Cassava Farming Business In Nigeria
Cassava Farming Business? Not everyone would love to hear of that. An average Nigerian believe that cassava farming is an archaic practice that should be abolished. They’d beam with smiles to the hearing of working in an oil company, but grow in rage whenever agriculture is mentioned.
It’s saddening. I see people go hungry every day. Some, in their quest to fill their stomach indulge in illegal practices that only endanger their life. Cassava have been overlooked and seen as worthless until the scarcity that hit the country a year ago, where a cup of garri (cassava flakes) was over N100, something that’s usually N100 for 6 cups.
For the first time in history, office workers delve into cassava farming because their salary wasn’t enough to meet the new development. Cassava suddenly became a high sought after good – a holy grail.
Cassava can be processed into a number of products like starch, glucose syrup, chips, flour etc. In fact, cassava makes up a major part of our daily meal here in Nigeria.
Raining season is fast approaching and the best time to start preparing for this farming business in now, which is why this article is coming at this moment. In this article, I’m going to guide you by the hand on how you can start cassava business here in Nigeria.
Not only will you make huge amount of money in return, you’ll save yourself money.
REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD START CASSAVA FARMING IN NIGERIA
1. HIGH DEMAND
The population of Nigeria is over 170 million and over 99% consumes cassava products every day. The demand will continue to skyrocket as cassava farmers dwell in financial freedom.
2. AGRICULTURAL LOANS
Bank of Agriculture (BOA) has now made more agricultural loans, to help attract more Nigerians into taking a part in cassava farming. This incentive offered has eliminated the excuse of not having capital. Follow the due process and you’ll qualify. There are also some commercial banks here in nigeria that give agricultural loans.
3. NOT TECHNICAL
Cassava farming is not technical in any way. I’m currently into this agribusiness and I can confidently beat my chest and say that it’s the easiest agribusiness you can ever do.
4. SMALL CAPITAL
Another remarkable truth about cassava farming is that it’s not capital-intensive as long as you already have a land. Even if you don’t, you can easy rent. It’s a low capital busicomness. You might not even need the incentives offered by BOA before you can do this business.
Cassava can be used by farmers as livestock feed
Four is a byproduct of the root and leaves of cassava
Can be proceed into different form of starch that’s very edible
Used for the making of some natural herbs.
HOW TO START CASSAVA FARMING IN NIGERIA
1. A GOOD FARMING SITE
It’s advisable you get a land never close to your resident for easy monitoring and when doing that, make sure the soil is a loamy soil, with access to adequate rainfall, warmth and moist climatic condition.
If possible, get in contact with other cassava farmers or soil scientist to help verify that the land is suitable for farming.
2. LAND PREPARATION
When you’ve gotten a good land like the previous step suggested, the next step of action will be to prepare the land. You can do this yourself depending on how big the land is.
If it’s too big, you can hire laborers or tractors.
Land preparation entails preparing your seedbeds.
If your land isn’t very fertile, you can plant leguminous crop to help supplement the nutrients needed by cassava.
Cassava planting starts April and can be extended to October.
3. BEST CASSAVA VARIETY TO PLANT
When going for a cassava breed, a lot of factors have to be considered like;
Acceptance by target market
High yield
Resistance to disease and pest
Fast maturity
It’s very important you take special care before going for a breed. The first factor to consider is acceptance by target market. You need a breed they are used to.
The following cassava varieties are recommended
TMS 30572
NR 8082
NR 8083
TM 4(2) 1425
TMS 81/00110
TMS 92/0326
4. PLANTING THE CASSAVA
The cassava stem has to be cut 25cm long and be planted at a spacing of 1 m x 1 m. Make sure to plant healthy cassava stems if you must grow rich cassava crops that will be highly demanded in the market.
It’s advisable to get to a cassava farmer to help with a planting technique that yields more.
5. TYPES OF FERTILIZER TO USE
Cassava farming is best with fertilizer, to help improve cassava yields or output.
The following fertilizer and their rate are recommended
NPK 15:15:-12 (50KG) BAGS
NPK 20:10:10-9 (50KG) BAGS
NPK 12:12:17-15 (50KG) BAGS
This must be applied 8 weeks after planting.
COST OF PRODUCTION IN CASSAVA FARMING
Cost of production entails all the expenses to be made in this agribusiness before harvest.
Take a look below;
LAND COST
N100,000
LAND PREPARATION
N20,000
CASSAVA STEM
N10,000
FERTILIZER
N25,000
MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES
N20,000
Other cost might include insecticides, weeding, laborers wages etc. at a total, we should be looking at an estimate of N300,000.
I would suggest conducting a feasibility study; it will help you know the exact figure needed to make cassava farming possible.
MARKETING YOUR CASSAVA PRODUCTS
When your cassava has attained maturity, depending on the breed, you must ensure you sell to the right buyer and at the right price. You don’t want a situation whereby the input was greater than the output, which will be lost. To ensure you get it all right, make sure you belong to a farming association.
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