FARMING IN ABUJA IS A BIG INDUSTRY

LUCRATIVE AGRO BUSINESSES IN ABUJA (PART 1)

1.   TOMATO CULTIVATION:

Tomato is one of the most important cooking ingredients in Nigeria. Over eighty percent of our food is never complete without tomatoes. We use it in cooking stews, soups, salads, portages, and virtually every other food in the Country. This generally implies that the average Nigerian can’t consciously go a day without eating a meal prepared with tomatoes.

Tomato farming is a money-making machine; but has long been overlooked by many Nigerian Agro Investors. This somewhat ignored lucrative vegetable crop has opened the way for importers to flood the market with all sorts of products from China. The United Nations Environmental Programme, UNEP, recently disclosed that Nigeria spent about $1billion on importation of Tomato Past.
In 2014, the then CBN Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido, disclosed that about N16 billion, the amount allocated in the 2014 budget for the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail project, is being spent annually on the importation of tomato paste into the country.

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Tomato Farming is not a space Science. In fact, Tomato is one of the easiest plants to cultivate. Tomatoes take less than three months to produce a ripe crop. Early varieties such as the Fourth of July take as little as 52 days, while the heirloom Brandywine takes up to 90 days or more. The Israelis have also developed higher breeds and they are ready and willing to sell the seeds to anyone who comes around. A Soil Analysis of Abuja Farm Lands conducted in Israel by Churchill Igwe, an Agric Engineer, revealed that Abuja soil is one of the best in the World in terms of Tomato cultivation. Churchill said that after the analysis, the Israelis asked themselves “what is actually wrong with these African people?” They explained that with that type of Soil and high breed specie of Tomato, Abuja has the capacity to feed the whole West African market.
 The Federal Government recently banned the importation of tomato paste and the Central Bank of Nigeria has said it was ready to support tomato growers with loan under the Anchor Borrower programme. It is believed that Nigerian Agro investors will take up this opportunity by investing in the vast, but empty Abuja farm lands  to create employments and make huge profits.

2.  PIG FARMINGS:

Pig farming is another highly profitable aspect of farming in Nigeria that supposed to be making Agro Investors huge money on daily basis. The reason is because Pig meat known as pork, is in high demand in Nigeria and in the international market. It is the most highly consumed meat in the World. Majority of the large population of Asia depends on Pork for meat. The International Pork Export Trade in 2015 was totaled at US$25.3 billion. But as usual, Nigerians did not partake in the sharing of this money despite the availability of large empty lands that can support large scale animal husbandry. South Africa, for instance imports Pork from US. Why can’t we export the meat to South Africa to at least, help in balancing our Trade with the Country? The Abuja International Airport can support this Trade and there are vast empty farm lands in Abuja waiting to be used. Likewise, there are vast lands in every parts of the Country.

Another reason why Pig production is lucrative is that Pig reproduces in large number and grows very fast. A single pig gives birth to as much as 15 to 25 piglets at a time, making it one of the most reproducing livestock in the world. A fully grown Pig goes for as high as Sixty Thousand Naira (N60,000) in the local market depending on the weight. In the International Market, it is sold in dollars. Despite the huge profitability of Piggery, many Nigerian are still overlooking this goldmine because of ignorance of how it works. While many are just not aware that it is a big business, few who engage in it do it as part time business. 

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3.  POULTRY FARMING:

The market for Poultry products in Abuja is very high. Abuja is a large Metropolitan City which makes purchasing power to be high. Poultry Farming is divided into two categories. These are Egg production and Broiler production. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh disclosed in October last Year (2016) that, “Nigeria imports Five Million eggs daily from South Africa.” According to ThisDay Newspaper’s Report of 26^th April, 2016, about 50 million Nigerians eat imported chicken, turkey and fishes almost on a daily basis. Can you imagine! It might interest you to know that these broilers that produce the Chicken meet take only 60 days or less to grow. And there is almost 90 to 100% profit in broiler production. That is minus infrastructure. The massive empty Farm lands in Abuja can be used to establish large scale Poultry farms.

4.  FISH FARMING (AQUACULTURE)

One of the most popular farming in Nigeria is fish farming. Gone are the days when the only means of getting fish is by catching it in the local rivers and ponds through trial and errors. Today, the modern farm practice has made it possible to grow fish in the farms and control the input. According to 2016 Central Bank of Nigeria report, as quoted by the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Olayiwole Onasanya,, “Over $11bn was spent to import four consumable commodities–rice, wheat, fish and sugar– annually. Nigeria’s food import is growing at an unsustainable rate of 11 per cent per annum.”  There is lots of information on the internet about the lucrative nature of fish farming in Nigeria, but one area that many Agro Investors neglect is Commercial fish smoking. Nigeria still imports smoked fish from Thailand which runs into billions of Naira annually. The DG, Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi told me that the Institution has developed an Industrial Machine that can produce smoked fish in commercial quantity and still have the normal flavor of manually smoked fish. It is believed that Investor will grab the opportunity of the availability of large empty Farmlands in Abuja to develop Fish Parks. Such investments will not only creates employments, but will also bring huge returns on Investment.  

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WATCH OUT FOR PART TWO

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