₦airaland Forum

jasper7:
Step 5. Train more farmers

I blv that instead of training the illitrated farmes (which might not be worth it in the long run), we can form a farming group of the educated farmers who will understand the benefits of such ideas in the long run & key into it.
Such way, the idea will gain ground fast.

jasper7:
Step 6. Set up more collection points and outlets

Let's start small, learn from it & grow.

ALL in ALL, it's a great wake up call & I have been personally thinking along the same paths for some time now. But, if we don't get standardisation & packaging right, we may not achieve this lofty goal.

I blv we can do it. Yes we can!

May GOD bless our hustles.

QED

jasper7:
Step 4. Start publicizing.

Publicity might take all your budget if you are not careful. I blv a simple working model cld be established & the success of such will advertise itself.

jasper7:
Step 3. Set up a fresh food outlet in any city of choice, with solid branding.

Now, this is a viable venture. But also, how do you preserve at such outlets? Our hot climate does not allow us leave these product at room temperatures, they will simply rot away. As I said: In my own little research, I found out we can implement simple preservation methods/technique that suit our unique condition/climate in Nigeria & that will solve this problem.
We can collabo on this

jasper7:
Next step. Sign up some farmers, give them improved seeds, train them and allow them to farm. Draw a plan on how and when they'll farm in order to meet your specific needs at a specific time.

I also doubt the workability of this plan because of the peculiar nature of Nigeria farmers. They will simply take your trainings, inputs e.t.c, use it for a while & abandon you. Go & ask Guinness PLC, Lever Brothers (& other companies that have tried it in the past) why they had to have their onw farm or import their agricultural needs.

jasper7:
I have broken down my idea.

First step would be to set up a collection point, where farmers come and register their harvest... It can start twice a week and later become everyday.

At the collection point, are you going to be buying their products? If you are not, I doubt if this might work. Farmers need money NOW NOW & if you can't give them, they leave you & sell in the open market for less.

2) STANDARDISATION & PACKAGING
Another very BIG problem is STANDARDISATION & PACKAGING of our farm produces. We can not continue to use our old standards & packaging & expect a new result.
We must come up with standard & modern way of selling so as to appeal to the niche market.
Standards will come with selling ALL farm produce in weights (kg) so that people cld just walk in to such shops, pick the quantity they want & pay for it. Also, can the price be maintained the same throughout the year? If the price is higher than open market prices, Nigerians will go to the open market.

Packaging comes in how we move/transport & display these produce from the farm to the shops.
We must overcome ALL these b4 we can have a headway in fresh farm produce sale in shops.

1) Even though u be my Oga at d top, I disagree with some of the problems & solution u raised as I outline below.

You said:

jasper7:
The first product of my restlessness was FOOD DISTRIBUTION.

Personally, I blv the 1st problem is PRESERVATION.
Most of food produced by farmers got wasted because of the availability of preservation medium/process.

We buy apples (imported from S.Africa) in Nigeria all year round at the same price no matter the season. I understand that these apples have been harvested & preserved in previous year b4 coming/getting to Nigeria.

How were they able to achieve that?
In my own little research, I found out we can implement simple preservation methods/technique that suit our unique condition/climate in Nigeria & that will solve this problem.
Even after distribution, you still nd preservation to make it last longer at the destination/shops b4 the home/table.

I stand to be corrected.

Haba Oga @Jasper7!
U shld know better than that nah. If "guru" like u is asking such question, what do u want beginers like us do?
Anyway, @vanpeele has done justice to ur qusetion. But, biko; he no finish am............

jasper7:
Weldone sir... You are doing a great job. But if I may ask. Is there a particular reason you decided to use sack?

I really want to commend u 4 ds effort & wish to state that ur actions has also re-inspired poeple like us to go all out for sack farming because of the numerous benefits most of which u have mentioned. Well done bros

vanpeele:
Don @jasper7 Yes.

