Youth Agro Entrepreneurs (Y.A.E) At Nigerian Economic Summit

This years (2013) edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit was held in Abuja with Agriculture as a business being the central theme . The Youth Agro Entrepreneurs media team took the opportunity to speak to some of the major stakeholders and organizations in attendance.

Jovana Farms; A Mushroom Farming Start-Up Company

My personal experience as an agric entrepreneur has proved that farming mushroom, antelope, quail, rabbit, grass cutter, snail, laboratory rat and guinea pig is second nature.In the case of mushroom cultivation, its production gives smallholder farmers a big chance to increase their income, improve their health and offers an alternative means of livelihood to urban and rural farmers.

The process of growing mushroom is one of the easiest ways to earn a living and not much physical strength is required in its production.The potentials in mushroom farming makes it an investor delight as a viable money making option. Investment in mushroom production will in the long run contribute to food security, wealth, and health and employment creation.Getting started on a mushroom farm is a potentially lucrative way of getting into the farming business. This kind of farming is highly remunerative enterprise with quick return.

There are many types of mushrooms and they can be categorized into Four Saprotrophic, Mycorrhizal, Parasitic, and Entophytic. Edible mushrooms are considered as healthy food because their mineral content is higher than that of meat or fish and most vegetables.

Nigeria job seekers can succeed in overcoming the challenges of poverty and unemployment through micro, small and medium scale rat breeding. But first we must empower our people with the right resources and skills then they’ll be able to create a brighter future for themselves and for the country.Good market. Many opportunities abound in the growth of mushrooms as many hospitality industries in the country still import the product to add to their meals. Majority of big hotels in Nigeria have mushrooms in their daily menu, but this mushrooms came from abroad, this means local production will have a ready market. There is opportunity to even export mushroom, once you can produce good quality that can be exported to Europe and America.

More farmers are of late going into the farming of mushrooms, a neglected and forgotten healthy food, which is not only improving the financial status of the producers but the health of the consumers’ as well.The rate at which Nigerians have shown interest in the eating of mushrooms is given a massive boost to production of the delicacy.ViabilityThe technology for the cultivation of mushroom species could be easily adopted by individuals, co-operative societies, families, and famers, schools in the rural and urban centers without difficulties. The cultivation of the mushroom can be done all year round as sources of the mushrooms are from agricultural wastes which are always available in abundance in Nigeria.The high rate of returns and low cost of investment as well as farming them are some of the reasons many farmers are fast resorting to mushroom cultivation these days.Prince Arinze Onebunne, is the CEO Jovana Farms and can be reached on E-mail:info@jovanafarm.com.

Business and Technology Amongst Young Agro-Entrepreneurs

Bit by bit, the agro-entrepreneurship visions being loaded into the minds and media channels of young people in Nigeria is beginning to seep its way into the information and technology market as it has managed in the past to penetrate other sectors of the economy.

Youths in Nigeria have being putting in major efforts to create a youth driven agricultural sector, and not suprisingly we are using our most potent asset as an anchor unto the field - social media, information and technology. The explosion of youth interest in agriculture in Nigeris has many roots and one major catalyst - unemployment. This catalyzing factor has led to a gradual gravitation of the mind set of young people towards creating our own jobs. In this brave new approach, the under-developed agricultural sector provides us with a relatively young and fertile pitching grounds (pardon the pun). Agricultural business is in need of major investment and infusion of fresh ideas fit for a 21st century economy. Informed and technologically savvy youths have lapped on to the opportunity to service this sector with information and internet support.

The link between timely and effective information sourcing to the performance of a business organization have been established. The agriculture sector firmly perched on the transformation bandwagon sweeping the country has relied on the support and technological skills of the Nigerian youth in setting up innovative ventures based around agro-consultancy using websites, blogspots amd social media. This young start-up companies provide services ranging from providing farmers with operational information on farm related issues, staff recruitment, training and even agronomic information.

In my work with YAE, I have come across quite a few very interesting agro-entrepreneurs whose activities rely heavily on the information and internet support to farmers and the farm business.


G6Farms. Is one of such companies. ( http://www.g6farms.com)

with their promise of prcesion solution for your growing needs, the comoany aims to to be recognized as the most highly respected agricultural Company in the world, leading and excelling in the programs and services delivered to meet the needs for the growing local and global food and agricultural systems. Their services include Aquaponics training;a revolutionary technological concept that was created as a way to mimic mutually beneficial natural system. In these system, plants within hydroponic components utilize nutrient rich fish waste as fertilizer,in doing so the plants grow serviced by wastewater allowing for its re-use in the fish-rearing component. They also do commodity marketing and general farm consultancy.


Agropreneursnaija.wordpress.com .

Agropreneur Naija is the social media outlet for AGROPRENEUR NIGERIA an Agribusiness enterprise in Nigeria, West Africa.Our goal is to change the mind set of youth towards agriculture by promoting it as a business while at the same time providing support for start ups, existing young farmers and agro-entrepreneurs and sharing information and resources that create opportunities for growth, inspires and provides mentorship.


