Four Agricultural Fields With Goods Job Prospects

When you hear the word “agriculture,” images of a farmer atop his tractor may come to mind, but there are a slew of other related professions to pursue, from engineering to economics.

Earlier this year, a study led by Purdue University determined that in the next five years there would be close to 60,000 job openings annually in fields related to agriculture, food, the environment, and renewable natural resources. We spoke to three professors at Purdue—a major research university located in West Lafayette, Indiana, which is consistently ranked as having one of the top agricultural sciences programs in the country (and world for that matter)—on which professions are emerging in this field.
Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Agricultural engineers can focus on machine design, design, and processes of getting food produced at the farm to your plate, or environmental challenges working with soil, water, and air, says Bernard Engel, head of Purdue’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Careers include working for equipment manufactures in the agricultural, forestry, construction, and military industries. On the environmental and natural resources end, there are jobs with various government agencies or consulting firms.

Engel says the all of the programs in his department are in high demand right now. “Many of the advances in agriculture right now are coming in this area. The future looks bright as well, given expectations of even more technology being used in agriculture in the future,” he says in an email.

Biological engineers deal with issues that include food processes, things like making food taste better or making it last longer; and cellular and biomolecular engineering, which concerns “finding better ways to get value from by-products or getting energy from biological materials.” The food industry is a major employer. Engel says there is also a demand in research and development for these graduates, not only in the food and pharmaceutical industries, but also in genetic engineering in plants.

Agricultural Systems Management graduates help make agricultural technology easier to understand and use, says Engel, and students in this area are “highly sought after in careers with machinery, grain handling, and precision technology.”

Soil Science

Students can focus on soil ecology, chemistry, physics, conservation, and soil landscapes—mapping the soil attributes of a certain area—among other fields of study. John Graveel, an agronomy professor and director of the Natural Resources and Environmental Science program at Purdue, says job prospects for soil scientists right now are very strong.

“Soil science students are getting some training in geographical information systems [GIS],” Graveel tells Modern Farmer in a phone interview. (GIS is a computer system that is used for collecting and displaying data as it relates to geographic points on the Earth’s surface.) “It’s hugely in demand right now by consulting firms to have people on staff who know how to do GIS.”

Agricultural Economics

Agricultural economics is the practice of applying economic principles to public and private decisions made in the agricultural sector, explains Kenneth Foster, head of Purdue’s Agricultural Economics Department. The field includes sales and marketing, agribusiness, farm management, policy making, and natural resource and energy economics.

Job prospects are “pretty strong” for graduates in this “heavily data and metric driven” field, Foster says. “We placed 98 percent of our graduates last May by the end of the summer. Well over 100 students got jobs.”

Pro tip: Foster says because we’re entering an era of data-driven decision making, “the students who can position themselves to be strong from an analytical and problem-solving perspective are going to have an edge in the market.”

All three professors agree on what students interested in these fields should be focusing on: math and science. You get a bonus for taking part in extracurricular activities that help build leadership, communication, and organizational skills.

Startups

Finally, let’s not forget the entrepreneurs out there who are tech savvy and like to go it alone. Agricultural technology startups are blooming right now. Last year the industry grew by 170 percent and had more than $2.36 billion in investment, according to the website TechCrunch.

“I think the agricultural tech industry is doing well because it’s been overlooked for awhile. I think that’s really going to change and it’s going to continue to grow,” says Jason Aramburu, founder and CEO of Edyn, a startup that makes a smart watering sensor for crops.


By Andrew Amelinckx for Modern Farmer

Obasanjo and AGRA Cohorts Launch Africa Food Prize

Participants at the just concluded 12th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program Partnership Platform (CAADP PP) in Accra, Ghana have called on the private sector to translate Malabo commitment into bankable business plans that can attract required resources necessary for accelerated implementation.

