I wish to share my personal challenges here and I hope experienced farmers as well will do same here on this thread, for the sake of intending farmers who think they have money and are willing to go into Agribusiness. some are just too desperate to go into farming, they think they have read, followed many thread sources for information and they think they are good to go, believe me you need to know there are a lot you have not known so you wont fall victim. Many things you have not read, thought or even think of and are inevitable. So I enjoin you to follow this thread as I will drop my challenges, cause, and solution. I will also want to see other experienced farmers in the house to share theirs as well. I have followed many threads, I saw results gotten from some farmers, how some made millions and how many promise to put others through to make millions too, I kept wondering, does it mean these people never face any challenges or how did they do their own. I kept thinking, is farming business that easy? Most intending farmers who have not faced it before are so desperate to pump their last kobo in it. Meanwhile am not discouraging any body from going into agric, but mind you nothing goes straight in life, you will have difficult time when embark in farming, but don't be discouraged learn from my mistakes....

Years back when I started farming I thought of which crop to grow, then I concluded on planting cucumber, I got my seeds and prepared my land. I did the planting, waiting for my plant to germinate. Normally cucumber was to germinate day 4-5 if properly planted. my did not germinate until two WAP. Even @ 2WAP I got less than 50% germination.
watch out for the reasons and way out.......

Hummmmm , my bitter experience!!! The plants fail to emerged until two weeks I planted it. I was worried, I went to an experienced farmer, He asked me how did I go about it, I told him I planted it same way we use to plant maize. then he laugh at me and said I just succeed in buried my seed. cucumber and maize are not same, swonig depth differs. At this point let me draw our attention that normal depth for cucumbers is 2cm or less, if u plant it more than that then you are likely to have delay in germination. Hence you yield reduce.
NB: The same goes to other vegetables which need to be planted directly such as water melon and squash.
Other factors which inder ur seeds from germinating will be discuss...Stay tune.........

Haven taken note of ur sowing depth, then I think u need little knowledge about weather forecast, it always a great risk for farmer to finish planting ether watermelon or cucumber and it rain immediately, your chance of high germination is low, but it better u plant after it rain.
Other factor is planting viable seeds. Most seed seller have ignorantly cost farmers a lot of damage. some will shelve/displace their seeds under the sun , vegetable seeds are so tender that u have to keep it in a cool place. Exposing seeds to heat will reduce it viability. farmer should also avoid leaving their seeds in the car for days.
Farmer do not buy a seed displaced under the sun. You can advice the seller to stop doing that because it Will affect ur yields... More to come, Good morning.

Nice thread! Taking a seat @ d back

following..pls,oda xperiencd farmers,com & share ur xperience..i'm interested in fish & poultrt farming

following..pls,oda xperiencd farmers,com & share ur xperience..i'm interested in fish & poultry farming

Nice one OP. Keep it up. Others please, let's share in your experience as well

securi:
Nice one OP. Keep it up. Others please, let's share in your experience as well

..
Don't u have any? Dont mine me, op keep it up.
..
Mine is building a poultry pen that is not well ventilated. Then pen was attached to a wall and that section was entirely closed to prevent rain water from entering the pen. So only 3 sides were open. The effect of this was disease eating part of my profit and mortality was higher than normal. So folks, build pen that are well ventilated and cool in hot weather. It cost money, spend it.

Soloxam:
Haven taken note of ur sowing depth, then I think u need little knowledge about weather forecast, it always a great risk for farmer to finish planting ether watermelon or cucumber and it rain immediately, your chance of high germination is low, but it better u plant after it rain.
Other factor is planting viable seeds. Most seed seller have ignorantly cost farmers a lot of damage. some will shelve/displace their seeds under the sun , vegetable seeds are so tender that u have to keep it in a cool place. Exposing seeds to heat will reduce it viability. farmer should also avoid leaving their seeds in the car for days.
Farmer do not buy a seed displaced under the sun. You can advice the seller to stop doing that because it Will affect ur yields... More to come, Good morning.

Oga boss, I see u, I'm following jare..... Konfirm..

mine was planting plantain in late season oct(there was late rain) witout making arrangement on how to water it in dry season. I went to farm one day and saw my plantains thirsty. i had to arrange sumone to dig a well for 50k and was promised they will gove me water in 4days. Guys, this guys dug the well for 2days and dissapeared. Their phone nos where switched off. They abandoned my well as well as the borehole of my friend and he is due to move into his house by jan and start a fish pond latest feb ..... long story. I just took my annual leave and used it to arrange alternate water and the manure.

Another mistake i made was not ploughing all the farm. The second location was ploughed and it helped the root so much. The difference is clear from growth rate on the ploughed area and the unploughed.

