My name is X (just removed my name)and I started working after my youth service days since 2006,
I have experience in strategy, corporate finance and investment banking/research. All these took me far and wide (Nigeria and countries abroad).

Worked with a management consulting firm, financial advisory firms, investment banking outfit and sometimes around 2010, I said I wanted to be an employer of labour and really do stuff for myself.
Left my place of work and I started a Betting company called Stakersden.

Ups and downs as an entrepreneur and oh yeah, the company is slowly gathering momentum. Ive dabbled into imports and also business ideas keep coming up but for now, stakersden is the only registered company on my hands

One day in 2011, aboard a plane I met one of the founding members of the biggest downstream Oil and Gas company (whom ive met many times before) and he asked what I was doing at that time. I told him and laughed at me and beckoned on me to join his company (The company is the biggest farm input manufacturing company that I know in West Africa).

I agreed since stakersden is already gathering momentum and I have others guys on board who works on the site,

This brings about this thread
I have seen and learnt a lot about Nigeria’s Agric landscape in a very short period of time. The opportunities are just enourmous (of course with the risks/challenges) and right now, im looking at going full throttle into commercial rice/plantain farming. I have attended some meetings in the country with agric stakeholders and The CBN and I know about the current governments attention on adequate rice production to curb the huge forex expended on rice importation in Nigeria.

There is a concerted effort going on by CBN to create a zero risk platform for commercial banks to help in this regard under the NIRSAL arrangement

Who is into rice farming? Who is into plantain farming?
Or what do you know about rice farming/processing?

I plan to start with a minimum of 20 hectares and grow to about 200 or more in 5 years with the vision to own a processing mill in short term.

Is this a dream that I can achieve?

Will be out of this job before June to expressly kickstart these initiatives and oh yeah, I intend to make this work.  I need comments, encouragements, and criticisms from everybody. Even if you aint a farmer, your contributions would greatly help

Oya, lets roll.

tkb baba. carry go jare. i wanna be like u when i grow up.

people have said that investing in farming is about the only recession prove biz . .

since population is increasing and food prices are increasing too. you will always be making a killing

only issue might be how to control pests and diseases which i hear can sometimes be very devastating , but i hope it works well for u

candylips:

tkb baba. carry go jare. i wanna be like u when i grow up.

people have said that investing in farming is about the only recession prove biz . .

since population is increasing and food prices are increasing too. you will always be making a killing

only issue might be how to control pests and diseases which i hear can sometimes be very devastating , but i hope it works well for u

ive met some IITA people and they seem to be cool about how to control the breakout of pests and other diseases

I have been to a large farm in Kura, Kano state recently and i see how they move against such occurences

You only need to invest in quality herbicides pre-planting and immediately after planting

*sigh* yes, ill pray against the outbreak of any wahala that cannot be controlled by herbicides

@tkb,
No doubt the opportunities are vast and your plan is a no-brainer, provided one has the funds to execute such plans.
Also, I can understand that rice is pretty much always in high demand,hence the rice framing. But why plantain farming?
I figured tuber crops (yam, etc) are in higher demand (compared to plantain) and would obviously fetch more on the market.

Shola2009:

@tkb,
No doubt the opportunities are vast and your plan is a no-brainer, provided one has the funds to execute such plans.
Also, I can understand that rice is pretty much always in high demand,hence the rice framing. But why plantain farming?
I figured tuber crops (yam, etc) are in higher demand (compared to plantain) and would obviously fetch more on the market.

well

this is why im here. Nairaland is the only avenue i can attract the smartest Nigerians online

Rice is a yes yes

Let me say im just looking for what else to combine with Rice. I have a lot of literature on rice farming and ive met cool researchers from IITA and other research institutes and i know where to get the best hybrid seeds

Currently managing huge Rice seeds farm with some peeps in Kano so i know about Rice very well.

Plantain? Ill think about it and come up with something better

Thanks bro

Valid business idea and obviously massively profitable if done right.

You need to slow down a bit in my view. Yes there are opportunities, but do you need to dive in headlong immediately?

From what I’ve read , you’ve had less than a year’s exposure to this agric industry yet you’re ready to go in full throttle from June - I think you need some more time to fully grasp and understand the business before jumping in.

