‘How I grew my farming from 1 bag to 80, employed 30 labourers’

A Hadeja-based farmer in Jigawa State, Fatima Yusuf, has revealed the secret of her success story. Born into an agrarian family, Yusuf embraced farming at her early age before later enrolling for a degree in Agricultural Economics and Extension to better equip herself with modern agronomic practices. In an interview with BBC Hausa, the young […]

A Hadeja-based farmer in Jigawa State, Fatima Yusuf, has revealed the secret of her success story.

Born into an agrarian family, Yusuf embraced farming at her early age before later enrolling for a degree in Agricultural Economics and Extension to better equip herself with modern agronomic practices.

In an interview with BBC Hausa, the young farmer shared how she scaled up her agribusiness from generating one bag of rice to between 75 and 80 bags per farming cycle.

“My name is Fatima Yusuf. I’m a farmer from Hadeja local government area of Jigawa State. I cultivate rice, wheat and vegetables like lettuce, onions, okra and habanero pepper.

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“My grandfather and father were both professional and practising farmers. So, I grew up into it and later pursued a degree in Agricultural Economics and Extension. Being a practising farmer already, my degree has equipped me with modern approach to farming, especially regarding pests, diseases and insects that affect plants, the chemicals to use in controlling them and the precautionary measures to take during farming operations. All this is a knowledge I acquired at school.

“A lot of people still don’t believe that I go to farm. Others think I’m only going there to take pictures but not actually carrying-out any activity. But those who know what I do at the farm often encourage me. Many people are impressed with what I do, especially the youths and those who know my father. They encourage me, that I have followed his footsteps.”

Although still not gainfully employed by the government, the young farmer maintained that she would still continue with her farming business even when privileged to have a government job, adding that she currently has more than 30 labourers working under her.

“I have between 20 and 30 (even more) people working under me, including men and women. We sometimes prefer to engage the services of women who are less privileged, because there are widows who have children and are in need of some job for their upkeep.

“There is one woman in particular who I always involve during our farming activities because of how I enjoy working with her and how she needs help. It is through the proceeds she gets from the work that she was able to start some business which she is using to support her children.”

Responding to a question about her successes, Yusuf said, “They are many. I started small and later expanded the land, and I expand it every year. And on the part of my engagement with Non-governmental Organisations, I’d say that I have recorded successes because I have visited places, met and worked with different manner of people, some not even from Nigeria. I have attended workshops which I often step-down the knowledge to our local farmers.”

Yusuf’s enterprise, although growing and prospering, is not without challenges, as she confessed in the interview when she revealed how she suffered loss in her first year, harvesting only a bag of rice.

“Every business has its own challenges. You gain today and lose tomorrow. I faced challenges when I started. The first year, I recorded loss because I harvested only one bag of rice. During my second trial, I had challenge with flooding but that didn’t discourage me. I persisted. I grew from harvesting 30 bags to now between 75 and 80.”

She, however, solicited support to scale up the business.

“I need capital to scale up the production, from growing three crops to more crops, including sorghum, millet and cowpea. I need a tractor, combine harvester and transplanter. I want to grow so that I can be harvesting above 200 bags.”

See pictures below: