Farming in Nigeria and Africa is as good as our survival.
Farming feeds us,
Farming saves you and me from hunger.
And of course the future of our continent cannot be discussed without farming!
So therefore farming is a good practice.
Good morning to you wonderful ABC friend.
It’s good to get in touch with you this morning, hope you are fine?
Well am good and strong here…
Do you care to know why? OK listen…
Almost everyday in the morning, i take Tea (Milk, Coffee, and Sugar),
Made from Cattle, Caffeine and Sugarcane respectively – Products of a farm!
And then bread (Primarily made from wheat) another product of a farm!
These things help be to start my day with strength and at least save my stomach from those sounds and tones produced by hunger…
Ahaaa…. Don’t laugh at me!
Wow!
This is why farming never sucks for centuries and generations.
When we were growing up, most of us believed farmers to be inferior in the society.
That was a wrong perception!
And that wrong perception is as a result of us growing in some kind of difficult ghettos.
Some of us came out of some locations where the farmers are not really rich.
And so for that we see farming as a practice for the poor.
In places like that, the farmers do not take farming as a business. Even if they do then it’s only an option in most cases.
How can you be rich with farming when you think it’s not business?
And again in such places farmers are considered uneducated and dumb, and so the only means of survival for them is to get involved in farming.
Pause and think for a moment!
Is that the case in your locality?
You can now see the obvious reason why all your childhood stage (if not all your life) you believe farmers to be inferior….
And that’s also why you think farming sucks!
See!
There are a lot of farmers who are millionaires and farming is still bringing out a lot of millionaires year after year all over Africa.
Farming has created successful entrepreneurs in Nigeria and the whole of Africa!
Yes! It has turned ordinary men and women into exporters who now rake in millions.
Farming has made a lot of companies and factories dependent on farmers for supplies of raw materials
It has largely contributed in Africa’s unemployment problems….
Yes, it has created careers for lots and lots of people like you and I.
It has been an answer to a wide range of Africa’s problems.
But still there are parts of Africa where hunger is becoming more severe by the day. Not just hunger but a lot of problems which can be solved by agriculture are increasing daily.
The question is why?
This is because the small quantity of serious farmers is not as much as solving our continent’s giant problem.
I mean the problems of hunger and it’s brothers…
That is why a lot of farmers are needed to fill in the gap.
That is why you are needed to join in!
Farming in Nigeria has been ignored for some years now, but thank God it is on it\’s way to be revived.
And you can be part of that revival!
What is farming?
Farming is the cultivation of land and rearing of animals for human use, raw materials and food.
A Farm is an area of land that is used for growing plants/crops or a special building for rearing animals for commercial purposes.
Why farming?
Instead of giving you an answer to that question, I will ask you this;
Why not farming?
Why not farming?
When depending on crude oil and ignoring agriculture has caused our currencies a great fall?
Why not ?
Since the whole world is hoping in Africa to feed her in few years to come.
Why not ?
Since without farming, we can never have the next generation of innovative fast foods like noodles etc.
Nigeria use to be the number one exporter of palm oil in the whole world. But that is now a story….. So sad!
Nigeria was exporting 47% of the global quantity groundnuts, beating Argentina and USA.
Well, the days of great groundnuts pyramids of Kano are long gone!
So I ask you, why not farming?
Have you forgotten the statistics that proved Nigeria to be the producers 18% of Cocoa in the world, being the second highest global producers of Cocoa around the 1960s?
Is it good news that we now produce just 8% to the world?
Isn’t it a big challenge, that we produce 65% of the total tomatoes in West-Africa but yet we are now the largest importers of tomato paste?
How does that make you feel?
Sad!
Challenged!
???
I guess not passive.
Instead of complaining about the ugly economic situation of the country. Think of a way in which you can become a solution.
And of course agriculture is a great solution to one of our country’s major problem.
We need farms!
We need agriculture!!
and we need farmers!!!
Farming is Nigeria’s future!
Yes! It is Africa’s future!
Types of farming
Generally there are three types of farming which are Arable, Pastoral and mixed .
Arable farming is the type which is focused on growing crops and plants, for example, Rice, Wheat, Cocoa, cotton etc.
This type of farming requires the following on its location;
- Warm climate.
- Land suitable for machinery.
- Fertile soil.
- Flat or gently sloping land.
- A land not too dry and not too wet.
Pastoral farming involves raising or rearing of animals like Rabbit, Fish, Cattle, Sheep, Poultry, and Pigs etc.
Mixed farming as the name implies, is the mixture or combination of both arable and pastoral farming.
Farming can further be grouped or typed into;
Intensive and extensive.
An intensive farming deals with the use of small piece of land with lots of expensive inputs like gardening. While extensive agriculture is the use of large area of land with less expensive inputs e.g. Hill sheep farming.