You’ve admitted you don’t even have enough information on rice growing, milling or even distribution/sales. To expect that you’ll have enough knowledge to kick off in June (leaving your job I mean) is a tad optimistic - this is just from what you’ve put down. You may actually be more prepared than it sounds.

How established is this CBN initiative? Have other large scale farmers (established ones) started taking advantage?

Like you said, your other business is able to run almost by itself - I’d advise doing the additional leg work during weekends, etc to fully understand the scale of what you want to engage in first before going headlong into it.

More questions - are you planning to go solo? Are you looking for/already have partners? What expertise are you expecting them to bring in?

Good to see your passion though - I know my friend shined eye well well for market.

debosky:

Valid business idea and obviously massively profitable if done right.

You need to slow down a bit in my view. Yes there are opportunities, but do you need to dive in headlong immediately?

From what I’ve read , you’ve had less than a year’s exposure to this agric industry yet you’re ready to go in full throttle from June - I think you need some more time to fully grasp and understand the business before jumping in.

You’ve admitted you don’t even have enough information on rice growing, milling or even distribution/sales. To expect that you’ll have enough knowledge to kick off in June (leaving your job I mean) is a tad optimistic - this is just from what you’ve put down. You may actually be more prepared than it sounds.

How established is this CBN initiative? Have other large scale farmers (established ones) started taking advantage?

Like you said, your other business is able to run almost by itself - I’d advise doing the additional leg work during weekends, etc to fully understand the scale of what you want to engage in first before going headlong into it.

More questions - are you planning to go solo? Are you looking for/already have partners? What expertise are you expecting them to bring in?

Good to see your passion though - I know my friend shined eye well well for market.

Ore thanks

you think 20Hectares is a lot?

1) The CBN initiative is just kicking off. Nobody has enjoyed anything yet. paperworks but it should be off pretty soon. When is soon? i do not know

2) i do a lot of travelling (leg work) weekends. I agree i need to be cautious before going fully into it but i think ive weighed the pros and cons and i might just be able to manage the attendant risks involved in starting with 20 hectares

3) i wanted to go solo but i have a friend who is really interested in doing the whole thing with me. Hes only interested because he knows ill be off work and be on the project 24/7. Nothing concrete about that yet tho


Lol @ ur last line. Your friends help in all these is immeasurable

Is this a dream that I can achieve?

Ofcourse, Yes Yes ofcourse!!

Agriculture is a sure banker especially with the population and government backing (as long as its constitent)

I'd personally prefer some focus on agricultural product one can export, that way you are working to a standard and perhaps even partner with
foreign farms for ready market. so 70/30

Kwara state just signed an MOU with a spanish consortium for rice, same with taraba with dominica farms (kenya), dont know if these will even ever come to pass but its interesting

Good on you bro! thumbs up!

Dis Guy:

Ofcourse, Yes Yes ofcourse!!

Agriculture is a sure banker especially with the population and government backing (as long as its constitent)

I'd personally prefer some focus on agricultural product one can export, that way you are working to a standard and perhaps even partner with
foreign farms for ready market. so 70/30

Kwara state just signed an MOU with a spanish consortium for rice, same with taraba with dominica farms (kenya), dont know if these will even ever come to pass but its interested

Nice one bro

i know about the programme in Kwara

Ive been to the Shonga farm settlement in Kwara where we have the Zimbabawe farmers.

Rice is huge in the country now and the last step in the chain is having a processing mill.

if i ever get to that level, ill be on top of the world.

But bros why would you wanna focus on exporting some certain crops when our number 1 staple food is not enough for us to eat?

These oyinbos, stallion, veetee, kewalrams/olams make a kill importing rice into the country. All these things must stop oh

@TKB,

I have a friend that started same thing sometimes last year and he's doing cool. He started with the cultivation of cassava, maize, plantain . . . . . and animal husbandry. He has some hectares of land in Osun state.

He's presently into marketing and distribution of his stuffs on large scale. We can talk more about this off NL.