1. Water is an issue in our farm. The sack retains water better in the dry season.
2. I planted 1200 seeds in a very small space (4 plants per sack...yes it's too much) to show you don't need a lot of acreage to farm.
3. Manure and fertilizer stay in the sack

Bros, am adding more benefits of sack farming below:
4. Sack farming prevent weeds from invading the plants thereby minimising/eliminating cost of herbicides.
5. If the soil used in d sack is treated well, u can use same soil many times.
6. In the events that a plant in sack is infected, it is easy to isolate & remove the affected sack thereby minimising infection to other plants.
All in all, sack farming reduces maintenace cost for the farmer.

Hello Ms Ronnie,
Your plan is a grand one. But in all honesty, it may not work out the way you talk abt it for the following reasons (among other things):

1) You can not break the monoply of the local people/cartel with the volume of whatever your hydroponics farm will grow. It's simply too little. You can only grab your own share of the market if you do your marketing well.

2) Citing the farm along Ibeju/Awoyaya (or any high brow area) axis to me is a waste of precious resources that you cld use to have a bigger farm close to lagos. You only need to have a small refrigerated van to move the farm produce to your farmgate shop (this is an idea am presently developing). We can colabo.

3) There's no need for any wash bay/parking lot creation. You are not a relaxation centre. Why not focus on the farm set up & marketing?

4) Nobody can tell you the exact out of any farm output. Everything is an estimate because anything cld go wrong.

Most so called consultants will only want to get their fees & leave to lick your wounds/losses.

If you need further collabo, buzz me.

God bless our hustles.

Newway

agroronnie:
Hello everyone,
Am currently working on a proposal to cite a small project hydroponic greenhouse farm as close to a city as possible to reduce carriage costs. main products include tomato, peppers including scotch bonnets and capsicums. I currently have all greenhouse dimension sketches and cost estimates worked out and i believe my team and I can construct at least 5 standardized greenhouse tunnels along with a drip irrigation equipment with importing any component.
The model believes in breaking the cartel and selling direct to end users and smaller mass market retailers by building a loyalty scheme with retailers and of course at slightly cheaper prices as well as larger standardized retailers who require constant supply all year round. We intend to build pack houses and wash bay facilities in order to deliver hygienically packed fresh farm produce to the market all year round, basically we want to revolutionise the food packaging and material handling of fresh produce by packaging the same quantities that make up a basket of tomato/pepper in separate 5kg standard crates selling at cheaper unit prices/ bulk discounts.
All opinions are strongly welcomed.
Thank you
Ms. Ronnie

In that case, it may have to wait till I come to Kenya to visit some of the farms there into Aquaponic & vermiculture farming later in d year. Hope you can facilitate such visit?

Pavore9:
lt is possible bt the time to run around 4 it is just not there as it involves paperwork!

@pavore9
Is it possible to send some of these seedlings down to Nigeria? I wld like to hv the Golden Avocado

Pavore9:
He certainly does! l am just crazy over one of his variety of Avocado called Golden Avocado, most farmers plant this for the export market in Europe. So are u selling ur mangoes?

I hv sent "YES". Add me up 08063249457

metroy4x:
FOR ANYBODY THAT WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE NEW UP COMING WHATSAPP TRAINING SHOULD FOLLOW THE SIMPLE PROCEDURE BY TEXTING " YES " YOUR NAME AND LOCATION TO 08038886196 THANKS.

Pls where can I get all these organic fertilizers? Any contact number or person?

TheUnbeatable:
because of marketing, you can use organic or organomineral fertilizers available. the ones i know is pace setter organic fertilizer and sunshine organic or organomineral fertilizer. anyone that you can get will be useful. of course these are also the cheapest that i know of compared to GNLD and co.

I will definitely be buying from u. This method of propagation will make it faster for the plant to start fruiting.

I wil also go back to where I planted a specie of sweet seedless tangerine to get some cuttings.

irukandji89:
Yes, it also has a yellow specie. The botanical name is Citrus maxima. And in some parts of the world its called pomelo.


