With the discovery of oil in Nigeria and the attendant huge revenue from which sprang up many blue chips companies, farming, that is full of dirt and dung and as such, not a profession we look to find the meaning of human life was relegated and the masses that would have made the country, a leading provider of foods, take to the city in search of the white-collar jobs. Nigerians took to the sweet city life and its psychedelic lifestyle characterised then, by baggie trousers, afro haircut, and high-heeled shoes. In no time, the population started to boom and in a way not known before, Nigerians embraced our own mode of civilisation that is very opaque.
Nigerians abandoned their origins which attributes include cocoa from the South West, Groundnuts from the North, Rubber from the Midwestern, and fruits from the middle-belt. The once rich, food basket nation ignored the farm that has brought her, enormous wealth and fame and became dependent on imported foreign canned foods. Then the unexpected began to happen, as the once huge oil resources become inadequate. Then the blue-chip companies became overstretched with no longer a space for fresh school leavers, and unemployment became bloated. Nigeria is thus faced by declining oil resources, increasing population that is made up of jobless folks, food scarcity occasioned by long years of dependent on imported foods, and abandoned but fertile, expansive arable land that yearns for cultivation.
Umar Hussaini, a one-time civil engineer is one of those that has now heeded the voice of reason. Umar is of the Northern stock, from Kana village in Nasarawa state in the Northern part of Nigeria. With a fair share of life’s experience in a period characterised by farm work in addition to western education, a major part of Umar’s childhood and teenage years went into learning the art of farming. The farm is where he gets his extra lesson after school hours.
“I grew up in a polygamous home and back then a man’s wealth is determined by the number of children he has to help with his farm works, so I can say all my life, I knew farming because at a young age I was introduced into farming. I had no choice but to go to the farm with my family as it was the major source of income, even on school days we had to head to the farm after classes.”
What Umar may have detested then as a young boy, appears to have prepared him for the life he lives now, after his sojourn in the white-collar job space as a civil engineer, supervising building construction. Since 2013 however, he has come home to roost, as a full-time farmer and managing director of Hajigudo Enterprises, owners of a 45-hectares palm-tree plantation located in Kana, Nasarawa state. Farming is his first love, and, he is now in wild romance with it.
Having garnered so much experience as a fulfilled civil Engineer who had supervised and completed laudable projects, Umar retired to his passion; Farming. He started his farming business with N20 million to build his palm-tree plantation with so much optimism and resilience which are the most crucial skills required in a business. Although, he plants seasonal crops like Maize, groundnuts, yams, etc. Umar’s focus remains to have a worthy and well-established palm-tree plantation where palm fruits can be cultivated for various use, even though it takes three years to mature; yet, it is a lucrative investment.
No matter how interesting a story seems, some challenges provide some dark sides which require diplomacy especially in the case of business. This side of Umar’s was an unpleasant occurrence when cows grazed on his farmland resulting in huge losses and a drawback. To avoid further damage, and confrontation with the herdsmen, he had to fence around the whole farm and hired security men to guard against herdsmen and their cows from entering the plantation. This costs him huge resources.
His other challenges are high wages, lack of quality implements and seedlings, unavailability of a good sales team, and manpower.
The palm-tree plantation consists of 9,000 pieces of palm-trees from which Umar has started to reap from upon maturity. The farm engages in mini-production of palm oil, palm-kernel oil basically for household consumption; because they process manually, and sell the palm fruits directly to buyers.
“We planted in phases and so harvest is not at once for the whole farm I still have some that are still growing while others are matured though. This is my second year of harvest, and for now, I just sell the palm fruits directly to the buyers then take home some to be processed manually into palm oil, and kernel oil for the household.
Funding the plantation has been all on Umar who started with his personal fund. He does not need a loan to sustain or expand the business; rather, proceeds from the produce are reinvested. However, Umar is aware of government incentives to farmers, and has friends who have benefitted from it, yet, he is better off as a sole sponsor of his farming business.
“I started up with my personal funds and now, I spend about N2 million annually to maintain the farm. This comes from the sales of raw farm produce. There were options of loans when I started the farm but did not take to that because I had my personal savings that were enough to start-up”
In a nutshell, Umar believes that farming is the only investment that always brings good income as humans need food to survive.
“I can’t say the farm is paying off fully yet because it is still young but so far, I am happy with the results and it is getting better as the years go by,” says Umar, who extracted 40 liters of palm oil from some of the palm fruits that were manually processed by the family during the second harvest.
Umar said Nigerians know the importance of farming, even before other things came along. He knew there is money in farming if well planned because humans need food to survive, and he can confidently say farming never fails as long as there is commitment. It is the only investment that always brings good money noted Umar who “implored the Nigeria government to do more on educating the youths about Agriculture.”
Today, Umar who now all smiles can confidently say that “Farming never fails with commitment and patience.
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