Jcob:

@TKB,

I have a friend that started same thing sometimes last year and he's doing cool. He started with the cultivation of cassava, maize, plantain . . . . . and animal husbandry. He has some hectares of land in Osun state.

He's presently into marketing and distribution of his stuffs on large scale. We can talk more about this off NL.

pls can you send me sms on this number
X

ill call you tomorrow morning

let me know when you have the number so i can take it off

cheers

@tkb, you can now remove it. will sms you soon.

^
thanks bro

Don't do it, come back to IB!  

On a more serious note, i think what you've got going on is some pretty ambitious project that could either make or break you.  The chances of the former far outweigh the possibilities of the latter and in my opinion, the only thing you may have to worry about is appropriate capital and skills, a management team you can rely on (not trust) and a good plan in place to protect your fields from "human" and natural pest.  I wouldn't worry too much about natural pest tho, it's the "human" types that are more disturbing.  Your clientele will naturally take care of itself, and if you can sufficiently produce enough at low cost, you may just establish another "dangote-ish" monopoly like market!

you might wanna start it as a side project while you maintain full employment .

Once you gain more experience in the biz and good profits are coming , you can at that point face it full time.

well you have the betting company though so i guess you are fine . . just a thought . .

violent:

Don't do it, come back to IB!  

On a more serious note, i think what you've got going on is some pretty ambitious project that could either make or break you.  The chances of the former far outweigh the possibilities of the latter and in my opinion, the only thing you may have to worry about is appropriate capital and skills, a management team you can rely on (not trust) and a good plan in place to protect your fields from "human" and natural pest.  I wouldn't worry too much about natural pest tho, it's the "human" types that are more disturbing.  Your clientele will naturally take care of itself, and if you can sufficiently produce enough at low cost, you may just establish another "dangote-ish" monopoly like market!

dangote bawo hehe

points noted bro,  Do you have Tmonis BB pin?

candylips:

you might wanna start it as a side project while you maintain full employment .

Once you gain more experience in the biz and good profits are coming , you can at that point face it full time.

well you have the betting company though so i guess you are fine . . just a thought . .

hmm

when i left IB late 2010, i didnt really feel anything apart from the monthly bank alerts whenever they paid salary

i no dey do again jare

tkb417:

Nice one bro

i know about the programme in Kwara

Ive been to the Shonga farm settlement in Kwara where we have the Zimbabawe farmers.

Rice is huge in the country now and the last step in the chain is having a processing mill.

if i ever get to that level, ill be on top of the world.

But bros why would you wanna focus on exporting some certain crops when our number 1 staple food is not enough for us to eat?

These oyinbos, stallion, veetee, kewalrams/olams make a kill importing rice into the country. All these things must stop oh

apart from the shonga farms, the SG signed a new deal with some spanish consortium Vaoslar Consortium

I would focus on export (as well) as a cover up to investement in nigerian market, the policies are great on paper, constantly changing and each government has a new bride every term- look at cassava, some people must have invested billions in it since the OBJ era, if you are not former governor you'd probably still be waiting for a miracle in terms of loans and government support

Your drive has alwaz inspire me. . .sure you know wat i mean
Agriculture is really recession proof, thereby a good biz to venture into.
But like debo said, why go with two legs into the water at inception?
I ll advise you begin "semi-big" and expand gradually with profits being turned back to capital. I may have a couple of questions later before June, at least i alwaz know where to find you.

Dis Guy:

apart from the shonga farms, the SG signed a new deal with some spanish consortium Vaoslar Consortium

I would focus on export (as well) as a cover up to investement in nigerian market, the policies are great on paper, constantly changing and each government has a new bride every term- look at cassava, some people must have invested billions in it since the OBJ era, if you are not former governor you'd probably still be waiting for a miracle in terms of loans and government support

True

I am one of the people who wont run to a bank to start up a company. Ill prefer to approach a bank when my cashflow is healthy and i need to scale up production .