Former Nigeria President, Olusegun Obasanjo with Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) President , Dr. Agnes Kalibata, at the launch of the Africa Food Prize at the just concluded 12th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program Partnership Platform (CAADP PP) in Accra, GhanaFormer Nigeria President, Olusegun Obasanjo with Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) President , Dr. Agnes Kalibata, at the launch of the Africa Food Prize at the just concluded 12th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program Partnership Platform (CAADP PP) in Accra, Ghana The call formed part of the recommendations made at the end of the CAADP PP meeting which focused on, “Innovative financing and Renewed Partnerships to Accelerate the Implementation of CAADP.”

The CAADP PP, brought together over 400 African and global leaders from international organisations, African Governments, including parliamentarians from AU Member States, private agribusiness firms, farmers, NGOs and civil society organizations. The 12th CAADP PP was designed to deliver on the AU Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Africa Agricultural Growth and Transformation and the AU Agenda 2063, through speeding up CAADP implementation as a result of financial innovation and partnerships. Delegates at the meeting underscored the need to innovate so as to address the gaps in the financial products and delivery of financial services. The meeting also highlighted the need to implement the Malabo Declaration with greater coordination across sectors on the continent and within regions. The participants added that development finance policies and efforts exist but the delivery of the development finance services is clearly the weakness. On innovative delivery financial services, participants asked the stakeholders to consider how the digital revolution in financial services could be used to collect the much needed data for planning and risk management.

Participants also called on stakeholders to educate the smallholder farmers and the small and medium enterprises on how to conduct business and improve business skills. On agriculture and food insecurity risk management, it was agreed that stakeholders shall address the quality of data requirement collectively together with the national planning data and financial services to reduce the unit cost of investment, but to also create the opportunity for this investment to be considered as a public good. “Member states shall continue to out in place the necessary infrastructure, building capacity and creating a good environment for the risk management markets to make it more attractive.” One of the key messages from the meeting is the call for a coherent linkage across regional markets that ensure coordination but also address the multi- sectoral dimensions of agriculture and rural development. It was noted that the public sector needs to do the heavy lifting so as to create an attractive environment for the private sector. The meeting also reaffirmed the vital role for agriculture in leading African development and serving as a catalyst for the needs of the youth and women. Speaking during the opening session, African Union Commission (AUC) Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, reiterated that the only way to sustainably deliver on the Heads of State Commitments on Malabo was to, “mobilize our own continental human and financial resources and build strong partnerships for an accountable and efficient implementation of the CAADP Agenda.” She informed the gathering that the Malabo Declaration, in line with Africa’s Agenda 2063, reiterates a call for action and delivery of results and impact and an expedient process of translating the commitments into results. “We have made a tremendous effort to align the global indicators set in the SDGs with those of the 10-year Plan of Agenda 2063 stipulated in the Malabo Declaration and translated into the CAADP Result Framework and Implementation Roadmap. “This will facilitate our Member States to customize both the SDGs and the CAADP-Malabo targets,’’ she said. “Agriculture is proven to reduce poverty 11 times compared to other sectors. Hence my plea to all Member States is to follow through on their 2003 Maputo commitment reiterated in their 2014 Malabo Declaration to invest at least 10 % of their public budget in agriculture.” Tumusiime said renewed partnerships built on mutual accountability would help Governments, the Private Sector, Farmers and Farmers organizations as well as development partners to deliver on results and Impact for a transformed Agriculture and reach the targets set by the CAADP, Malabo Declaration and the SDGs.


Ghanian Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan, said the agricultural sector was of critical importance to stimulate broad economic growth as he called for more enhanced investments from the private sector into agriculture. Speaking during the opening ceremony, the CEO of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, said that agriculture still remains the best sector that offers the continent escape from poverty. He said of all the challenges that Africa faces, agriculture is one that transcends and embraces all the other. “Agriculture, which employs or provides livelihoods to 60% of the population while contributing 20-30% to Africa’s GDP, is the sector that could by itself enable to save the greatest number of Africans from extreme poverty while giving them their dignity back.” Speaking yesterday at the opening of the 12th CAADP PP taking place in Accra, he said regrettably, agriculture attracts less than 5% of lending from financial institutions on the continent, leaving farmers and agricultural enterprises starved of the capital they need to operate and grow their businesses. “Our continent today runs the risk of missing a unique opportunity to develop and offer its youth the jobs it has the obligation to provide if it wants to avoid social implosion. Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki said “Africa can only make it happen if we collectively innovate and collectively agree to account for the resources injected and results and impact that ensue. Indeed, as a continent, with a community of destiny, we cannot afford to invest into our agriculture the same way we have been doing thus far.’’ Dr. Mayaki urged Africa to demonstrate how proactive it is in injecting its own resources into agriculture and to have a more inward looking approach into self-reliance on domestic resources. During the opening ceremony also, Tumusiime chaired a session that saw President. Obasanjo, President Kufour and Dr. Agnes Kalibata, launch the Africa Food Prize.