I intend to sell my seedlings.

Wonderful! Does it also come in (yellow) normal grapes colour? Am asking this because when I was a youth, I came across a very sweet grape in the village where my Dad used to own a farm. I hv never come across such sweet grape again since.

With this knowledge, I may hv to go & get some cutting of the sweet grape tree & air-layer it.

Meanwhile, can u sell this Shaddock seedling?

irukandji89:
Shaddock is of Citrus family like grapes, oranges and lemons.


It's that big sweet grape that is red inside

Which plant is Shaddock? What is the local name? Is it a fruit plant?

irukandji89:
After many trials and failures, I finally succeeded in air-layering shaddock.

Now I can have many true to type plants.

These are really lovely. I remember staying in such a structure during NYSC days some years back & to be honest it's very cute.

But, such adaptation does not come cheap in Nigeria. I remember contacting a company here in Nigeria doing the same thing & the price I got is as good as building a brand new boungalow with brick & mortar.

Why are we always paying exhorbitant prices for everything in Nigeria?

Pavore9:
Came across a Kenyan company that converts the regular 20ft and 40ft containers into homes,shops etc in a very creative way.

This is highly impressive. Can I visit your farm (if u don't mind). I will like to learn 1 or 2 things from u.

Ayoolanairaland:
My vegetable farm

Oga @Kalusam, I doubt if the 4hrs that u hv earmarked for this training will be sufficient to do justice to all the modules as listed below. There won't be adequate time for practical demonstrations.

Kalusam:
Our Training Module Include:
1. Marking out and bed making for profitable vegetable farming per plot.
2. Soil amendment to improve yield per cm2.
3. Nursery Preparation and Transplanting of Water Leaf, Amaranth(Tete and Soko) and Chocorus(Ewedu).
4. Growing Telferia(Ugu) successfully...Pruning and staking.
5. Cheap Irrigation methods for maximising profits.
6. 5 secrets to making money from indigenous vegetables, even if you choose to grow them year round-Automatic monthly ATM Machine
7. Learn how to run an Agribusiness Venture!
8. Goto Market Strategies...what and what to ask from the market (1) Before you plant. (2) Before you harvest.
9. Answers to any Agribusiness challenge or questions...FREE Agribusiness Consultancy!

Compare your training to Madam Jetro2 training below:

jethro2:
Want to learn production of tomatoes, pepper, cucumber,
radish etc
step by step practical on farm training?
Be your own boss.
Let's create job together
Join us for the 1st batch of our on farm vegetable
practical training.
We will take you through all the challenges
1. Soil management
2. Nursery making
3. Pest and diseases control
4. Staking/trellising
5. market access for your crops
6. Irrigation process
And so many others
Location. Ago Amodu, Saki East LGA of Oyo State
Duration: 1st - 26th February 2016
Participatory fee
For a month N25,000
2 weeks. N15,000
1 week. N10,000
Accommodation will be provided for the duration
Participants take care of their feeding
contact 08064688501, 08188540096 or
mail adesola_yinka@yahoo.com.
www.facebook.com/
entrepreneuryouthmultipurposecooperative

Welldone o my Oga at d top. It's really impressive. I will come for visitation when next am in Ibadan. Hope am still welcome?
How abt our organic fertilizer project? Have u gotten or tried any sample from the man yet?

God bless our hustles.

organicfoods:
Cucumber enters the forays... Transplanting lettuce.

Whao! It means that they grow it for d seeds in Kenya while we grow it 4 d leaves here in Nigeria. Wonderful! How does it look like? Amala? Tuwo? Or Eba?

Pavore9:
Yes. l also do eat it.

I actually understand that some people use Amaranth seeds as food. Is that d case in Kenya? @pavore9

Pavore9:
@Kalusam, does your Amaranth produces such?