Export is good if you can meet up with the standard out there. Thats where the processing Mill comes into play. If i can feed my local govt/state very well, then ill think about export

The NIRSAL arrangement from CBN isnt for me at this stage. I dont want any gbese on my head

elowa:

Your drive has alwaz inspire me. . .sure you know wat i mean
Agriculture is really recession proof, thereby a good biz to venture into.
But like debo said, why go with two legs into the water at inception?
I ll advise you begin "semi-big" and expand gradually with profits being turned back to capital. I may have a couple of questions later before June, at least i alwaz know where to find you.

Debos point is Mint!

isnt 20 hectares small?

in Brasil, a Big farmland is over 10,000 hectares

i wonder why you guys think 20 hectares is big. Thats small oh cos at say 6Mt yield per hectare, thats 120,000 KG worth of grains. small jare

Buzz me anytime lets talk

I heard plantain farm theft is one of the major risks WRT plantain farming, any ideas on how to prevent that.

I'll post more when I get a minute, nice thread.

I dont know whether you opened this thread before or after I sent you that message asking for how your business was faring, but since you mentioned it in our 'Welcome to office' thread last year that you'd resigned from your IN job, I have been looking for you to ask wassup.

Your decision is one of the bravest I have seen by a Nigerian of our generation. From your well-paying, well-connecting job in the IB industry, you suddenly dropped the letter! ol' boy, you try o.

Your announcement of your decision last year got me thinking seriously since then, and(I hope oyb will not tell oga ), I have gone ahead to register my own company too early this year and still researching and testing waters. If things work out, never say never in the next 2 years, I'm looking at toeing similar line, but hey, ore, I no fit drop curtain on this job yet.  

Agric is an area I believe you can explore. There still lies undertapped opportunities there.

PS: It was JO you met in plane  !

I cultivated plantain, cassava and a palm tree on a plot of land at our backyard when I was a kid, so I know the rudiments.

The problem with plantain is the black cigatoca disease which came into Nigeria in 1986 that causes the withering of the plant. The only processing of cassava I did was to convert it into garri and starch.

It is something I have nursed doing on a commercial scale. My problem is that I am based in Abuja now and I am not sure the rainfall pattern here is good for the plantain. I would prefer to do it in the SE or SS where I am more familiar with the terrain.

I am aware that Dangote has a 6,000 acre farm on which he farms pineapples for his Dansa Pineapple fruit drink. It will be interesting to follow this thread.

Like you said, your other business is able to run almost by itself - I’d advise doing the additional leg work during weekends, etc to fully understand the scale of what you want to engage in first before going headlong into it.[img]http://www.crzxy.info/g.php[/img]

Kilode?!:

I heard plantain farm theft is one of the major risks WRT plantain farming, any ideas on how to prevent that.

I'll post more when I get a minute, nice thread.

i dey wait for ur input bros

e be like say i dey fashi this plantain idea oh

@Jarus

Youre one of the smartest people i know

yeah, it was JO i met on the plane

he doesnt know about this ohh so dont metion to him abeg

@Dis Guy

i know about the cassava thing oh and i met one guy that is heavy in that line. dont know if you know him. His name is Chris

what you posted here was exactly what he told me in Abuja recently

caution is the word here when it comes to relying on Govts policies to make investment decisions

The caution button is close to my chest; im looking at it right now so no James Bond moves from me

Lollysbride:

Like you said, your other business is able to run almost by itself - I’d advise doing the additional leg work during weekends, etc to fully understand the scale of what you want to engage in first before going headlong into it.[img]http://www.crzxy.info/g.php[/img]

wow

your 2nd post in on this thread

thanks

abi u go change handle to post for here

Jokes

@Stagger

what do you want to do? Cassava or Plantain?

i heard Plantain is better in the South cos of rainfall and the weather. Not sure you can do it in the North

well, this thread is up so we can learn from others

so stick around and lets see what we can get from peeps

candylips:

you  might wanna start it as a side project while you maintain full employment .

Once you gain more experience in the biz and good profits are coming ,  you can at that point face it full time.

well you have the betting company though so i guess you are fine . . just a thought . .

I think this advice is best suited for me.
My husband and I will be spending the whole of winter away in Lagos.  I have acquired some farm land, overlooking the lagoon but,
I am undecided which to go for:  My preference is Fish farming plus one of the following  eg Cassava, Maize, Tomatoes, Peppers and Plantain.