The Africa Food Prize is a transition from the Yara Prize, Africa’s most prestigious award recognizing outstanding contributions to reducing hunger and poverty. It is also a response to the recommendation by AU Heads of State and Government in their Malabo Declaration to institutionalize a system for peer review that encourages good performance on achievement of progress made in implementing the provisions of the Declaration and to recognize biennially, exemplary performance through awards. Agnes Kalibata, AGRA President disclosed that the US $100,000 accolade will recognize outstanding individuals and institutions that are changing the reality of farming in Africa from a struggle to survive to a business that thrives. “Winners will be selected by a panel of independent and distinguished leaders in African agriculture chaired by President H.E Obasanjo. “The Africa Food Prize will shine a bright spotlight on bold initiatives and technical innovations that can be replicated across the continent to help millions of smallholder farmers deliver a new era of sustainable food security and economic opportunity. “We encourage you to embrace this opportunity to honour the best and brightest in African agriculture by nominating candidates for the Africa Food Prize who are dedicated to putting smallholder farmers at the centre of Africans growing economies.”

By Babatunde Jimoh

Fuel, Food And Optimism

The fuel scarcity is hitting everyone hard. The small to medium scale businesses are really struggling as well and like the rest of the country we are begging for respite. Fuel scarcity also poses a major threat to our food security. The cost of transporting food round the country would increase which would also spike the food costs. Not good news at all at the moment. Losses are been incurred everywhere in the country.

I came across a news article regarding these losses from the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) which made it clear to the government that the issue of unavailability of petroleum products and its importation portrays our country in bad light. It shows us up as an incompetent manager of our resources.

“NNPC from the comments of it’s officials may have given up. We may seriously need to divest our refineries. Businesses and our economy are being battered from all sides. Forex, energy supply, infrastructure, security concerns. The list is endless.” He said
Businesses especially MSME’s have lost over N30B through inadequate supply of petroleum products. Labour productivity is low as employees have stayed off work since the hike of fares by providers and when they come, they are always late. NNPC banned the use of containers to buy petrol without considering that most households and small businesses run on petrol generating sets. This has forced them to close shops. Buying with kegs is not the cause of scarcity but inadequate supply of products.
According to Tony Ejinkeonye, NNPC over the years has not proffered any meaningful solution. They are fond of treating symptoms instead of addressing the issue, he concluded.

The fate of a business owner in Nigeria at the moment reminds me of a Late Koffi Awnoor verse;
"If I turn here, the rain beats me
If I turn there the sun burns me
The firewood of this world Is for only those who can take heart
That is why not all can gather it"


Naija, we are still pregnant with hope!

Meet The Modern Farmer From Uganda

Lanyero Family Plot
Gulu Region, Northern Uganda


Christine Lanyero was only a teenager in 1987 when Joseph Kony’s brutal Lord’s Resistance Army occupied the Gulu-region village where her family farmed. After the LRA killed Lanyero’s father, she walked nearly 250 miles to a refugee camp outside the city of Kampala.

But in August of 2014, the camp’s land was sold for development. With financial aid from a U.S.-based nonprofit, Lanyero—along with 31 other women and their families—journeyed north to their ancestral lands, which are once again considered safe.


