Rice farming is another one-stop lucrative agricultural business that
is growing with mazimum speed and with adequate effectiveness i bet it
you really need to give it a shot!
In Nigeria, a country of more than
150million people its obvious one of the highly consumed food stuff
both by the rich and poor even the middle' is ''Rice (oryza Sativa)"
no! Seriously at the junction we have to be frank and realistic about
it "I personally love eating rice " its just because its easy to cook
and it can be use to produce varieties of recipes' nigeria eats alot
of rice and every year this food stuff increases in price and despite
this anomalous increase in price statistics shows that the total
percentage of consumer of rice increases by 20% every year infact to
be able to meet up with the high demand of rice in Nigeria, the
government had to import rice for so many years *actaully this as
stopped* but there is a good future for rice farmers in Nigeri as the
richest man in Africa ''Aliko Dangote" promise to invest in Riceproduction in Nigeria. This is a good news and it even makes rice
production more lucrative.
If you are looking for a typical
agricbusiness to invest into and make profit within a year or even
less' Rice farming is a wise choice as it can go a long way to change
your attitude towards agriculture' my friend you really need to invest
in rice farming.
To get started, there are some important points to
note down in other to acheive the purpose of investing your money.
#1 point: Rice farming requires a swampy land and less acidic, as rain is
approaching alot of people are now venturing into Rice farming as many
dry land are now full of water and this is where rice grows well in
swampy areas.
#2 point: Rice requires regular attention and important
farm operations like weeding, fertilizer application, protection from
predators these are some essential practices especially with the issue
of predators as rice is a grain consumed by many living organisms so
you must fight against attack to your rice farm.
It must be protected from birds and other animals, insects like aphids. If you are
considering starting a rice farming perhaps you are close to a river
land or a swampy area and you felt rice will do well in such land, its
good but you should employ the service of experts and agriculturists
that can give you essential precautions and direct you on steps you
should take.
Rice is consider everyone's choice because of the
palatability, fast cooking potential, and for the fact that it can be
cooked into various delicacy and food recipes like Jollof rice, white
rice, fried rice, coconut rice, polished rice amongst others.
#3 Point . Select viable and improved rice seeds: there are various types of rice
varieties and breeds that is beign cutivated all over the world today
but one of the ways to outsmart others in this competitive business is
to grow improved rice varieties and you can get the seeds from rice
farmers, ministry of Agriculture, agricultural colleges and local
markets just ask and you shall find.
#4 Pont: . Grow rice seedlings in
Nursery stage: this is a very important practice every rice farmer
should do unlike animal rearing planting of crops is a bit delicate
and requires strict adhere to precautions.
Rice that is ben grown in nursery tendsto perform better than those that are directly planted in
the field, after 3weeks you can transplant your rice seedlings from
polythene bags to field if its an hybrid in less than 5months your
rice is ready for harvest.
#5 Point : Get a swampy land for proper breeding:
transplant rice from nursery to a field that is swampy or dry land but
with adequate irrigation but the most suitable is a low swampy soil it
as been proven that rice planted in this kind of soil tends to perform
much more better.
#6.Weeding and Nutrient management: weeding is
very important due to how rice grows it is possible for weed to grow
along side with it and this will not help the development of the rice
so regular weeding should be put in place. Consult experts for how and
when to apply fertilizer on the farm fro mazimum result.
#7 Point:. Harvesting of rice: after 4 to 5month base on variety, your rice is
ready for harvest when the rice might have fuly mature for harvesting
it will change from green colour to a light brown and with hat sign
you will know that the rice is mature for harvesting .
Marketing rice is not as difficult as you think just that its very important to take
note of some simple and effective principles like telling your
customers and local consumer about your rice before it get ripe if you
do so i bet it you won't take your rice to the market for sale as it
might finish there in the farm gate,
if you don't want to store it.
Rice farming is a lucrative business i personally recommend anyone to
consider in Agriculture.
There are some esesential practices involve
in harvesting and processing Rice and in our next post i'll be
talking more on this.
You can read those essential practices here now
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