‘Cassava farming, an easy path to riches’

Jibrin Yakubu, 38, was born into a farming family. He says he has achieved everything in life and would continue to farm for the rest of his life. “I learnt farming from my family in Mil Uku (Mile 3) village along Lafia-Akwanga road in Lafia Local Government Area, the capital of Nasarawa State. He says […]

Jibrin Yakubu, 38, was born into a farming family. He says he has achieved everything in life and would continue to farm for the rest of his life. “I learnt farming from my family in Mil Uku (Mile 3) village along Lafia-Akwanga road in Lafia Local Government Area, the capital of Nasarawa State.

He says farming cassava is relatively simple as one just plants the stems in a good soil, weeds the grass and waits to harvest the produce.

He however said the most important thing the farmer has to consider is that he must ensure constant supervision, on daily basis, adding that “cassava doesn’t need fertilizer.”

He said, a small farmer could harvest up to 5 vans; a medium farmer could harvest 20 vans and a big farmer could harvest multiples of that depending on his personal investment, prompt payment of wages and good relationship with labourers. Cassava is planted in the months of July to January and is harvested after seven months depends on the breeds.

According to him, during harvest, a pick-up van picks an equivalent of five large bags, while a trailer carries the load of 25 pickup vans.

Daily Trust on Sunday observed that at the time of visiting this young farmer’s farm, a trailer was loading cassava, while another was in the queue each load worth N900,000.

He said last year they made a lot of money as the price rose to N90,000 per a pickup van but which is now selling at the rate of N18,000.

Yakubu said the buyer of the truck-loads of cassava was transporting them to Lokoja in Kogi State for processing into either to ‘alebo’ or  ‘garri’.

The young farmer said he also cultivates other produce like sesame seeds, beans, millet and maize.

He said his pastime was to go to supervise his farm on daily basis even during festivities or events affecting the extended family in the village.

The farm of Jibrin Yakubu measures 300 hectares, he said, adding that he hires  agile labourers whenever he wanted to plant, weed, cultivate and pack produce for loading on trailer. He revealed further that he paid labourers N500 each daily apart from giving them breakfast and lunch.

“I don’t know what is called delayed salary payment amongst other bureaucracy associated with being a salaried staff as I do not want to be a debtor. Because of the huge profit from farming majorly cassava, I have achieved a lot. I have married two wives, I am blessed with five children, I have built a house, bought a car and I am an employer of labour,” Yakubu said adding, “I  will not accept any offer of employment from any government or private organization.

He however commended President Muhammadu Buhari for encouraging people to embrace farming and called on Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura to ensure that fertilizer gets directly to the farmers. He said they bought a bag of NPK fertiliser at the cost of N8,000 from black marketers.