PLANTAIN FARMING IN NIGERIA: ADDITIONAL PHOTOS OF PLANTAIN SUCKERS

PLANTAIN FARMING IN NIGERIA: HOW TO ACCESS LOANS FOR YOUR FARM

HOW TO ACCESS LOANS FOR YOUR PLANTAIN FARM
This is the 11th post on this highly acclaimed,informative plantain blog set up to educate Nigerians about the potentials in plantain farming business for wealth creation. If you are one of those Nigerians, foolishly roaming the streets for non-existing white collar jobs,put on your thinking cap and stay glued to all the posts on this blog.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has provisioned N200 Billion as loans to genuine farmers. The loans will be disbursed through the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), formerly known as the Nigerian Agricultural Credit and Rural Development Bank Limited (NACRDB).

The steps to obtain the loan are as follows:

1)      Locate the office of the Bank of Agriculture that covers the area or local government area where your farm is situated and open an account with the bank with a minimum deposit of N3000.00

2)      For the ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) requirements, you must present your NEPA Bill which confirms your place of residence + any of the approved means of identification such as International Passport, Drivers License, National Identity Card or Voters Registration Card. If you do not have the NEPA bill, forget the loan and do not waste your time going near the bank.

3)      Other requirements are:

Complete and signed account form

Complete and signed mandate card

Present 4 passport photographs of yourself

4)      You must run and operate the account for at least 3 -6months before applying for the loan. Do not think that you can just open the account, abandon it and show up after 6 months for the loan. The loan is not the usual national cake and the bank, newly repositioned, is not fooled. If you play that old game, the bank will doubt your integrity and commitment to repay the loan if granted and that means you may not get it.

Running and operating the loan means that you make it an active account. This means making sure that you save money and withdraw from the account on a regular basis. The bank wants to see that there are transactions going on in the account. Therefore, you should make regular deposits and withdrawals on the account during the 6 month period to create an active relationship that makes the bank have confidence in you.

5)      You must have an existing farm, at a fixed location and the farm must have its record of operations and activities on a daily basis neatly kept. The era of armchair farmers/political farmers/farms of no fixed address/classroom farmers are over. The bank will visit your farm for inspection when you apply for the loan.

6)      The bank will check what you have on ground; see how far you have gone; what the loan is required for, and ensure that the loan is appropriate for what it is required. The bank wants to know whether you have an adequate knowledge of your area of farming business. You must be able to demonstrate the practical hands-on experience in your area of farming. The bank wants to know whether you have a project you are working on and the fund requirements. And within a month of the inspection, the loan will be approved if the bank is satisfied.

What are you waiting for?

Get the land ready and start setting up the farm with what you have presently.

Then, go open an account with the Bank of Agriculture and operate it as required for at least 6 months.

Make an estimate of the farm’s fund requirements and get it ready before applying for the loan.

If you need information about the fund requirements for a plantain farm, the plantain farming reports on this blog, recently reviewed and updated has the full details.

John Ayodele

www.plantainrichesnigeria.blogspot.com

www.cassavarichesnigeria.blogspot.com
www.johnayodele.wordpress.com

PLANTAIN FARMING IN NIGERIA:The Best States For Plantain Plantation

The following Nigerian states have the best comparative advantage for plantain and banana farming:

Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, Oshun, Ekiti, Edo, Delta, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Bayelsa, Abia and Ebonyi.

The domestic uses of plantain are:
Fried slices (dodo) and  plantain chips
The industrial uses are plantain flour/bread, cake/pancake,baby foods,wine,beer,dried flakes,biscuits and cookies.

If you need land for agriculture, government land is available for lease all over Nigeria. The lands are managed by the various River Basin Development Authorities across Nigeria. 

For the lands managed by the Ogun-Oshun River Basin Authority, which covers Lagos, Ogun, Oshun and Oyo States, they have offices in those states where you can go to pay as low as N2500.00 per acre of land per year.

One of the blog followers who got the plantain reports and income & profitability forecasts on this blog has this to say:

''Good day to you sir, The Plantain Farming report contents was very helpful and the cash-flow forecast was very good too.''
Email: jadenuga@yahoo.com

They are:

1)    A short report titled ‘How to Set Up and Manage a Profitable Plantain Farm in Nigeria’. This is a guide to operations on the farm from day 1 to harvest.

2)    Plantain Farming Income Analysis showing:

a)    The Expenditure Pattern (Excel format) for the first two years in business.

b)    The Income and Profit analysis (Excel Format) for the first two years in business based on three conservative sales prices and seven realizable yield rates from 60% to 90%.

The cost is a token N2500.00.
Pay to First Bank Nigeria Account 3008421165 (ayodele adegbulugbe) and send payment details + email address to +2348035978352,and the two reports in soft copies will be delivered to your mailbox.

The plantation reports on this blog contain the plantain farming operation analysis, the income, cash flow and expenditure analysis for the first two years, the challenges in the business and how to overcome them, and the right sources to get the right type of plantain suckers.

John Ayodele
www.johnayodele.wordpress.com
www.plantainrichesnigeria.blogspot.com
www.cassavarichesnigeria.blogspot.com

PLANTAIN FARMING IN NIGERIA: PHOTO OF THE PLANTAIN SUCKER

PLANTAIN FARMING IN NIGERIA: Plantain Powder Business Opportunity

Plantain and banana are widely cultivated in the southern and middle belt regions in Nigeria. The annual local production outruns the demand. Being a highly perishable food item, substantial quantities rot away in a short period after harvest.

When the rains start which signals the commencement of planting, the plantain farmers plant at the same time. They harvest at the same period and flood the markets with the product. After a short while, the product soon becomes scarce where much rots away due to unavailable technology for conversion for a longer shelf life.

The solution is to process the fruits into a powdered form which can be packaged and stored for a longer time without spoilage and wastage occurring. The natural flavors in the powdered form can also be utilized in industrial food processing.

Foods and drinks such as cakes, ice creams, yoghurt and custard are flavored to enhance their taste. The flavors are imported into Nigeria and are synthetic, therefore not as good as the natural flavors in banana and plantain powder. The natural flavors can be imparted into other foods.

There is a readymade market within and outside Nigeria for banana and plantain powder. Nigerians in the diaspora, who are looking for businesses to do in Nigeria can look into the aspect of setting up a suitable processing technology to convert banana and plantain into powdered form. The benefits are many to the farmers and to the economy.

Conversion to powder will increase their economic value and give a longer shelf life. The added value will translate to selling at a higher price than the raw fruit. The natural flavors in them are a better substitute to the synthetic flavors currently being imported. 

Foreign exchange will be conserved when the import of synthetic flavors is reduced or eliminated. Foreign exchange will be earned where the natural flavors are exported. Conversion will significantly reduce wastage and spoilage, yield more revenue to the farmers and encourage them to produce more.

The equipment required for conversion into powdered form has been developed locally and can be acquired with a moderate investment.

John Ayodele

www.plantainrichesnigeria.blogspot.com