The training shld hv period or session. Morning or afternoon & time frame: e.g 10am-2pm
Also, there shld be a direction of how to get to your farm from Oshodi, Ikeja, Agege & from Epe proper. Know that not everybody knows Epe

Kalusam:
Am sure the first thing on your mind when you saw the caption was...its impossible! Well, that's your opinion and you are entitled to it. Whether you believe it or not this dry season will generate money for those who are (1) Smart. (2) See the opportunities. (3) Are ready to make money!

Back to the main gist. Do you know you can be making up to 50,000+ per harvest from your Telferia(Ugu), Chocorus(Ewedu), Amaranth(Efo and Soko), Water Leaf(Gwure) on a limited space of a plot(666m2) in Lagos?

Why indigenous vegetables?
Unlike the exotic ones, they are more hardy and resistance to disease, so no mildew(powdery and downy), no virus this or bacteria that, pest infestation can be easily managed and controlled. Secondly, everyday people must eat any of them...in fact Mama put and 'Iya come chop', Calabar Kitchen et al. cannot survive without them, hence you have a ready market.

If you are in doubt then join us on the farm any day in February, 2016(Except Sundays) as I take you through the rudiments of growing our indigenous vegetables successfully with limited space and how you can start maximising profits in less than a month.

Training Fee: NGN5,000
Duration: 4 hours
Date: Any day in February, 2016(Except Sundays)
Venue: Epe, Lagos

Interested? Send the message: <Name> <Space> <I am Interested> to the number: 08027833353 or Whatsapp: 07036931636.

Hello @Maple, my Oga @ d top.
I have followed ur comments in the livestock thread of GGFadar & am impressed with all ur submissions (towards encouraging upcoming agroprenures). I wish u more vasline to ur elbow!

My questions to u is abt ur comment on ydroponics system here which is on point because am very intereested in introducing it to my new "Animal Farm"

1) Cld hydrponics system be really effective (in Nigeria) as it is claimed?
2) How did u get ur own system?
3) Can Hydroponics system be adapted to grow our leafy vegetables like: Tete? Soko? Ewedu? Ugwu?
4) How is the capacity of a hydroponics system calculated or determined?
5) If u don't mind, can u post d picture of ur own hydroponics system for others to see & to learn from?

Maple:
I like your setup, its impressive. I do grow hydroponic fodder for my livestock, very nutritious.
When hydroponic lab is situated outdoors, the issue of non-uniformity in sprouts growth or seeds not sprouting, can pose a problem even with good seeds. This I avoid by not exposing my sprouted seeds to light a bit too early. While watering the seeds I deprive them of sunlight for about 3-4 days prior to exposure. Some Cardboard or thick woolen clothes could be used to cover d trays.

Let's just pray that the wind of #Change blowing across the land will get to (CAC) them soon. If you go through their agent or a Lawyer or Accountant, you will pay like 70k-100k & they will get their cut from it. This is part of the corruption that has become ingrained in our system.

In Kenya as I learnt, you can register a new company with abt $50 & you can do it by yourself & get it in 1wk. But, in our motherland Nigeria, it's a tug of war.

Well, we won't loose hope yet.

God bless Nigeria & God bless our hustles.

adeoladele:
How I wish this can make front page maybe people In authority can see how government is frustrating young entrepreneurs

The CAC officers just wanted to frustrate & discourage you from doing the registration yourself. Because they know that they will not get anything on & from it. They will prefer you go through their agents.