This one isnt a mistake but a sad event. We lost the back tire of a friend dt took me to the farm on one of my visits. It was burst by nail while he was reversing. You need to see me shaking dt day. i had to cough out 12500 for the replacement of the tubeless tire.

Apitch:
Nice thread! Taking a seat @ d back

Thanks

Mine is building a poultry pen that is not well ventilated.
Then pen was attached to a wall and that section was
entirely closed to prevent rain water from entering the
pen. So only 3 sides were open. The effect of this was
disease eating part of my profit and mortality was higher
than normal. So folks, build pen that are well ventilated
and cool in hot weather. It cost money, spend it. Hope this will be useful to u by farmtech. Thanks for following.

securi:
Nice one OP. Keep it up. Others please, let's share in your experience as well

Thank you sir, I will try to keep it rolling.

mercylicious:
mine was planting plantain in late season oct(there was late rain) witout making arrangement on how to water it in dry season. I went to farm one day and saw my plantains thirsty. i had to arrange sumone to dig a well for 50k and was promised they will gove me water in 4days. Guys, this guys dug the well for 2days and dissapeared. Their phone nos where switched off. They abandoned my well as well as the borehole of my friend and he is due to move into his house by jan and start a fish pond latest feb ..... long story. I just took my annual leave and used it to arrange alternate water and the manure.

Another mistake i made was not ploughing all the farm. The second location was ploughed and it helped the root so much. The difference is clear from growth rate on the ploughed area and the unploughed.

This one isnt a mistake but a sad event. We lost the back tire of a friend dt took me to the farm on one of my visits. It was burst by nail while he was reversing. You need to see me shaking dt day. i had to cough out 12500 for the replacement of the tubeless tire.

@mercyliciouse, thanks for sharing ur experience here, the aim of this thread is just to guide the intending farmers also to put others who have not experience such at better advantage.. The issue of ploughing also is one of the area where most farmer missed it. If you intend to plant vegetable and u wish to plough with tractor, then it should be done twice, if you are ploughing manually, then pls don't plant immediately cos the weed buried into the soil need to die off before u plant, other wise your crop growth will be retired.

Soloxam:
@mercyliciouse, thanks for sharing ur experience here, the aim of this thread is just to guide the intending farmers also to put others who have not experience such at better advantage.. The issue of ploughing also is one of the area where most farmer missed it. If you intend to plant vegetable and u wish to plough with tractor, then it should be done twice, if you are ploughing manually, then pls don't plant immediately cos the weed buried into the soil need to die off before u plant, other wise your crop growth will be retired.

Also in the aspect of ploughing, the farmer should appeal to the operator not to plough so deep if u are planting vegetable, reason because most of our top soil are not beyond 30cm, so if the operator should plough deep beyond the 30cn that mean we have just buried our top soil need for our plant and the subsoil will be available for our crop with less nutrients then we will need to amend the soil which is additional cost. Also after the first plough tell ur operator to please plough in the opposite direction to return the top soil, if He should plough in the same direction, a lot of top soil would have been buried which the nutrients there will not be readily available for plant uptake.

christian11:

Oga boss, I see u, I'm following jare..... Konfirm..

CEO I hail oooooo, how farm boss.

Chai.....chineke meeee!!!!!!!!!!! Who did this to my farm, Papa Obi come and see what this bad belle has don to my farm, cucumber that as take God grace to germinate after two weeks I planted it, now see some one have charm my farm, my cucumbers are diein...... Behold all the crops die off, I was think it was one winch that followed me from our village. I kept wondering what could be the cause, I finally ask the guys around me, they told me they forgot to inform me that they use my spraying tank some days ago, then I ask what did u spray? They said paraquat, then my hand fall. I never bother to wash my tank when I wanted to spray insecticide and fungicide, unknown to me that my guys have just used it to spray herbicide..m
Bottom line; always wash ur tank before u use it or don't borrow any body ur spraying tank, better still try and buy two, one for insecticide, the other for herbicides.... Good night....

Soloxam:
CEO I hail oooooo, how farm boss.

I thank God o... Nice thread.....

Most farmers fall victim of using the same spraying tank to spray herbicide and insecticide. I got many compliant from my customers accusing me that seed sold to them started dieing off, when I got to their farms with series of questions and the way the plants look, some one will confess that he sprayed herbicide some days with same tank unknown to the other person who innocently used it for insecticide. Pls take good care of ur farm equipment. Stay tune..........

The issue of chemical use (HERBICIDE) post emergence and premagence will be discuss on this thread. Some farmer believe they can just use any herbicide on the farm. Soon you will be told what to use, when to use and how to use them. Though it require experience farmer to use herbicide in vegetable farm, but I will teach us one simple method to go about this,as this will save the cost of weeding. Keep following. At this point I want to appeal to other experience farmer to come up with their challenges as well. Thanks.

