Agriculture is one of the ultimate and secured investment sector where anyone can start from the scratch and make it to the top with time.
Today I bring to you the story of an undergraduate who made up her mind that she will never join the crowd to line-up for the non-existing white-collar Job.
Before miss Oyinlade Adetutu graduated from the University of Ibadan in 2005, she had made up her mind not to go into the already filled up labour market.
As a student of Agricultural science, she had vowed to stick to her line of career and stick to the profession, she knows the level of opportunities that is in Agriculture and she has decided to tap from it by investing in the sector.
She specialize in fisheries, but on the long run she got to know about Pig farming and became attracted to it because of the high margin and profitability of this farming business.
Pig farming according to her is a business that can catapult an investor from the position of an employee to that of an employer of labour with high returns on investment within little space of time.
She said’ as an undergraduate, I had already made up my mind that I would not search for Job anywhere but I will practice what I have studied so that I will be an entrepreneur and be self-employed.
In respect to this determination I have saved some amount of money before I graduated which I used in acquiring a piece of land at Oke-ero, Ogun state Nigeria.
Adetutu, who started with just three piglets and one in-pig (pregnant sow), started gradually on small scale pig farming but currently she has about 200pigs, she advise anyone who wants to invest in agricultural business or specifically Pig farming to 1st acquire a land of her own because without a land it’s not easy to manage pigs.
The next stage will be to set-up a pen, the piggery (pig house) where the pig will be kept.
Anybody starting on a small scale should erect a wall measuring 12 square feet, where the pigs will be kept, and various pens should be demarcated so that it will be easy to monitor their growth.
Adetutu, who is the Managing Director, Wemimo farms limited, adds that availability of water and feed are the other major challenges that beginners would face.
She added, it is advisable that a beginner should source for sure availability of water and feed at regular interval before starting because without the availability of water and feed, pig farming will be difficult.
If the Farm location is in places where there is no river, stream or any water body around, the farmer can first sink a borehole.
Note: Pig farming is not a business where you will be buying water it doesn’t work because you will require lot of water.
The farmer added that Pig farming requires a lot of patience, attention and exercise. According to her,
‘’though I have attendants and workers on my farm, I arrive at the farm as early as 8am daily to supervise the sweeping of the pen, washing of the pig, clearing of the floor, feeding the animals and the normal daily routine practice’’
After washing the pig we administer their feeds, medications and other necessary things. They feed on roughages, stalk and veggies.
We buy various concentrate feeds for them both from companies (like beverages or feed mills base on the kind of feeds). They also feed on normal kitchen waste and stem of fluted pumpkin, yam, pineapple and the peel of a wide variety of edible items.
The farm according to her employs the service of veterinary doctor who visits the farm to administer drugs and inspect the performance of the pig.
Speaking about the reproductive ability of pig, they are very prolific as one pig can produce 10 to 15 litters at one delivery making them very good for business purpose as you can increase the number of pigs within a short period of time. She added’ their gestation period last for 114days. After delivery, the piglets are fed with breasts milk for six weeks and from the tenth week, they become growers.
She added, a beginner can start with little start-up capital provided he/she has a land and the environment is liable to good water facility and feed. A large scale farmer can budget 2.5 to 3million naira for large scale commercial pig farming business.
Talking about the marketing and sales, she added that people come from south Africa, bayelsa, Edo, delta, rivers, Abia state and other parts of the country to buy from her farm in Ogun state while others around the location of her farm also buys for local consumption.
She said, the operating cost is the major challenge n the business thus, she call on the federal government to check into this and consider the investors by helping them financially to facilitate the development of this business.
Another big farmer and the chairman, Lagos state Council, Agricultural and Allied Workers’ Union of Nigeria, Mr Obafemi Oyenubi, says Pig farming is one of the cheapest agricultural businesses one can invest in because it is not capital intensive.
He added that, beyond the construction of the pen, preparation of feeds and clean water, beginner must be conscious of the type of species he acquires so that he would be able to curb cases of diseases outbreak.
Mr Oyenubi advises that the location of the pen should not be close to where people live so that it will not cause a nuisance to them, especially those that hates Pig.
He urges beginners not to be weigh down by the wrong believe that Pig farming is a dirty business, saying with a pen that has a cemented floor and proper attention to given to the Pigs, they can be made clean.
Writers’ view: As initially discussed’ if you missed our series on How to start a commercial Pig farming you can find the:
* HOW TO START A COMMERCIAL PIG FARMING AND GROW IT BIG* DAILY ROUTINE PRACTICE IN PIGGERY;PROPER MANAGEMENT FOR HEALTHY AND PROFITABLE PIG FARMING
Pig farming Is one of the most Lucrative agricultural Business anyone can start with little capital and grow it big as the return of the investment in the business is high, if you are looking for a profitable Agricultural Business to start I advice you consider Pig farming.
If you enjoy this post kindly share with your friends.
If you have more to contribute you can do so via the comment box below.