Commercial and Subsistence farming
This is the type which is strictly for business and is aimed at adding value to people and making profits. Here fewer laborers are used because it’s usually more of technology and machines.
Subsistence farming or agriculture in the other hand is solely for the farmers benefit and consumption. Here only a little quantity of crop is left out to be sold. It’s more of human labor than machines and it is a mixed type of farming too.
Other types of farming include irrigation-Which is a specialized kind of farming carried out during dry season. Often with an alternative water sources like rivers, wells, electric water pumps/sprayers and etc.
single-crop – The cultivation of a single type or variety of crops on a farmland.
and multi-crop – Combines two or more crops on a farm. In other words, it is a mixed system of farming.
I want to believe you have been jotting some things down, and by now have decided the type of farming practice you want to venture into.
Next lets check out some of the factors affecting farming.
Factors affecting farming
To hit the nail on the head I will say there are Physical and Human factors affecting farming. Let’s check them out in a list.
Physical factors;
- Relief (shape of the land).
- Climate.
- Soil.
- Drainage.
- Aspect (the direction where the land is facing
Human factors;
- Market price.
- Grants and subsidies.
- Machinery and technologies.
- Distance to the market.
- Labor supply (workers).
Benefits/Advantages
Ensures food security and supply
One of the three basic needs of man is food, followed by clothing and shelter.
Yes, food security is without doubt a key benefit of farming. If not because some people somewhere decided to cultivate their land and produce crops, we would have all been living in hunger!
Agriculture brings about food security and availability, not just for you the farmer but for thousands of lives!
The more food becomes available, then the more it becomes affordable for the poor.
What am i trying to say?
By becoming a farm owner, you are saving somebody’s life.
Self-employment
As a farmer you are self-employed.
Farming makes you your own boss, you are independent!
Why?
Because it’s a business and not just an act or traditional practice
So as a farmer you are reducing our nation’s unemployment problem by one person. And that person is you!
Creates employment
Self-employment isn’t just enough!
Do you know why?
There are almost 50 million unemployed graduates in Nigeria at the time of writing this article.
Can the government employ all those guys?
Thank God you know the answer!
The government and other non governmental organizations (N.G.O.), plus companies all over the country employs only 10% of the average 2 million students who graduate every year.
So if you take it as a self-employment alone, you will be solving just your problem.
How about others who don’t know that business is the only way out?
How do they get to be employed?
So as a farmer, your promise land shouldn’t just end at being self-employed but also at being an employer of labor.
It doesn’t matter if they are hired, seasonal or permanent laborers. Employees are employees!
It is not just about the people you hire to your farm alone.
check out this, for example;
Your wheat or tomato goes to the market or the factories rather.
From there the quantity of their supply increases because you have joined in as another supplier.
More supply equals more production.
The more the production, the more the expansion of their customer base.
When that is done, then more staffs will be needed to handle the non-machine task in the company of factory.
Just at the time they need more staffs, its then they will get to discover that they are lacking staffs.
Hence the need for more employment of staffs…
Can you see that?
That’s how the circle goes…
It started with you and went round to cause deficiency of staffs for the companies needing your farm produce, thereby leading to employments.
Better usage of land
Agriculture helps in a better usage of farmlands across our localities.
Therefore fertile lands are not left idle!
Nation’s economy diversification
Farms are great substitutes for oil refineries.
With our eyes and strengths on agriculture, the economy of our country will be well transformed.
Transformed from depending on just crude-oil to depending on an array of exportable crops and animals.
Because of that our economies becomes more diversified by a step ahead.
The list goes endless, we cannot exhaust all of it here.
Some of the major challenges faced with farming in Africa are;
- Lack of investment or financing.
- Infrastructure for market access.
- Irrigation problem.
- Discouragement caused by imported crops.
- Industrialization and privatization.
- Lack of machinery and technology.
- Soil infertility and etc.
Do you lack capital investment or financing?
Read this tutorial here and get inspired on how to get investors.
For other problems, read any of these wonderful tutorials and feed your brain with the right knowledge.
You must note that some of the challenges mentioned above require experience to overcome. While for other problems, all you need is the right guidance.
The world is waiting for you and me.
Africa has what it takes to feed the world.
Asia, Europe and America are hoping on Africa to supply them food in a short while to come.
Most of their cultivatable lands has been used to build factories and industries.
They are left with less space to cultivate and produce crops.
We have the potential to become the worlds largest exporter of crops.
So what are you waiting for?
You can be a farmer today, yes you can!
It takes you.
It doesn’t matter how young you are, you can become a farmer.
A successful one at that.
It does not matter how inexperienced you are, just keep trying until it goes smooth.
You can be a farmer even if you don’t own a piece of land.
Face your fear, go out and act.
Stir up the potential you have, read good business books, and you will set yourself ablaze for a remarkable success.
Don’t forget, nothing works without your action.
Become a farmer today!
We love you!