David Taiwo is fondly called King David, the king of farms by his fellow farmers. He creates jobs, helps farmers to make the best out of the venture and also contributes meaningfully to the agric value system. The Nigerian Xpress had a chat with him recently in Lagos on the prospects in farming and challenges farmers contend with
What exactly do you do?
First, I am a farmer. I am also into agric business, majorly farm and I also add value to farm produce, so every now and then basically what I do is just to set up farms and add value to what has been produced from the farm so that we have real stuff that people can consume and we are also into organic foods.
How has the agricultural boom been in Nigeria?
The story has actually changed from what it used to be. Before now, when we talk about farming, nobody wants to hear that. But in recent times, the story has changed. People have been coming into the system because they have been able to see that it is not just about farming, everything that we do, from our clothes to the food we eat to the shoe we wear, is all about agriculture. Now that people now have a better understanding, the system has actually changed from what people used to know. I tell you, it is actually booming. More people are coming in and, of course, we also train people. We don’t just talk about people coming into the agric-business just to idle away. We orientate them properly because we are making money from there and we don’t want people to run at a loss so we advise people on the right way; the right channel; the right seed to actually plant; the ones that will give the best yield and not just that you plant. You plant what is needed, just like the mistake that people had actually made in the past, that they just felt everybody is coming into farming now, I will also go into farming. No, we advise them, your target market should determine what you plant. For example, every seed that you see has various varieties. For example, cassava has 50 varieties and various ones for various purposes. And also if you are planting palm tree, palm trees have varieties. If you want to target palm oil, there is a species you should plant. If you want to go for the palm kernel oil, there is a species you should plant. With this, when it is time for harvest they get the right yield and right money, not just like they go into it because everybody is going into it. No, but now people are more enlightened, and for those who are not, we still advise them, to go for proper training, attend our seminars in different places, we are not just talking, we practice what we say. We organise seminars, we share our testimonies. On so many occasions, people have come to our farms to see what we have been talking about. And with this, we are circulating in the system.
How can farmers add value to their produce?
Most people had run into losses when it comes to farming because what they do is that they plant with the mind that they will take it to the open market but I tell you the truth when you plant because of that, you might run at a loss. For example, if you are into cassava planting, the stem that gives the highest yield is TME419. This gives higher yield and if you have a higher yield and you decide to process it into garri, you can add value to it by processing it into garri. What it means is that you are going to make more money, like almost times four what you sold it for if you are only selling the tubers. Likewise for palm oil, we plant and we also process, we add value to it. Now what it means is that my cost of production is usually very cheap when I choose to add value to it. In a case where I feel oh I want to take it to somebody else to process, what it means is that I will end up losing so much and that person is making more, because I will be the one to harvest, to transport it and to do so much, while this person who will just take it and process it starts selling at a better rate. Let’s say, for example, so many farmers are not making so much money because from the palm oil if you go the shopping mall you will see them selling one litre for N1000 while a farmer that chooses to sell to those processors will just sell it for N6,500 or N8,000 for 30 litres. Meanwhile, those people will end up selling it for N30,000. When a farmer understands that he actually needs to add value to his produce, even if it is on a small scale or to go to those that have the processing plant and you take your stuff there, pay them for the cost of production, you will make better money when you add value to it.
How does one start value addition to a farm produce?
For example, based on what you are actually producing, the cost of value addition sometimes might be very expensive, but we have so many people in this country that have money, some have two million, some have three million, some have four million and they are looking at a reliable business that they can invest into. Most times, we advise them, if you want to actually come into the ecosystem, the ecosystem is large. A farmer might not have enough money at first to be able to set up those machines, those equipment needed, but what the farmer needs to do is to partner with those who have money to buy the equipment. Meanwhile, we always have small machines all around us to process although some of them are not cheap. But if a farmer takes what he has harvested from his farm to a processor that can charge him the cost of production, such a farmer would end up making better money. So you don’t necessarily need to start buying the equipment. There is always a machine around that you can use to add value in a little way and the end product would be sold at a better price because it is usually much more expensive. Just like coconut, coconut oil, if you use it, you will see the way your skin will be glowing. But so many people see coconut and they say I don’t like coconut, but if you see coconut oil and you use it, you will see the way your skin will be glowing, even for children, I tell you for my own baby, I use coconut oil and people are like wow, this your baby is so fresh and when I told them we use coconut oil and they were like are you serious? We never add anything, just ordinary coconut oil, but the original one. What it means is that the coconut you have been seeing around, you can as well set up a little processing outfit. Recently, I have been engaging with equipment processors in Nigeria and they can produce small ones. So it is a target for farmers. Some are as cheap as N500,000 depending on the capacity of output.
I have heard of the word agropreneur. Who is an agropreneur?
Agropreneur is someone who is into agric business, someone that actually participates in one of the systems. Someone can have a vehicle and only use to for transporting farm produce and people will pay him to help them convey from their farm to the farm gate or to the market. Such a person can also call himself an agropreneur. Someone else could participate in buying farm produce and selling it to where he would get better money. Such a person is not a farmer but is into agro-business, such a person is an agropreneur.
For someone to be a farmer like you, is there any academic skills or training programme one has to undergo?
