WEEKEND COVER: Young farmer speaks: How I started my vegetable venture

Nojet Achi is a female vegetable supplier and farmer in Kaduna state. The graduate of Mass Communication in her early thirties speaks to WEEKEND on how she conceived her ‘green’ venture and what she expects shortly.

How did you conceive the idea? My venture is Achi Farms and it started from buying and selling which I am quite good at. However, while I was growing, I go to farm with my parent to grow greens and it was lucrative, but I never really liked it. There is a ‘green’ fruit market in Kafanchan where people from other states and even foreigners including Chinese come to buy for their consumption and resale, we take our farm produce there and gradually the interest came up. When did you start your venture? I travelled to a country in West Africa where I saw people establish businesses on home deliveries for green farm produce. I was humiliated because I procrastinated but I finally started almost two years ago with the home delivery of vegetables and fruits.

How have you built your customer strength? I make flier and distribute them, then I do door-to-door contacts and also apply the social media including blackberry messages. My customer base comprises of individuals, clubs, hotels and eateries. I have a list of vegetables like blackberry, flowers, green and brown pepper, red cabbage, and lettuce among others; I present to them to place their orders a day or two ahead. I grow some of them in my farm while I buy more as the demand began to rise and my harvest could no longer contain it. Do you have some vegetables other than the common varieties in Nigeria? Some of the vegetables I grow such as blackberry and strawberry are scarce in the market but they grow very well in my farm when I use compost manure. They hardly thrive on fertilizer but could grow excellently when compost manure is applied. I believe many farmers do not know much about this and that probably accounts for their scarcity. Surprisingly, compost or organic manure is quite affordable as one could use cow dung and fowl litters and the produce will still grow well. What are the challenges you face? The challenge is basically on transport as it is expensive. We spend so much transporting the produce from the farm sometimes in Kafanchan to our store and customers in Kaduna metropolis, a distance of about 100 kilometers. Transporters give us cut throat price but we still manage with it because they are perishable items that must be delivered quickly. How did you get a land to run a green farm? That is a family land and it is quite far from my market location. I had mulled getting a farmland within Kaduna metropolis but that is quite expensive. Getting as much as 5 to 10 acres of land could gulp almost 5 million naira or more and that could limit the business expansion. What is your current staff strength in Achi Greens? I have this concept of owning a ‘Green House’ as large as possible where I will get enlightened workers especially those that are still in school or graduates. Then we will run shift operations where more youths could be employed and still go to school. For now, I have five people working for me in the farm while some of them assist in the supplies. I pay them quite well and they have been working satisfactory. But I hope to expand and employ more of youths in the business before the end of this year.

How do you get the seeds for your produce? I get most of the seeds from Israel or from missionaries who bring them for sale from abroad. They are not just there in the market and they are very expensive. For instance, a pack of blackberry or strawberry seeds could cost as much as N40,000. Then at the Ministry of Agriculture seed centres, they hardly have the varieties of the seeds I farm. They only have the local ones found almost in every market. We just have to depend on established links and that makes it expensive for us. What do you hope to achieve few years from now? I envisage having a ‘Green House’ but I know it is quite expensive to have. I have done surveys and I got to know that the least one could start with, is two million naira. Having a sophisticated green house will help us have supply all year round and employ more hands. Are there government interventions for such emerging business? It is difficult to access government loans from the state government for expansion especially when one does not have collateral. Even with the best idea, once there is no guarantor or a link to accessing the loans it is quite hard. Logistics is hampering the movement of produce from farms in agriculture hubs to market places. In time past, the rail system really helped farmers but now it has collapsed. Government could empower youths through its Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) and others to venture into commercial farming. I tried the last Youth With Innovation in Nigeria (YOUWiN), but it hasn’t stopped me from seeking for similar avenues.

What would you have youths do? It is simply: ‘Whatever you find to do, do it well’. I started this venture after graduation with just a little startup capital of less than N50,000 but I have progressed since then, and my capital base has grown to over 300percent. One has to start something no matter how small it is, as it will help you to look for opportunities that can grow such enterprise. DAILY TRUST WEEKEND COVER STORY