Lanyero, her husband, and her five children moved into a new mud-brick and thatch hut steps away from where she grew up, and she planted maize, groundnuts, cassava, and soybeans. Like the majority of women in Northern Uganda, Lanyero digs food (dig is the local word for farm) to feed her household, and often walks long distances to sell surplus at regional markets. Every day, she carries jerricans over a mile each way to the nearest borehole to gather water. “It is difficult to start over and make a life again,” she says. “This has not been easy. The digging is challenging, and the market is far away. Everything is far away.”

Christine is just an example of a growing trend of modern farmers who seem to be characterized by the sheer will to grow food against the odds of environment, social hindrances and lack of access to land either due to cost or land grab challenges. Christine's story shows us that there is a way and more importantly she isn't alone; there are many people in her situation and many individuals and organizations that have dedicated their time and effort to help work together and solve these problems.

Do you know any modern farmers around you that would benefit from support and a network to help improve their farming methods and improve quality of life, please contact me and lets see what we can all achieve together. Lets keep growing.
KOA

The nonprofit After the Bulldozers—founded by a 16-year-old girl in Danville, California—helped Lanyero and more than 200 others.

THE VALUE ADDITION IMPERATIVE IN AGRICULTURE

Local agricultural processing is vital as Africa’s food imports continue to rise – but not all commodities are well suited to domestic value addition

A rising middle class and expanding population are pushing Africa’s food import bill to worrying highs. While rising capital imports suggest growing productive capacity, booming consumption imports – especially for products that can be produced domestically – are a red flag, according to Jean-Louis Ekra, president of the African Export-Import Bank in Cairo. They suggest economies are failing to keep pace and running up unnecessary trade imbalances.

Africa lost its status as a net exporter of agricultural products in the early 1980s when prices for raw commodities fell and local production stagnated. Since then, agricultural imports have grown faster than agricultural exports and by 2007 reached a record high of $47bn, yielding a deficit of $22bn. The value of agricultural exports from Thailand is now greater than for the whole of the African continent below the Sahara.

Nature is partly to blame. Weather-related damage has hit rice crops in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger and Madagascar. Foot and mouth disease has hurt Egypt’s bovine exports, and cassava – one of Africa’s major offerings to world agricultural trade – is being felled by a fast-spreading virus. Policy volatility is also at fault. Nigeria – Africa’s largest rice importer – announced heightened import taxes last year, which prompted a sudden rise in purchases. And across Africa, weak infrastructure hinders markets.

But rising food imports are also a consequence of wealth and one of its tell-tale effects: a taste for protein. Poultry import growth last year was around 12 percent, driven by higher incomes in the likes Angola, Benin, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Africa is growing at a base of 5 to 6 percent a year, which translates into a growing middle class with an increase of consumption,” says Mr Ekra. “In west Africa, for instance, you see an increasing taste for luxury Thai rice.”

This is not only the case in the more affluent economies. In Sierra Leone, which languishes towards the bottom of the United Nations’ Human Development Index, rice imports have run to about 15 percent of consumption in the last few years, and have reached as much as 45 percent in the recent past. “That means an import bill of several hundred million dollars, a truly frightening percentage of the $3.8bn GDP,” says Paddy Docherty, chief executive of Phoenix Africa, a company investing in post-conflict countries.

Companies testify to the challenges of agricultural import-dependence in their continental operations. “We have 13 factories in Africa that use products like soft oils, tomatoes or starch-based compounds on a daily basis, but much of this is imported, wasting foreign exchange and increasing our carbon footprint,” says Marc Engel, chief procurement officer at Unilever.

But to an optimist, import-dependence spells opportunity. Firstly, structural imbalances are a symptom of fast growth. China’s annual agricultural consumption needs have now overtaken production too. For companies and investors, the import profile signals strong domestic demand which could be tapped through investment in domestic agribusiness and food retail.

Attention is turning to greater domestic processing of agricultural resources, to ensure raw products can reach finished form within African markets. Raising productivity is key to this. “In order to have a sustainable, solid rural sector you cannot have poverty. You must have prosperity,” says Howard-Yana Shapiro, global director of plant science and external research for Mars. “And how will that come without productivity? So productivity is the key piece.”

