CUCUMBER FARMING... 1 MILLION NAIRA EXPERIENCE... SEE PHOTOS

I dont believe in "internet farming, but I feel the need to encourage other Nigerian youths out there who want to venture into agribusiness. It has not been easy so far to farm in Nigeria. The challenges have been enormous but *in Lil Wayne's voice* "we doing aite". I'll just get straight to the point.
This is a true farming experience of a Vegetable farmer, he says;
"am a vegetable farmer. And farm majorly cucumber. I am pro-organic farming (it's very expensive in Nigeria). I employ technologies from around the world (especially thailand) that suit our climate and culture. I've been into this for quite a while now. Decided to upload pictures of how I plant and the agronomy I employ in my cucumber farming. To get more ideas from the pros here and tovexcite the intending farmers.

First of all, this is 1 hectare of land, by the special grace of God, this land produced a gross profit of 1million in 2 months. This is when the land was in preparation stage. The process is tedious and highly meticulous and alot of factors come to play gere in making such profit.

These are pictures from my last set. Cucumber lasts for about 70 days, although this may differ in specie but averagely between time of planting and the time it dries off is about 3months. So in order to maintain supply round the year, I plant in sets. This is the set that will give way for the new set that is just coming up.

The 7 decisive factors in successful farming of cucumber. (Most of these rules apply to farming in general).

1. The most important factor is the SEED you are planting. Once you the right specie of seed you're doomed to fail in farming, take note of that.
Is it a local or a foreign seed?
Is it an open or a closed seed?
Is it a hybrid or General seed?
These and more are the things you find out before ever purchasing seed for planting. Some seeds can produce 1tonne of cucumber per hectare each harvest, others can produce 500kg, 200kg, even as low as 50kg. And some can produce up to 2-3 tonnes. Under the same agricultural conditions. (A kG of cucumber sells for minimum of N150 in wholesale).
Another role the kind of seed can play is in deciding how long you can harvest. Some 3-5 times some 5-10times while a select few can go 15-20 times before they wither. (Other factors contribute to how long harvest lasts) So, you can see that the type of seed used is a very very vital factor.
2: LABOUR: From personal experience. My first farm was a small one (about one plot). So, I handled it myself, only hired labour when making the beds. I made 100K in 2 months. I was shocked! That spurred me to look for more land. But when I increased to 4plots, I hired workers (2 workers). I was expecting to make at least 400k or 350. But to my greatest surprise, I made 250k. And had to pay their salaries of 80k. (20k each for 2 months). I was distraught, I began to check for what went wrong and
discovered 2 things about Labour in Nigeria.
1. An average Nigerian youth wants to be richer than Dangote but is not ready to work. Very lazy to the bones.
2. If it's not their fathers business, they are ready to collapse and destroy whatever you are building.

This wahala of labour is a big deal o. For intending farmers, don't take it lightly. One would believe that if you flash 20k a month (which is above minimum wage) to a hungry, Jobless Nigerian, he/she woulf be ready to work. But it's a lie. I'll therefore suggest that you start small and build up your labour force gradually with trusted, hardworking personnel.

NUMBER 3: PESTS and DISEASES. Pests is usually a problem to contend with because it's a dicey situation.
The reason is, the major pests of cucumber are insects, and cucumber needs some insects for pollination like butterfly, bees e.t.c other insect will just eat the flowers and leaves and stunt the production of the crop.
I had this problem initially, How do I spray pesticide on the crop without killing the useful insects. After much research and facts finding, I came to this wonderful
conclusion.
Cucumber produces colourful flowers, and that is what attracts butterflies and bees(useful insects). While the other insects come to chop leaf and live on the leaf. So when the flowers are not bright the useful insects fly away.
When are the flowers not so bright? IN THE NIGHT!!! So the best time to spray insecticde/ pesticide without killing the useful insects is in the evening or night.
Please don't spray pesticide speculatively, wait untill you notice presence of pests
         
NUMBER 4 is IRRIGATION. Over 80% of cucumber composition is water. Yes! Water... the need for constant water cannot be underestimated. And for this, irrigation is key. Personally, wherever I am developing land, once the land is secure from pests the next thing I do is secure a constant source of water. Could be a nearby stream or I sink bore-hole in the land. Please if you don't have constant source of water, cucumber farming is not for you. If the plants are not well watered, the primary effect is that the products will be bitter. Have you eaten bitter cucumber before? Let's just say it's a combination of quinine and bitter leaf. Nobody will buy it from you, and bye bye to 1million Net profit. Secondly, the plants won't last long before they wither. Which would not allow you to harvest as many times as you need to. So... bye bye 1million profit.

NUMBER FIVE is SOIL. The type of soil is very important vital to the performance. Basically, you should look for a soil that absorbs and retains water. (Loamy and semi-clay). Soil preparation is also vital, top dressing should be done with NPK 15:15:15 or organic manure. (I am pro organic farming so I use manure majority of the time) After the initial top dressing, you need to apply manure/fertilizer during the vegetative stage and mega super continous manure/fertilizer during the flowering/fruiting stage. This is to ensure continuous harvest for a longer period. In my next post, I'll share my personal experience with fertilizers and manure and also bad soil.



NUMBER SIX is WEED. and am not talking of marijuana here. Weed is dangerous to the crop at a young age. Cos it competes with the young cucumber cucumber for nutrients. And the cost of weeding in Nigeria is high (as we have already handled that in labour). So I choose to use mulching films, which prevents the growth of weed. Although the mulching film serves other purposes, my favourite is it's weed control. You don't know what mulching film looks like? Here it is

Okay let me answer your questions first
1. Yes, good observation. Now, alot of farmers fight with weed and cost of weeding is very high. So... the polythene is used as a form of mulching film. This is common practise in developed countries. It makes the plant grow faster and healthier. Because at the early stage, the plant does not have to contend with weed. It is an integral part of my land preparation before planting. Cause it saves cost of weeding and stress. Below you'll see a typical example of my mulching.
2. It is not compulsory to plant in nursery trays. But if you want, its usually after the third leaf appears. You can plant directly, to avoid the stress. There is no direct disadvantage in doing so. Except you have a hard soil.
3. The seed are of different species, they have been genetically enhanced engineered to serve different purpose. Depends on what you need, determines the price of the seed. We have the Thai Agro group here who sell seeds. The seeds cost about 3-4 Naira per one approximately. They cheapest pack is N200. With about 65 seeds inside. But for intending farmers who join their farm network, they give free seeds for test/ exhibition farm.

NUMBER SEVEN and the final one is AGRONOMY. This is the best and the last. Agronomy can shortly be defined as the technology used in food production and processing and soil science. I can't start teaching my style or my own technology because that one na very very long and intensive. But your location and your capital decides the Agronomy practise".