Dear agripreneurs in the house . I just got 3 plots of land in ikorodu for farming purpose. I need advise on the crops to plant that can be harvested within a short frame .

Truesapiosexual:
Dear agripreneurs in the house . I just got 3 plots of land in ikorodu for farming purpose. I need advise on the crops to plant that can be harvested within a short frame .

if you have access to water go for fruit vegs .e.g. cucumber and leafy vegetables during this dry season. But leafy don't really brings profit during wet season

Okro
Groundnut
Pepper
Cucumber

Your question is too broad. The only info you have is a short term crop. How short? 2 mths, 3, 5, or 1 year?

The purpose of cultivation is unknown too. Is it to make profit? Or just to have farming experience for its fun?

What is your budget?

I believe you must have got an idea of what to cultivate. What interests you so far from what you have heard or read about?

You are a lady and you go to market. What are the crops with extreme high price at this moment?

Do you not mind installing irrigation system?

And many more questions you should ask yourself. After answering these questions you can have like 5 crops on the table and choose one or two. So, put down here your line of thought.

I don’t have access to water .

farmerwealth:
if you have access to water go for fruit vegs .e.g. cucumber and leafy vegetables during this dry season. But leafy don't really brings profit during wet season

I would like to invest in a crop that can be harvested within 3-4 months or even less if possible . The purpose is to master the craft and make profit by the side .

fluentinfor:
Your question is too broad. The only info you have is a short term crop. How short? 2 mths, 3, 5, or 1 year?

The purpose of cultivation is unknown too. Is it to make profit? Or just to have farming experience for its fun?

What is your budget?

I believe you must have got an idea of what to cultivate. What interests you so far from what you have heard or read about?

You are a lady and you go to market. What are the crops with extreme high price at this moment?

Do you not mind installing irrigation system?

And many more questions you should ask yourself. After answering these questions you can have like 5 crops on the table and choose one or two. So, put down here your line of thought.

Truesapiosexual:
I would like to invest in a crop that can be harvested within 3-4 months or even less if possible . The purpose is to master the craft and make profit by the side .

The easiest ones with less vigorous marketing input, and within 3 - 4 mths are:

Cucumber, watermelon, cabbage, and okra (cultivate with drip irrigation)

Lettuce, all indigenous green vegetables (use overhead irrigation like sprinkler, or you go the hard way carrying hose round the 3 plots daily which I do not recommend).

You need to find the best crops suitable for your land, and the ones with high value so you can make good profit. Anyway, since you are learning, if I were you, I would remove profit at this moment. Though, I would work towards it. But if i did not make it, i would not be disappointed.

Truesapiosexual:
I don’t have access to water .

then you can't do almost all fruit vegs, unless you want to drill a borehole or well because of land size. even during wet season because it's not advisable to totally rely on rain

The raining season starts around March and from online research most veggies and fruits I can plant now needs a span of at least 2 months , won’t the raining season affect the plantation ? Cos I read some crops don’t need lots of rain.

farmerwealth:
then you can't do almost all fruit vegs, unless you want to drill a borehole or well because of land size. even during wet season because it's not advisable to totally rely on rain

How will I know the best crop that can grow well on the land , eg where to run the soil test ?

fluentinfor:


The easiest ones with less vigorous marketing input, and within 3 - 4 mths are:

Cucumber, watermelon, cabbage, and okra (cultivate with drip irrigation)

Lettuce, all indigenous green vegetables (use overhead irrigation like sprinkler, or you go the hard way carrying hose round the 3 plots daily which I do not recommend).

You need to find the best crops suitable for your land, and the ones with high value so you can make good profit. Anyway, since you are learning, if I were you, I would remove profit at this moment. Though, I would work towards it. But if i did not make it, i would not be disappointed.

Truesapiosexual:
How will I know the best crop that can grow well on the land , eg where to run the soil test ?

Actually, most soils can be amended or treated for most crops. Deep knowledge about farming is an invaluable tool. Soil PH, soil texture, water retention ability, organic matters level, diseases, beneficial microorganisms population, etc are all factors to consider. And most importantly, the amount of water available and the source are top priorities to determine what to cultivate.

To make the job simpler for you, I advise you to get water on the land, well or borehole. If it is near a stream, nice. We will estimate the volume of water you can get daily to screen out some crops. We Will proceed to knowing which crops are high valued in the market presently, and also we will consider a less stressful crop. There are crops which generally perform excellently in your region; therefore, you can just take some minor precautions and choose to cultivate such crops. You may not need soil test. The issue of soil test in Nigeria is another case on its own. Soil test for nutrient can still be done here, but soil test for determining diseases is something that is tough. Even our doctors send human blood, fluid sample abroad. I have done such tests on many occasions, and I have always been disappointed.

If you are willing to buy drip irrigation to cover the land, and you can install a very good source of water there, get in touch with me and I will put you through. I will give you the details you need about it, and you can go buy them yourself and install.

Best of luck.

Truesapiosexual:
Dear agripreneurs in the house . I just got 3 plots of land in ikorodu for farming purpose. I need advise on the crops to plant that can be harvested within a short frame .

Nice one sis, try to get a continuous source of water first. Borehole drilling in ikorodu can't be that costly. If it's a virgin land you don't have to worry about soil testing. You can just try to get a simple soil test kits for for personal use on the farm. The kit ll let you know how you are degrading the soil nutrients as a result of your farming. It should give you information on the npk content, moisture and pH. I don't think you have much stress. Go for vegetables, Lagos needs more of this.

