‘Our American cows give us 80 liters of milk daily’

What prompted you to go into large scale poultry, cows, fishing and sheep farming?First and foremost, my parents were farmers and so I grew up as a farmer. Beyond that, when I realised that most of the things we feed on in this country like rice, palm oil and other food items are imported, even […]

What prompted you to go into large scale poultry, cows, fishing and sheep farming?
First and foremost, my parents were farmers and so I grew up as a farmer. Beyond that, when I realised that most of the things we feed on in this country like rice, palm oil and other food items are imported, even the chickens and eggs that we were using in Sokoto were brought to us from Ibadan at high prices and inadequate quantity. I resolved to make sure I set up my farm to contribute towards providing food in this country. In the meantime, we are into poultry, dairy, fishery and have some sheep as well. We are into large scale selling of milk, eggs and fish. I started with 500 birds but within the first 6 months, 28 of them died. On the advice of my veterinary doctor, I increased the number to 1,000. When people knew about the farm, they started coming to buy eggs from the farm. I was again advised to buy broilers since all the 1,000 were layers, I did just that. Gradually, the farm developed to this level. Within just 8 weeks or so the broilers will mature for sell.   
How many birds do you have in your farm now?
I now have 7,200 layers with only 2,000 broilers left. We do not keep the broilers for long, the moment they are matured we sell to bulk buyers and we also sell on retail price to people that buy, slaughter and prepare the chicken for buyers here.
How do you get their feeds?
Our veterinary experts are responsible for mixing their feeds. We have a mill for the processing of their feeds. We would not like to give details of how we mix their feeds, but the fact is we combine maize, soya beans, moringa leaves that we have here and some other ingredients.  
What difficulties are you facing in this business?
Our major problem is when the weather is hot. You know Sokoto has harsh weather and chickens do not like heat. But from the onset we selected a site where the heat will not be much.
What informed your decision to combine sheep, cows, chicken and fish in one farm?
You are aware that most farms that combine poultry and fishery is because they use the chicken waste and meat of the dead chicken to feed the fish, we also do that. Again, all the maize we are using to produce the feed comes from our farm. We are operating a sort of integrated farm. We do not buy or apply fertiliser to our farms, instead, we use the manure from our cows and sheep, the waste from the poultry and the waste water from the fish ponds on our farms. I use to import the chicken pens, that is the cages from China India and Turkey and sell here. People come from Ondo, Bauchi and other parts of Nigeria to buy the pens from us.
Do you have access to bank loans?
I have never accessed any form of loan from any bank or government. The only assistance I know we got from government was when they gave us 500 fingerlings. I understand they gave to all the fish farms in the state. That was the only support we got from government. Farming generally is improving greatly in the state because the governor himself is a farmer and is doing a lot to encourage farmers and improve farming activities in the state. I remember when fish farmers invited him to an event, he attended and even donated large consignment of fish from his farm. He is doing a lot to farmers in this state.
How many fishes and cows do you have in the farm?
We have 50,000 tilapia and 80,000 cat fishes in this farm. We brought our cows from the United States of America specifically for dairy purpose, to produce for us in commercial quantity. We have two different varieties, those that give us 20 litres the ones that give us 80 litres milk daily. We sell fresh cow milk in the farm. We also breed the sheep for sale to interested members of the public.