Mr Docherty agrees that productivity increases are needed to drive local value addition. “The vast majority of imports are of bagged rice, i.e. already milled and packaged,” says Mr Docherty. “There is great potential to do this milling in situ in places like Sierra Leone, if there is the primary production in country to feed the mills. I know from experience that the tiny areas in production in Sierra Leone, and the low yields currently being achieved because of the lack of inputs such as fertiliser and lime, means that there is milling capacity which is unused.”

One Beijing-funded demonstration farm in the Bo region has a decent rice mill which is shut because it lacks the raw product to justify keeping it in operation, says Mr Docherty: “Processing capacity alone is no good without sufficient volumes of local production. I do not imagine the economics would work if raw rice was imported for local processing. Processing capacity must grow alongside local production, and the two together are essential for achieving food security and more efficient markets in Africa.”

It is also important to ensure local processing is technically advanced, otherwise it can consume large amounts of labour without a value payback. Cassava processing, for instance, is often low productivity – and traditional processing methods can lead to contamination of cassava crops.

Practitioners must distinguish between commodities which make sense to process locally, and those that do not. Technoserve, the NGO, has conducted analysis across several African markets and their findings challenge the view that local processing is always best. Measuring the domestic resource cost of a range of Mozambican commodities threw up a number of interesting insights. Local processing of cashew nuts was seen to be highly advantageous, while local varieties of rice (Chokwe and Zambezia varieties) were not found to be financially profitable without credit access and technical assistance. Potatoes command low prices but production costs are modest, suggesting a good market, while paprika was found to be “somewhat profitable” for farmers, although pesticide and fertiliser interventions would be needed.

Simon Winter, senior vice president for development at Technoserve, says market dynamics signal where and how to go about value addition. “Once you have identified the market and where processing needs to be, then you optimise your logistics,” he says. It does not make sense, for instance, to develop cashew roasting and packaging facilities too close to the production source if the consumer market is far away, due to the damage that will be caused during transportation. “If cashew kernels are in vacuum packed 2kg bags, they are less likely to get broken and crushed than in a small foil packet,” Mr Winter notes. Chocolate, on the other hand, would make more sense to process locally (currently, Europe and North America dominate this segment). While high temperatures are a struggle in west Africa, there is less risk of product damage during transportation of chocolate. “You have to understand this commodity by commodity,” says Mr Winter.

There are many constraints to value addition, even where economic arguments are strong. First is a lack of resources, including refrigeration and cold storage, vehicles and skilled personnel. Then there are deficient or confusing standards, especially between countries. And there are serious health dangers to some locally-grown produce, such as aflatoxin that can be found in large quantities in maize and nuts.

Local processing means being able to identify and have the means to flush out such health dangers, for instance through aseptic processing. Important assistance here can come from government agencies. The Kenya Agriculture Research Institute, for instance, provides disease and pest management support, as does Cocobod, the cocoa sector agency in Ghana.

When exploring the market dynamics of local processing, it is also important for companies and practitioners to distinguish between producer- versus buyer-driven chains. Buyer-driven chains can be evident in agriculture, when freshness standards and protected varieties are important, when there is high product differentiation, when packaging and logistics are complicated, or when R&D and other knowledge elements in production or processing are critical. So it may well be large retailers and brand companies – from Massmart to Unilever – who could provide the impetus to local processing in Africa, saving themselves money and reducing supply chain complexity.

ADAM ROBERT GREEN
Contributor to "THIS IS AFRICA" Development Section
Read original article from the link below

http://www.thisisafricaonline.com/Development2/The-value-addition-imperative-in-agriculture?ct=true