adeoladele:
GUY YOU FORGOT TO MENTION CAC REGISTRATION
READ BELOW

MY BAD EXPERIENCE WITH COOPERATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION
I created an account on CAC portal at services.CAC.gov.ng for registration of my company, I was asked to pay a token of 500 naira for name availability with two names option I made the payment in Diamond bank through REMITA platform the name was denied in the first attempt while they approved it in second attempt with the same process.
I proceeded to pre- registration with the same portal platform, I fill all required information after completion, REMITA reference number was generated for the payment of registration with a fee of #10, 000 which I paid to REMITA through Stanbic bank . CAC refused to confirm my payment on the platform, I made a call to the portal customer care, I was told to go to the CAC office at YABA
On the second day I went to the said place with my international passport, two passport, receipt of REMITA for both reservation of name and registration thinking I will continue my registration from the office, to my great surprise, I was told to go to the account section to confirm the receipt, after confirmation on CAC system, it was said that the receipt is valid but cannot be accepted because the receipt did not indicate my proposed company name.
At this point I knew I was in trouble as I tried to explain how the whole process went but the staff attending to me insisted that was the instruction, I started begging him that I just lost my job, it took me a month to raise the money, he later said I should go and see the zonal head that he is the only one that can help in this situation, on getting to the zonal head office I met the staff chatting as if they were in a market, after pushing me from one officer to another I had to spend about 30-45mins before his secretary could attended to me, she collected my documents and went inside “Oga’s “ office, after 15mins she came back and told me her boss said he doesn’t know anything about online registration and he can’t help that I should write for refund. At this moment I was so helpless.
Both customer service numbers on the portal is switched off, I sent email personally to the portal administrator no acknowledgment, no response.
MY QUESTIONS
1. Is online registration a fraud?
2. Is it possible for the CAC Yaba Zonal head not to know anything about online registration
3. In Nigeria of today is it possible for federal government to refund money.

According to 2 researches downloaded by @Emmanuel (in the whatsapp grp) from 3 specimen each 75% poultry + 25% cowdung gives high gas formation than 50% poultry + 50% cowdung & 75% cowdung + 25% poultry while the 2nd 100% poultry is high than, 100% cowdung, and 100% kitchen waste.

Rexyl:
what of the poultry litter, that is, the droppings together with the bedding materials and other wastes?

My Oga @ d top, Am on my way 2 Ibadan 4 d inspection later 2day.

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It will position you for grants, loan etc
It will show you how to leverage on all the available advantages in your business industry
And lots more

@phardar Pls when & where is the next training taking place?
From the picture of the last training, it show training session for other like: Bee keeping & Honey production, snail, piggery, vegetables e.t.c Will the next traing also include all these?

phardar:
For the benefit of those who missed the last broiler revolution seminar in ibadan,this is another opportunity To join me in ijebu as facilitate on poultry in the three days workshop below. i will be talking on boiler revolution, commercial layer production and also cocKerel production.it For all farmers both seasoned and seasonal u are all welcome.

Which site did u get d pix of d cooler from?

baba11:
May be in future,I will know better but right now...I'm not a practising farmer...I'm just passionate about the whole things!

If the vegies cld still look fresh for/after roughly 2wks at room temperatures betwn 18°C and 20°C, then it will definitely look moresh fresh for a longer time if the room temperature cld be ruduced to arnd 10°C using a simple method of rural cold room.

Hmmmmmm, this is food for thought.

Pavore9:
I did an experiment on how long cucumber and cabbage can last without refrigeration. I bought 3 cucumbers for 30ksh (N60) and a cabbage for 20ksh (N40)on the 23rd of December from the open market and left them on my kitchen's countertop. The average daytime temperature in my kitchen hovers between 18°C and 20°C while at night is around 15°C. The cucumbers are still looking fresh but they will end their earthly journey tomorrow when l will get them juiced while the cabbage began to degenerate on the 4th of January, so had to juice it up.

This shows farmers with good preservation system can hold on to their harvests for a longer time and not forced to sell off for fear of spoilage . Research is wealth.

On a 2nd thought, do u know the materials used in the construction of this vegetable cooler? I can identify palm front, jute bag & PVC pipe around it. Are any other thing am missing? How can one make water to drop on d jute bag?

This Is usefull for small Holden farmers. But it can actually be resized to accomodate more vegetables.

baba11:
My fear is preservation... ain't going to go bad in some days' time after harvest?

Something like this constructed under a tree or shade to serve as a local refrigerator unit for rural areas without access to electricity as it only needs water to maintain a cool temperature inside, have the cucumbers packed in the plastic crates and placed inside it and it would extend its freshness for over a week after harvest.