‘RUFIN made me a better farmer’

For how long have you been farming? I graduated in 2010 from the Federal College of Education, Obudu, Cross River State and since then I have done nothing but farming.  How did you arrive at the decision to take up farming as a business and how you’re faring in it? I came to hear about […]

For how long have you been farming?
I graduated in 2010 from the Federal College of Education, Obudu, Cross River State and since then I have done nothing but farming. 

How did you arrive at the decision to take up farming as a business and how you’re faring in it?
I came to hear about RUFIN in 2013; initially, I joined as a volunteer but later decided to join a group after attending series of trainings.
In 2014, I accessed a loan to the tune of N160,000 with which I bought groundnut shelling machine which I use on commercial basis. I also bought some yam seedlings which I stored till 2015. I then rented a hectare of land and planted the yam seedlings. When I harvested at the end of the season, I realised N300,000 profit. I have now bough a piece of land in Zaki-biam and I hope to build my own house from this year and next year’s harvests.

What are you doing to ensure that young people from your community reap the value of farming and look less to government job?
I have formed about 10 new groups of 15 to 20 persons per group as a volunteer and seven of the groups are doing very well in their farms and are ready to receive loan from microfinance banks. We don’t have to wait for government jobs again.
If I had met RUFIN earlier, I would have been better off now. They taught me how to identify opportunities and make money from them.