This budding field of enterprise has been aptly termed as Agricultural Communications, with academic courses in recognition of this niche market being offered by some institutions. Its an interesting point to note that most entrepreneurs and businesses involved in this area are currently operating in almost complete oblivion of each others works. There is a low level of self awareness amongst the social media population ofnigeria in comparison to entertainment, fashion and political activism bloggers.This low level of self awareness is indicative of the relative newness of these ventures. The main purpose of this article is to address this situation. Greater awareness of  agro-entrepreneurs amongst the online community of Nigeria will improve the practice, and  success of farming and agricultural business amongst youths.
Do you know any bloggers, startup companies, blogs and organizations involved with agro-entrepreneurships? Please do contact us or drop us a message on youthagroents@gmail.com

CALL FOR COLLABORATORS, PARTNERS & VOLUNTEERS

ARE YOU BETWEEN THE AGE GROUP OF 18 –35 ?
ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT CREATING WEALTH ?
DO YOU HAVE GREAT COMMUNICATION SKILLS ?
LOOKING FOR PRODUCTIVE NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES
INTERESTED IN JOINING A PROJECT THAT MAKES A REAL DIFFERENCE ?

We are looking for motivated and committed individuals/organizations to
collaborate with Youth Agro Entrepreneurs (YAE) in organizing outreach
programmes and events.

YAE is a social enterprise incubator that aims to train a new generation of farmers by building sustainable agricultural training centres on farm sites across the region. YAE is a training centre that teaches agricultural practices and business skills required to become a successful agro-entrepreneur. We are convinced that this will contribute to reducing levels of youth unemployment in Nigeria. Interested parties should please contact us for specific details.

The project is funded by The Rockefeller Foundation and Ajima Farms Nigeria Ltd and was awarded the Social Innovation Award in 2012.

Interested candidates should send an email to youthagroent@gmail.com

FISHING FOR PROFIT

A little social innovation can help reduce the cost of feeding for aquaculture practitioners. There is huge profit to be made in fish farming due to its high demand but the steep cost of feed is a major worry for entrepreneurs venturing into this business. I experienced this first hand managing a fish pond as a part-time job during my NYSC year. Like most young people fishing for a little extra cash would do, I had to get innovative.

The farm specialized in catfish production but also had poultry on site. The pond I managed had a stock of approximately 2,100 pieces. The benchmark set for table sized catfish here was 1.5 kg. Therefore once the fish got to the benchmarked weight, they were ready to be sold off to prospective clients. I was responsible for designing the feeding regimen, feeding process, taking records of weights, keeping track of medications and vaccinations, monitoring water levels/quality and procurement of feed and other needed materials. I had a two man staff – one IT student from Federal University of Technology, Minna and a teenager from Katsina who lived in the village next to the farm and had made quite a reputation for himself as a reliable fish harvesting expert. He earned his living by been contracted on a daily basis by the different farms around our site. After watching him work for us on a contract capacity, We had to hire him.

I noticed early that a huge chunk of my weekly budget was spent on purchase of feeds. Catfish are notorious for their appetite and though they can constantly consume any feed chucked into their pond, I was working on the strict model that aimed for a 100% feed conversion ratio (FCR) ± 5% i.e. for a table sized fish of 1.5 kg, it would have consumed 1.5kg of feed. Therefore when we operated under optimum conditions, it would require 3,150 kg of feed to take our juveniles to table size catfish. The brand of feed used on the farm was “Coopen” which was available in 15kg bags and each bag costs # 7,0 00 Naira. Doing the quick sums would show that I needed to budget 1.47 million Naira for feeds if all conditions were met for optimum production and possibly higher if any errors came up in my feeding regimen. The large sum spurred me into action to reduce our cost of feeds and increase my take home pay.


The first step I took bringing to fore all of my analytical chemistry education was to pick up a bag of fish feed at the Kado fish Market (Abuja) and have a look at the contents sticker on the bag. I had to know exactly what was inside what I was paying for. I stumbled upon two facts that were so obvious I felt a shade thicker


• Most of the feed brands available were imported from Scandinavian countries and the very few feeds manufactured by Nigerian companies where so crude in design and packaging that most commercial farms were reluctant to purchase them

• The raw materials for compounding these feeds were readily available at the markets and on my farm site


Fish meal is a major component of the floating feeds and this was basically carcass of fish, small harvested fish, fish bones etc dried and granulated and incorporated into the feed with other additives, wheat offal, soya beans cake, fish oil and essential vitamins. Looking around the Kado fish market, like most other fish markets in Abuja there was no provision for cleaning and disposing off the waste generated at the market. The market was completely covered in fish entrails, fish scales, wastes and the likes. Right in front of me was the problem and the solution.

A clean and hygienic market would attract a wider range of customers and generate more profit for the traders (social responsibility) while collecting all the waste generated at the market would serve as useful raw material for compounding my own fish meal on the farm (entrepreneurial opportunism), later on I would learn from one of my staff that the catfish had a preference for feeding them the raw carcass and waste off the fish market due to it been easier to digest than compounded feeds but that’s a discussion for another day. I returned to the farm in Kuje and drew up an action plan. Investing 20% of my weekly feed budget, I purchased plastic bins and bags branded with our farm logo and joined my staff to woo the local fish sellers at Kuje market to collect all of their carcass, wastes, etc into the bins which we provided for free to them and even added an incentive of paying # 500 naira for anyone that filled up their wheelie bins. We collected them every evening at 5 o clock and transported them immediately to the farm. By the end of the first week, we had collected 160 Kg of fish waste from Kuje market. After drying and granulation this shrunk to about half the weight. This combined with the maggots produced from poultry droppings on site; I had managed to cut down my feed budget by an enviable 45 % and generated extra revenue selling the waste we couldn’t use to neighboring farms. Making a difference had never been so profitable.


Onimisi K. A.
Is Communication Officer for YAE and a Social Innovation enthusiast
follow on twitter @onimsiwordsmith