I use waste products to produce quality feeds – Farmer

Meet Evangelist Peter Ododa, owner and proprietor of an agricultural company called New Life Farms Agriculture Nigeria Limited based in Angwan Jikwoyi, New Karu, Nasarawa State.The 54-year-old started farming with N6,000 about four years ago with a pond and a small hut.  Today, he is the proud owner of 48 ponds within the farm land […]

Meet Evangelist Peter Ododa, owner and proprietor of an agricultural company called New Life Farms Agriculture Nigeria Limited based in Angwan Jikwoyi, New Karu, Nasarawa State.
The 54-year-old started farming with N6,000 about four years ago with a pond and a small hut.  Today, he is the proud owner of 48 ponds within the farm land and also owns a plantation that is about two and half hectares where he grows guava, banana, plantain, cassava, maize and other crops.
He said: “The most special thing we want to prove is that nothing is a waste in this world.
“We produce feeds for chicken and fish. For fishery, we have found out that nothing is a waste, we have used rejected bread, palm kernel, soya bean chaff, Barbara nut, cassava peel, rice chaff to mention but a few. We have used waste products from these products to produce fish feeds in such a way that in four to five months they grow very big.”
With the high cost of animal feeds which takes up to 70% of the cost of production, farmers are increasingly looking for ways of cutting down the huge cost.  But Evangelist Peter explores other potentials that reduce the cost of production.
“We have effectively used our local materials like what people throw away as waste materials to effectively boost our fishery and poultry farm.”
But where did he get the idea of converting some of the local waste materials he uses as feed?
“I started browsing the internet for information on foreign countries that specialise in fish and poultry farming like Canada, Thailand, and Philippines. I observed that they make use of materials derived from their locality. I then decided to harness materials we can get here from Nigeria.
For starch in feeds, I thought of Cassava, corn, as crops in our locality that can easily supply that. Then for protein I thought of soya, I thought of ground nut cake and then other crops that can provide nourishment like cashew among others.
“I also thought of bringing the bones of animals, burning and grinding them as materials for feeding chicken and I noticed that using materials like bread crumbs to feed my fishes proved very good in making the fishes grow. After using these waste products to feed my fishes for two to five months, I had about 2kg and 3kg fishes. I sold them and made a lot of money.”
Evangelist Ododa who makes millions from his farm today said the reason why some people are recording losses or struggling with their farms is because they give their fishes or whatever animals they are producing poor food.
He added: “ When you give your chicken, for instance, food that is very rich in  protein, they don’t fall sick, but if you give them poor food they fall sick and the same applies to fish, if you don’t give them adequate care or food that is good for them, they die.
Last year, only 10 to 15 of my fishes died out of 20, 000 fishes and this year we target producing 48, 000 fishes per annum and by the grace of God we will make millions because if they are about 2 to 3 kg we may sell them at 1,000 each or 800 each, multiply that by the number of fish.”
The preacher reckoned that fishes that are given local feeds taste better than the ones that are fed with foreign feeds, saying: “Because I feed my fishes with local feeds, the ones from the river don’t taste better than them. That is why I have been recording huge patronage.
“More so, salt is part of the materials I put in my feeds. The water for the fishes also needs to be salted. So that when you eat the fish there wouldn’t be differences with that from the river.”
Daily Trust asked him why many farmers don’t grow tilapia and his answer was that Cat fish grows faster.
“If you give cat fish good food and take care of the water, in five to six months you can start your harvest but the tilapia can stay longer before they can get to the size for sale. Tilapia takes a lot of time but has the advantage of multiplying itself and whatever food you give, it accepts. On the other hand, you must have to give cat fish very rich food.”
Peter is worried that youth now see agriculture as something dirty or for the poor. “But from my research, I have found out that the richest people in America, Philippines and Thailand are those involved in agriculture. In this country, we have surplus lands but you see young boys wearing trousers below their waste and girls looking naked walking about in the name of hunting for jobs. We have a lot of resources that they can harness instead of waiting for office jobs.”
He has also been organising free training for the youth on agriculture.
On whether government has supported farmers enough in the country, he said: “We only see reports on papers and television that they invested millions, we farmers don’t see the money.”