OP,

I read your posts and one fact just jumps out straight at me: YOU DID NOT CONSULT WITH THE RELEVANT AGENCIES AND EXPERIENCED FARMERS BEFORE YOU DIVED IN.

You met an experienced farmer after the damage had been done. Information is key. Anyone who wants to plant anything should visit the relevant agencies (IITA, state ADPs, etc) where you will get quality advice, information and seedlings.

stagger:
OP,

I read your posts and one fact just jumps out straight at me: YOU DID NOT CONSULT WITH THE RELEVANT AGENCIES AND EXPERIENCED FARMERS BEFORE YOU DIVED IN.

You met an experienced farmer after the damage had been done. Information is key. Anyone who wants to plant anything should visit the relevant agencies (IITA, state ADPs, etc) where you will get quality advice, information and seedlings.

No amount of consultation can give you all information/challenges you will face on the field, Just forget about ADPs, they have nothing to offer, meanwhile IITA mandate crops are YAM,CASSAVA,COWPEA,MAIZE AND PLAINTIAN not vegetables, we need pure farmers who can guide farmers right, You want to tell me you have never face any challenges before then I will said u are an internet farmer not a practical farmer, No matter the level of ur experience, bros u must have face one problem or the other, and that is what we want u to share here, thanks.

On weed.control, after buying my sprayer, i went to the ppl dt sell herbicides for advice. i wanted to by cyberforce or paraeforce but they adviced me to buy force up cos i had lemon grass in d farm. They said paraeforce is quick action but the result doest last. Force up takes over a week to start working . it dries off the weeds but d weeds will still be in the farm, dried. I couldnot apply manure on the plants cos the weeds were still there , though dried. I ended up using manual labour in the farm.
.
@soloxam, am eagerly waiting on ur post on use of herbicides/weedicides.

mercylicious:
On weed.control, after buying my sprayer, i went to the ppl dt sell herbicides for advice. i wanted to by cyberforce or paraeforce but they adviced me to buy force up cos i had lemon grass in d farm. They said paraeforce is quick action but the result doest last. Force up takes over a week to start working . it dries off the weeds but d weeds will still be in the farm, dried. I couldnot apply manure on the plants cos the weeds were still there , though dried. I ended up using manual labour in the farm.
.
@soloxam, am eagerly waiting on ur post on use of herbicides/weedicides.

So sintl,what is d best herbicide for plantain , wana start up one soon

When l was engaged in rice farming, phew! it was not an easy pie.The harvesting & threshing was done manually, l tell u there was so much waste, from labourers deliberately skipping cutting d stalks to not thoroughly threshing them with their sticks!

princemolak:

So sintl,what is d best herbicide for plantain , wana start up one soon

bitl, i dont know for know. i ended up doing manual weeding. The result is better.
waiting for solxam to tell us how best to use herbicides and still get the clean effect of manual weeding.

Pavore9:
When l was engaged in rice farming, phew! it was not an easy pie.The harvesting & threshing was done manually, l tell u there was so much waste, from labourers deliberately skipping cutting d stalks to not thoroughly threshing them with their sticks!

Wow, My dad had rice farm then at ugwuoba and uzouwani . He took loan from agric bank to buy treshers, ploughs etc . The eqpts work in ppls farm for a fee when he is not using it.
The mistake i feel he made was not insuring his agric equipment. Few years down the line, one of the harrows was stolen. His boys went to work somewhere and the swamp trapped the harrow. By the time they went there the next day it was nowhere to be found. He was repaying the agric loan till his death. If the equipment was insured, the insurers would have replaced the eqpt.
Some years after his death, the bank came to disturb us over the repayment of the missing harrow. My mumsie used our family lawyer to stop them as the principal sum had been fully repaid also some interest.

Wow!!!!..... A lot of experiences here. Mine was my Dad's mini poultry farm. About 3-4 years ago, my dad saw the profit potentials of having a poultry farm, and immediately built a 30ft by 15ft cage in our large compound. He targeted the Christmas period for sales, due to the high rate of Chicken sales during Christmas season. He stocked the cage with about 150 broiler birds. Feeding and raising them wasn't a big deal, he got good advice for that, and by December when they reached maturity, he sold them all with the greatest ease. As a matter of fact just two buyers bought all. Everybody was happy, I was happy, my dad beamed with smiles as he calculated his profits, and made plans for the huge killings he would make the coming year. He was to target the easter period. When time came, he increased the number of birds, he bought 400 birds this time, divided the cage into two, and created upper and lower layers in the cage. He fully stocked the cage. Around February-march, the unexpected happened. The birds started to die, one after the other, they fell ill and died. we consulted some vets, and they said it was due to heat. Temperature was really high them. It was so bad that some days, as much as 12 birds die. We did everything possible to reduce the mortality rate, we opened up the cages, bought drugs, sprinkled water on them constantly all to no avail. We lost about 200-220. Our neighbour in the next compound lost all her 200 birds which was already mature, and was shocked and hospitalized for two weeks. Lol, it wasn't funny then. Till date, my dad's cage is still vacant, mum uses once in a while to keep birds, but in a small scale. Lol. We all learnt our lessons. We learnt that to succeed in agriculture, a lot of factors come into play, weather, pests, diseases, availability of feeds/food/maure/water, market, e.t.c, the least goes on and on. From my little experience, farming no be beans and bread o, but the profits dey sweet jare. Lol.

christian11:
Wow!!!!..... A lot of experiences here. Mine was my Dad's mini poultry farm. About 3-4 years ago, my dad saw the profit potentials of having a poultry farm, and immediately built a 30ft by 15ft cage in our large compound. He targeted the Christmas period for sales, due to the high rate of Chicken sales during Christmas season. He stocked the cage with about 150 broiler birds. Feeding and raising them wasn't a big deal, he got good advice for that, and by December when they reached maturity, he sold them all with the greatest ease. As a matter of fact just two buyers bought all. Everybody was happy, I was happy, my dad beamed with smiles as he calculated his profits, and made plans for the huge killings he would make the coming year. He was to target the easter period. When time came, he increased the number of birds, he bought 400 birds this time, divided the cage into two, and created upper and lower layers in the cage. He fully stocked the cage. Around February-march, the unexpected happened. The birds started to die, one after the other, they fell ill and died. we consulted some vets, and they said it was due to heat. Temperature was really high them. It was so bad that some days, as much as 12 birds die. We did everything possible to reduce the mortality rate, we opened up the cages, bought drugs, sprinkled water on them constantly all to no avail. We lost about 200-220. Our neighbour in the next compound lost all her 200 birds which was already mature, and was shocked and hospitalized for two weeks. Lol, it wasn't funny then. Till date, my dad's cage is still vacant, mum uses once in a while to keep birds, but in a small scale. Lol. We all learnt our lessons. We learnt that to succeed in agriculture, a lot of factors come into play, weather, pests, diseases, availability of feeds/food/maure/water, market, e.t.c, the least goes on and on. From my little experience, farming no be beans and bread o, but the profits dey sweet jare. Lol.

Thanks so much CEO for sharing this with us, I understand well that over population in any agric setting reduce your yield, same gose to fish farming, even crop productions. I read an article here on NL when @Mercylious was advising an intending farmer to use 2m by 2.5m spacing when planting plantian, she said anything less that this will amount to loss.@Eclipse hope this info will be useful for you. Others please roll in ur experience... Be a shock absorber for intending farmers.

mercylicious:
On weed.control, after buying my sprayer, i went to the ppl dt sell herbicides for advice. i wanted to by cyberforce or paraeforce but they adviced me to buy force up cos i had lemon grass in d farm. They said paraeforce is quick action but the result doest last. Force up takes over a week to start working . it dries off the weeds but d weeds will still be in the farm, dried. I couldnot apply manure on the plants cos the weeds were still there , though dried. I ended up using manual labour in the farm.
.
@soloxam, am eagerly waiting on ur post on use of herbicides/weedicides.

@ madam mercy, I just hope this will be helpful, parafocre is a contact herbicide, ie kill as it touch the weed, but when it rain on the weed again the weed will start shutting up again. While force up is a systemic herbicide, which effect is not quickly notice, it kills weed from top to the root level. According to ur experience u mention that the weed still remain on the farm which made other operation impossible, yes the herbicide is just to commit a suicide missions on the weed, I will advice that next time if u are planting Plantian, maize or cassava, pre emergence herbicide will be helpful after you have done your ploughing to prevent weed seed on the soil from germination. The herbicide could be use immediately after planting ur maize and cassava. Athraxine is commonly used here.

Herbicide usage in vegetable farming.

We have contact herbicide and systemic herbicide.
We have pre emergence herbicide and post emergence herbicide..

CONTACT herbicide are the type that will start work on the weed immediately you apply, it work faster and the result is gotten almost immediate. Though if not properly mixed it effect will not be seen. This type of herbicide is suitable in vegetable farm provided you know how to go about it, we will be thought a simple way of using this herbicide on crop such as cucumbr, watermelon, cassava., okra etc. Examples of this herbicide are paraforce,paraquat.gramozone,dragon, the easy way to identify this chemical is the content is usually green and thick.