How To Fund Your Small Farm Business Start-Up

The sceptics have been quick to point out to me that growing food is a relatively cheap thing to do. Farming is part of the Africans DNA, it is our culture, and it is in our history - Just throw some seeds in the soil, add water and watch the plants sprout. It is that simple.
But growing food commercially to feed hundreds or thousands of people isn’t cheap. Farming is expensive. Tractors cost millions of naira, barns don’t build themselves, personnel require high salaries to keep them motivated and you can’t grow marketing materials. Like any business, starting a farm from scratch takes resources. Agro-entrepreneurship is neither cheap nor easy but it is extremely fulfilling and profitable.
For young people venturing into agro-entrepreneurship, finding money to pay for those resources can be difficult, even impossible. Traditionally, farmers have had far fewer lending options available to them compared to other areas of the economy. Obtaining a loan from the bank or other financial institutions has historically required documented farming experience and lots of collateral (typically large expanse of lands). Agricultural loans from commercial banks or farm credit agencies were aimed towards giant agricultural corporations, and haven’t taken young farmer seriously in the past. This are part of the problems limiting youths floating more agro-enterprises start-up.
In the vacuum created by these barriers, the government and various non-profits and business people have stepped in to try and ensure a future for young farmers with creative new funding models to help solve these problems

Here are a few ideas for raising funds for establishing a small farm business.

1. Bring In Your Rich Friend, Family

In an industrial agricultural system set up to feed billions of people and grow profit for shareholders, small-scale farmers don’t stand a chance raising the much needed capital to set up an efficient enterprise. The equipments and processes need to be put in place requires money. Hard cash, which most small scale farmers don’t have a lot off ( nor do the youths being encouraged to take up farming as an option to unemployment) is needed. Involving your rich friends or family is the traditional way of starting a fundraiser for a business idea. Agriculture is no different. It is true that most rich people would rather not engage in farming due to the general stigma towards farming as a poor person’s survival technique but most rich folks would invest in farming business if you have a concrete business plan clearly stating the return in investment. Forget the fear of your idea being stolen by a wealthier, greedier friend. Agriculture is not such a novel idea and some would rather die than do the work. It is okay, that’s why you are an entrepreneur. As the saying goes; man must chop! Therefore food business is always good business.



2. Reach Out To Rural Leaders

A decade ago, in Abuja a choice plot of land could be obtained from a traditional ruler in your area if he deems you worthy. Be it through honest service to the community, underhand payments, marrying his daughter, putting his sons through school or just about any act to get yourself in his or her good books. These powers to allocate land at will have been taken away by AGIS for a more modern system of land allocation fitting for a 21st century city that Abuja aims to be. That is all prim and proper, but these traditional leaders of rural communities still control and own vast expanse of lands which most of them are left unpopulated and uncultivated. While Abuja is going ultra-modern, majority of the country is still ruled by rural leaders with the power to allocate lands. It is worthy to always remember as an educated young person in the city searching for opportunities that big population is big business and majority of Nigerians live in rural communities. Reaching out to these leaders can be a genuine opportunity to own a piece of land to start your farm business, plus they also control large amounts of human resources. Empowering a traditional ruler in rural areas through setting up agro-enterprises under their watch can boost their popularity amongst their subjects and help create opportunities for the community and what is more you get to make start your business with the two key resources needed for agriculture – land and labour.

3. Connect With Other Would-Be Farmers and Set-up a Co-operative

Self - preservation is the first law of nature. Networking and meeting up with like -minded individuals who are looking to start a farm biz is vital. Joining a co-operative is an innovative way of sourcing for funds and there are various interesting groups out there helping to build their own vision and enterprises. These co-operatives operate varying financial models which could help you start plus applying for a loan as a group also increases your chances of convincing the banks and loan institutions

4. Apply For Fund/Grants/Loans Specifically Aimed At Farmers

A major downside to taking loans from financial institutions are the high interest rates incurred from taking these monies they offer. This is slowly being overcome as the government and various agencies and organizations are beginning to realize the potential of agricultural business and its importance to prosperity. There are specific loans aimed at funding young people. The Bank of Agriculture has been active, National Export Import (NEXIM) Bank, and various Microfinance Banks have loans specifically tailored to the peculiar business of agriculture. Take the bold step and speak to one of these organizations you had be genuinely surprised. Those involved in National Youth Service Corp (NYSC ) can speak to their CDS officials and find out about non interest loans available to them. For a global approach, there are crowd funding websites like AgFunder that can help your kick-starter campaign.

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.

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