agroprenure & am over 40 yrs old.

Circumstances or call it providence has made this topic necessary. Firstly, am an accidental (cocoa)farmer even though farming has been in me since I was a little lad.

Are you an educated farmer?

Can you guarantee yourself regular income in your old age when you leave farming?

Are you thinking of agric pension?

Are you over 40yrs?

Then, join the New Cocoa Farmers Forum where we discuss how cocoa can give you pension in your old age

We shall rub minds on how we can mutually & collectively take our vocation: agriculture & farming a notch higher than our fathers.

Every educated & practicing farmer shld endavour to prepare 4 (farming/agric) retirement by planting "COCOA".

Exmay:
Please how much does seedling of cocoa goes for?

18months yielding hybrid cocoa seedlings is available for sale at N200/seedling.

Location: Opposite CRIN, Idi-Ayunre, Ibadan

CocoaMaster

Most times though, what we get to buy are just ordinary seeds brandished as certified or hybrid seeds which does not give the farmer the expected (field) yield.

But as more enlightened people come into agriculture entrepreneurship, the secrets of theses unscrupulous seed sellers are being exposed gradually.

Hence, we shld endeavour to ask for the certification number of seeds we want to buy to plant in commercial level so at not to continually fall prey to the sellers antics.

Having said this, the best seed to buy and plant (if one can get it) is the foundation seed, which is directly from the multiplication field.

FS cld be a bit more expensive, but it's worth the investment.

The question that may arise is the deceitful use of the name "hybrid" to sell most of these seeds to us by the agro-shops.

Simply put, a hybrid seed (or plant) is a cross between two or more unrelated inbred plants. The two different varieties are cross bred, resulting in a seed that carries one or more favorable traits.

Nucleus seeds, breeder seeds, foundation seeds & certified seeds are not hybrid seeds. Infact, they are termed non-hybrid seeds due to their open pollination breeding.

Non-hybrid seeds come from plants that are naturally pollinated. Non-hybrid seeds will produce plants whose seeds will produce more plants that look the same as the parent plant.

Annotated figure of classes of seeds

Certified seed ...
Certified seed is the product of a production process designed to deliver specific plant breeding achievements to farmers and the food industry.

In essence, what normally get to the farmer is d certified seed. As the name implies, it has been certified to give specific traits & characteristics perculiar to the area where it is to be planted.

Foundation seed (FS) is the progeny of breeder seed (BrS) produced under technical control of qualified plant breeders or technical officers. Its production is supervised and approved by certification agency.

Foundation seed (FS) is seed so designated by an agriculture experiment station. Its production is carefully supervised or approved by representatives of an agricultural experiment station. It is the source of all other certified seed classes, either directly or through registered seeds.

FS is pure seed stocks grown by or under the supervision of a public agency for use in the production of registered and certified seeds.

The best seed to plant by any farmer is d FS seed otherwise known as Foundation Stock Seed as it has all agronomy characteristics of d parent stock. FS seeds are non-hybrid seeds

Nearly all agro-shops sell certified or registered or just ordinary seed camouflage as hybrid.

For more abt the classes of seeds & the best seed to plant.....check out this thread.....

https://www.nairaland.com/3754947/agro-seeds-classifications-best-class#55781896

Breeder Seed:
Breeder seed is produced from nucleus seed under the supervision of a qualified plant breeder in a research institute. it has all the morphological characters that the breeder want in the plant

Breeder seeds are produced by mutual multiplication of three different lines which are denoted by A line, B line and R line.

Breeder Seed is held, maintained, and controlled by the originating plant breeder, sponsoring plant breeder or institution, in such a way to maintain its genetic purity and identity.

Nuclear Seed:
This is the hundred percent genetically pure seed with physical purity and does not contain any other physical impurities.

It is produced by the original breeder/Institute /State Agriculture University under strict agronomy laboratory conditions.

It is the parent of breeder seed

Generally speaking, there are four generally recognized classes of seeds. They are.

1) Nuclear seed

2) Breeder seed

3) Foundation Seed (FS)

4) Certified & or Registered seed

As the new planting season commences, all of us will be buying different kinds of seeds to plant on the farm with hope of having a bountiful harvest.