Larwin:


Nice one sis, try to get a continuous source of water first. Borehole drilling in ikorodu can't be that costly. If it's a virgin land you don't have to worry about soil testing. You can just try to get a simple soil test kits for for personal use on the farm. The kit ll let you know how you are degrading the soil nutrients as a result of your farming. It should give you information on the npk content, moisture and pH. I don't think you have much stress. Go for vegetables, Lagos needs more of this.

What is the average cost of installing borehole in the area? I am interested to know.

I think if neighbours are consulted and they have enough water volume, a well can be dug provided she limits cultivating crops which are irrigated overhead, and concentrate more on irrigation with drip. Drip conserves water efficiently and irrigates better than sprinkler, central pivot, rain gun, and furrow. It is the most efficient irrigation system as far as irrigation technology is concerned as of today.

Can you beat your chest 100% that tomato can grow in any virgin land, and there is no need for soil test? Soil test might be necessary but if you do not have access to it, there are still other ways around. And those soil test kits are waste of money to me. The only useful equipment in those kind of kits is PH meter. All other things included in such kits are just OK and not compulsory to have. The moisture kit is for scientists in my own opinion. Do I need to start measuring the amount of water in the soil before I know I should irrigate? Or are the readings going to dictate how I have to use efficiently gas/petrol I bought for irrigation? If i see that the plants should be irrigated for 40 mins to achieve excellent result according to the meter but I know I am going to spend more on fuel which will result into loss after harvest and sales, I will rather irrigate for 20 mins. Do you not agree with me? So, why do I need it? Naija is hard bros...we do it the way we need to do it, ethically right, so we can make profit.

All the same, very good recommendation from you. Just that it may need some adjustments because of our economy.

@fluentinfor
Cost of drilling a borehole there should be around 150k. Though I always advice to conduct a Geophysical investigation first B4 consulting the driller. The investigation is done btw 30-50k.

Going for well too is a good option. It ll definitely work. And her land is not that big, I don't think she ll need lot of water like that. She can even make use of hose to irrigate

Tomatoes doesn't have much stress growing, it should do just fine.

The test kit might not be needed now, but it's always good to have it some one can know how his land nutrients is being used. It's still good to compare other readings with the pH. The pH might be giving you a good result yet something is still lacking. It might be irrelevant but it can save from a heart attack.

If the irrigation system is properly done, irrigation time might just be 20min/day even less.

All the cost spent ll definitely be generated back from sales, the cost for vegetables are higher in dry season. And when raining season comes the price fall.

When it comes to stress, cucumber is more stressful. However, if there is sufficient water and you carry out all other activities on time, cucumber is less risky. Tomato can be funny and it is why farmers run away from it. The worst period to have tomato on farm is during rainy season but if you get it right, sales can be times10 of what you get during dry season. Just a plot harvest in rainy season can give what 10 plots give in dry season.

One fact I will tell you today is that Asians do not use chemicals like their American counterpart. Also, they rarely check for nutrients in the soil. See, I used to disturb myself so much on soil test and bla bla.bla. But when they weren't readily available when I needed them and I got misleading results from laboratories around, I had to go the Asian route. It was why I practise almost zero tilling style plus vertical planting style. I understand the required nutrient composition of the crops I cultivate. I do not stop there, I try to find someone who has cultivated the exact varieties and I ask questions like I do not know anything about the crops.

Let me give you one good example, no matter how high the nutrient in your soil is by day 10 almost all nitrogen in the soil is gone if it is cucumber you are cultivating. So, I do not need any soil test to tell me what to do. I can give you nutrition formular for cucumber off hand right now and you will get similar result of yield both on good soil and bad soil as long as diseases do not affect it. What about hydroponic that is grown in soiless media. Do I need soil test? For me, soil test saves money on buying fertilizer. Maybe for others who do not know what to watch out for it is very important but let me tell you the truth again tissue test is far more helpful than soil test.

I am not saying soil test is not helpful. All i have said is I have found a way to go without it for the crops I grow because I have deep knowledge about them just like the Asians. Maybe if i want to grow groundout I will go for soil test.

The main test I always carry out is PH. Very important.

Wow, I doff my hat. You ve gone really far @ fluentinfor

Hello house pls I need farmers that can come plant cocumber on 1 acre of land @ epe. Intrested person would have to stay @ the farm till harvest. Buzz me on 08025670450

tayojoe:
Hello house pls I need farmers that can come plant cocumber on 1 acre of land @ epe. Intrested person would have to stay @ the farm till harvest. Buzz me on 08025670450

You request is not clear.

1. Do you need a farmer who will use your land? In this case the farmer provides A to Z of what is needed. And you are only releasing assests. If it is just the land you are releasing, it is simply land lease. If you have water source, it is still land lease.

2. However, if you are going to provide other assests like irrigation sets, sprayer, or other equipment, then, we can say this is a special case which qualifies you for partnership, except you still want everything leased out.

3. You want to provide everything and you want someone to live on farm and take care of the cucumber for you. This means you are looking for a farm manAger.

So, which category from the above you really want?

Truesapiosexual:
Dear agripreneurs in the house . I just got 3 plots of land in ikorodu for farming purpose. I need advise on the crops to plant that can be harvested within a short frame .

you can go for plantain, vegetables or cucumber