How to Start Agriculture Business in Nigeria

Agriculture is one of the most viable and reliable ventures in Nigeria today, this as been since inception of the country actually, right before Oil came on the scene.

It's a pity, we got distracted by Oil discovery and the result was reduced exploit in the Agricultural Industry, but even with that, agriculture still remains a major part of Nigeria that we can not overlook at all.

We have such a massive land mass in Nigeria that are readily available for agricultural investment and commercial large scale farming industrial establishment, but they are waiting for who (You and I) to come and make the best use of them.

With the ever increasing population of Nigerians, the country seems to be one of the best place in the world for any kind of business transactions and sales, especially when it comes to a commodity that is needful to everybody, recession not withstanding, Ratio of food consumption and demand for food can not go down, even right before people consider what to wear and all that, food and survival comes first and this is one of the winning power of the Agricultural Industry.

Now, i am writing this article for those who are willing and planning to invest into the agricultural industry of Nigeria and get something started, whether plant of animal production, as long as its agricultural business (Farming) then, the information am about to share will do you a whole lot of Good and you will need them as you journey through.

Thank God, our government is beginning to re-awakening mobilization and awareness in line with agricultural endeavors and farming as a future security to our nation growth and development, we can't afford to have every students and undergraduates putting in for medicine and law again!!!

farmers must arise from the youth wing too, that's the only way we can secure food production and keep our nation progressing and independent of other nations affluence.

Venturing into Agricultural farming and agro based businesses involves a lot of things and in the next few minutes, I will be sharing some of the most crucial and important parts of this investment with everyone. Some of the Farming Businesses that you can consider now and make good money includes;Pig Farming,Poultry  farming and Egg Production,Sheep and Goat Farming,Dairy Farming, Cattle Farming, Grasscutter farming, Rabbit Farming, Bee Farming, Snail Farming, Fish Farming, Plaintain Farming, Yam Farming, Cassava Farming, Vegetable Farming, Vegetable Oil and Groundnut Oil Production, Palm Kernel Farming, Cashew/ Cashew Nut Farming, Animal Feeds production, Arable Crop Farming, Cash Crop Farming, Local Food Production and export. The list go on and on, I will be updating them as I remember, but for now these are the ones I can still remember, farming is so lucrative and versatile and it must be handled with care, I must caution you to be careful and specialize so that you can make progress and also get a tangible reward for your investment, you can choose any of the above listed farming practices and get started but before then I will be giving you some important keys to succeed in any business you choose.

So Let's get started!

Steps to Starting Agricultural Business in Nigeria

1. Get Adequate Knowledge: Just like any other business ventures requires your adequate knowledge to blossom, so also Does Farming Business, don't say its just ordinary poultry farming that you see everywhere, if you don't know about it and how to run it successfully, you might fail right before you even start. So wisdom demands that you go get adequate knowledge, be well equipped with knowledge. There are so many farms around that are doing well, pay a visit to some of them and learn, have guidance as regard the area of specialization you are interested in. I have published on this Blog before, Top 11 Commercial Farms where you can learn any kind of farming in Nigeria, do well to read that post, it will do you a lot of good. So number one here is to get enough and sufficient knowledge as regard what you are willing to do.
2. Feasibility Studies:  This is very important also for the smooth running of your farming business venture, you need to know the logistics of the business and the market, for instance; over the years from my experience, i have come to realize that Any Farm product does well ad blossom in terms of good sales during the festive period (Christmas and new year celebration) Than any other part of the year. What does this means for you? It means as a wise business person, you are expected to increase productive towards this time, as the year runs to an end, produce more, knowing fully well that you are going to sell even more by the end of the year than any other season, due to massive sales and demands for agricultural products; you get to know all this business success tricks when you do your feasibility Studies for the venture you are about to start. Another example to help you understand the importance of feasibility studies, Some products (Plants and livestock) has higher demand and make more profits in certain region of the country than the other,  i remember when we wanted to sell Water melon in Lagos (In few mins of arrival, we have sold a whole truck of water melon) This is to tell you, there is a serious demand for water melon in Lagos, so transporting your products there or establishing a farm close to that region will help you to make good profits.
3. Capital: Adequate calculation and provision must be made for Start-up capital, i would really love to emphasize here that, Agricultural business is not easy to run without good and enough money on ground, for instance; maybe you are into Fish Farming Business or Poultry Farming, you can't be looking and running helter skelter for the money you will use to buy their feeds, what if you couldn't secure the money at the end of the day? That is how the livestock will go starve for some days? (Unlike humans, starvation of feeds from animals can lead your business to jeopardy) You must plan appropriately for the financial needs before you start farming or have a system of income that flows in regularly to the end that you can always have funds. when there is urgent need, this is very important for the smooth running an success of your farming business.
4. Master Your Market : Agriculture is a very versatile investment and it deals with so much
   seasonal market especially when we’re talking of plantation
   agriculture like production of maize, rice, plantain, cassava, and
   fruit crops, these are very lucrative plants and they are season even
   as we have in livestock like chicken, fish and so on,  it is very
   important you discover and figure out your market and customers before
   the time of selling your product, this will ensure you have a demand
   list lining up before the time of supply; though currently in Nigeria,
   it doesn’t matter the kind of agricultural and farm products you are
   selling, you will always have a stable buyers so marketing
   agricultural products in Nigeria is so fast and easy because of the
   large population density.
5. Get a Land (Location): There is almost no agricultural activity that is relevant that you want to do in Nigeria today without the use of land, so landed property becomes a must when you are thinking of flourishing agricultural business. However, It's not enough to get a land, you must also mark out the best location, this is very important, For instance; if you are considering Pig Farming, then you need to know that you can't site your farm just anywhere, some people are allergic to pig sounds and smell, so you must mark out for a location where there are no too many people living there. As a matter of fact, for a stress-free smooth farm running, Village and non-residential area is my best recommendation any day anytime.
6. Start Where You are : This is the last on my list and it is very important that i emphasize on this, its good to have a global dream, but start locally, start where you are with what you have, many people's business and great dreams would have been nurtured and maturate today but they are waiting for the time when everything will be abundant, let me tell you, that time may never come, start where you are with your trust and hope in God for increase and expansion and with time, you will see it become a reality. For the bible says "Small fold should worry not, it delights the lord to make it become big".

The Nigerian government over the years as helped in the little way they can (We're still believing that they will do even more better) to introduce some programs to encourage Nigerians to embrace Agricultural Business, this is the reason why the former president – Olusegun Obasanjo brought up the law and innovation “ Operation Feed the Nation” some years back which harnesses the implementation of a per house farming system, whereby every houses in Nigeria are advice to engage in one farming or the other alongside with their other occupations so that feeding the nation will be a possibility for all.

I hope you have learnt some tips to hep you get started successfully?

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Thanks for your time.