Pls permit me to give small seminar on seed classifications & how it may affect our harvest.

Pls add me back to d group by deleting my number & re-adding me back.

08063249457

Ds is because I lost my fone & cldn't get back to d group after re-instaling WhatsApp.

Tnx

Pavore9:
Nigeria has been ripped.

Nigeria was not only ripped, Nigeria has been rapped, butchered, disemboweled & disembodied by our political class & other pple entrusted with protecting our common patrimony.

Can we come out of ds mess? I doubt it because ds thing has percolated into d system of most Nigerians.

I fear for our future

Karin001:
Sir you have to explain what dodo ikire means. I really don't know what you mean here. Dodo I know, Kpekere I know.

Hmmmm.

Dodo Ikire is a delicious palm-oil fried spicy & peppered soft plantain. it's a delicacy of Ikire pple in Osun state.

Very soft plantain is used. D plantain is mashed, spiced, molded & deep fried in palm oil.

Hope ds helps?

Very thought provoking writeup indeed. it must surely come from a mind with a "godfather" mentality.

I remember submitting a something close to ds thinking to some insurance companies (& their regulator body) years back. D idea then was to use d process of vehicle registration capture data, create legit jobs & generate hundred of billions of naira. D idea was designed to gradually move to other areas of our lives, thereby bringing insurance to ALL. Sadly, d MD's of d insurance companies were so comfortable with making hundred of millions & were blind to d enormous possibilities in d proposal. They killed d idea.

I hv moved on sha. But I can recognise great ideas from a great mind.

For d financial inclusion strategy, coincidentaly, MMM has gvn us a template. It's called crowd funding. But, d same pple u are trying to help will be d ones to sabotage d effort. That's why MMM is having problems today.

I wish u all d best in ur effort to lift pple up.

buzz me if u nd collabo.

Hello, Do u still sell d dwarf pawpaw seeds & how much now? Can I hv ur number again?

markcute:
insects can be reared for commercial purpuse.i m about to start bee keeping very soon

Apart from bees, which hv bn kept & reared for thousands of years, which other insect can we domesticate commercially in our environment to serve as protein feed stock for animals?

This is going to be an interesting discuss/research.

I will want to suggest that d discussions shld also include d benefits of insect & how it can be harnessed to enhance agriculture.

for example, in animal husbandy, d most expensive ingredients is d protein content. Now, conventionally, ds protein has mostly come from fish sources.

Recent research abroad is now focusing on how we can make use of insect protein.

we hv had work on cockroaches, flies (maggot) etc & hopefully as suggested by pavore, termites.

U guys shld gv us a simple & cost effective ways of raising ds insects to get protein for animal feed.

By d way, am a farmer.

egopersonified:
Please if you ever get the opportunity to taste dog meat suya, please do. It's not what someone describes to you, it is better experienced.

Yes o! My south-south brethren of ikot-abasi call it J5 with its various body parts named after d automobile.

I never ate dog till I went to ikot & i must say it was a wonderful experience.

@Egopersonified, I blv u don't chop am b4 making ds comment.

Looools...... dog meat sweat NP be small!

Pavore9:
Singing "Odun nlo s'opin o Baba rere"

U this omo "ina" (omo-ibo) to nko gospel sef. Looolzz.

D irony of naija. For somebody like u born & bread In Lagos & yet can't claim Lagos as state of origin. D present generation need to HV a rethink abt d Nigerian question.

egopersonified:
Men becoming more womanly and women becoming more manly.

So very true. Women are increasingly earning more & men are increasingly earning less. Cld we say there are more opportunity for women than men?

Meanwhile, pls reply ur WhatsApp msg b4 u talk say I don abandon u o.

egopersonified:
Since one of my sisters told me her 500k dey involved, I haven't called the others, I no wan hear wailing and gnashing of teeth this period. Any body wey just ask for money this period, na to tell am say, the money dey with Mmm.

BTW, your phone was not stolen, the person whom the phone was ordained for just collected his property

U no serious at all. my fone wey I buy pre-mmm 4 cool (my sweat) naira na im u talk say is ordained 4 another person?
kpntinue