Basically, we are encouraging people to get started from where they are. In farming, you can always participate based on your knowledge and you can start from there and start learning, attend seminars, attend training, but at least, getting started doesn’t really need so much. It only requires you to be able to participate in getting what you have in surplus to where it is rightly needed. For example, someone needs to participate in banana or plantain sales, all the person needs to do is to get a little capital like a hundred thousand naira, go to areas like Ore, Ondo axis, and buy bunches of banana and plantain. Before you do that, you would have arranged with Lagos people, probably those on the island, in Ajah, discuss with the market head there that you have these and you want to bring, amazingly you could make as much as N250,000 to N300,000 to get started, and you will collect your money. You sell it off within and once you are done, you return back to the same place again you still go and load again and you bring these stuff back. So doing this, what it means is that, you only need to know how to count money, which I believe virtually anybody can do, and you need a negotiating skill to be able to price it low where you are buying and also sell it at a better rate where you want to sell it off. In Lagos here, you buy banana at N400 or N500 a bunch. Meanwhile, from the farm, you will buy it for a quarter of that. What it means is that you don’t even need so much education, along the line you can be upgrading yourself and acquiring more business skills.
Have we truly conquered all aspects of agriculture, the potentials, have we really exploited them all? You also said the ecosystem is large, in percentage, how much have covered in the ecosystem?
Sincerely, we have not covered more than I tell you 40 per cent. We have scratched the surface but we have not covered 50 per cent. The reason is that what we consume is much. Right now, the clothes we wear, we don’t even produce the cotton here in Nigeria and it is still part of agriculture where it has to be planted, where it will be processed; the shoes we wear, we don’t have enough animal skin, for them; all these are still part of agriculture. Most of the things we use day in day out, so many of them are actually from agriculture but we have not actually gone deep, despite the fact that agriculture is the largest employer, when you look at the human being from head to toe, it is all about agriculture, your food, your skin, everything, understanding this, I tell you Nigeria has covered only 40 per cent. As at yesterday CBN released N30 billion grant to farmers. What it means is that we have not really covered what we consume. We are still importing and if we are still importing meaning that we still have so much left.
Agricultural financing, how has it been so far?
To tell you the truth, it has not been easy.
Have farmers been able to tap into the agricultural fund, how many farmers have been able to access such fund?
I tell you their conditions are always very complex. They tell you they have released this amount out, and once these finances are released out, it only goes to those that know people, it doesn’t go to the real farmers because in Nigeria we don’t have database of farmers centralised where you can say okay, all the farmers in Ondo State, in Lagos State, in Ogun State, in Oyo State, we need that as a bigger solution to help the farmers, so that when we talk about farming, we are not talking about sustenance farming now, but the real commercial farmers, let’s have the database, I believe if we have that when a government is saying okay we disburse money we would see it,everybody can log on to it and say okay this farmer has been empowered this is what is expected of them and in that case becomes very easy for most of us that have not benefited from it to say okay if this person has benefited, we know that with time it will go round, but I tell you so much has been disbursed but it doesn’t really get to the grassroots farmers. So most of us source our money to do what we are doing and that is how we have been running it over the years.
What has been the core challenges?
Our major challenge is this issue of value-adding, the cost of equipment. I believe, if government can help in financing equipment or creating local centre for people to bring their farm produce to process, it will really help us. That has been a major challenge because in some cases people who come to the farm to buy produce price it as if the farmer stole it. Another challenge is the high cost of equipment. Those two are major constraints in agriculture. So for people that have produce in their farm and needed a place to process them or add value to them, if we have a place in the states or in every local government, even if it is a small one and the cost of operation is lesser, people can be going there and book a date to be adding value to whatever they produce from their farms. Of course, we have seen all that we have, look at rice, people that grow rice can take their stuff there and we wouldn’t be having rice with stones. Even when we are closing borders, we will have our own rice. All they need is take it there and process it and they could make money and the price of rice would crash.
Closure of borders, how has it affected farmers? Is it positively or negatively?
I will say both ways. On the positive aspect, it helps us to sell what we have and people don’t have choice but to buy from the farmers. But on the other hand, there are equipment that we needed also at the farm that we don’t manufacture here in Nigeria that we also bring in through the borders and those equipment ease our cost of production but in a case where we don’t manufacture equipment here and the border has been closed, it will still affect us because it is whatever we buy that we also spread across our cost of production that is why I said it is on both sides.
Insurance, does it take place in agriculture, in case of agricultural mishap, do insurance companies cover you people?
Usually they said they do but the problem with insurance company in Nigeria is that if you don’t deal with a broker, if anything happens you are just on your own. You will patrol their office as if you are their bodyguard and they will tell you ,we are coming, we are coming, we are coming and some of the farmlands are not usually in the big cities. For us who have big farms we cannot bring it to the city, so there are lots of attacks, herdsmen and all that but no insurance company has come out to say okay, we have compensated or we covered this or that, except you go to through the brokers.
So there is nothing like agric insurance?
It exists on paper but it is not effective. We have not been having practicalities. No orientation to even say okay this is what we will pay you or this is what we have paid in the recent year.
I have come across some people in farming who are saying they have not made it or they are not making it; what is your advice to them?
I tell you the truth, knowledge is very important in farming. Farming is not just like the normal daily business because it is a business on the open land where there could be animal attacks and several other attacks, natural disasters, floods and all that.
