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Farming is a beautiful venture – in sight and in cash. Take a corn field at its prime for instance, the beautiful golden tassels on each corn stem form a soothing nature to behold. It only gets better, as corn is not just awesome to behold, it is a source of wealth for thousands of farmers across the globe.

I am a young farmer, exploring possibilities the industry has to offer in Nigeria and Africa at large. I have been down and up, excited and perplexed, lost and found in my few years of exploration. One major problem I encountered – and still encounter, is lack of quality information. There are lots of write-ups on agriculture out there but very scanty useful information. What happens on the farm is a sharp contrast of what is projected in these write-ups. This being a major problem for me, I decided to share my real life experiences as I journey the path of agricultural wealth. My stories may not be “professional“, but they are real. They may not be sophisticated, but they are true simple principles I have either applied or violated and seen corresponding results.

In this first episode, I will be sharing some Don’ts of farming. Either you are a multi-millionaire seeking to invest in farming, or a start-up entrepreneur just like me, avoiding these pitfalls would save you lots of stress – and I mean STRESS.

Don’t be an absentee farmer

My first farm was located in Igan-Alade – a town in Ogun State. My house (in Lagos) to the farm was about 2.5hrs, making a round trip about 5hrs. I only visited weekends, and even when I did, the laborers (who happen to be indigenous farmers) would have finished the activity for the day. I had almost no oversight on what they were doing. This is a no no! Long story short, I ran at a loss on that farm.

Don’t expect people will do the right thing – they most likely won’t 

This is an offshoot of the first. The laborers sort of had a mind of their own, as they often do less of what you instruct. This is primarily because no one is watching and they want to make more from you, so they cut corners. This of course, at the detriment of your crop. Someone said something about telling them to make videos. It may not work!

Don’t be Naive

Trusting every piece of information you come across on the internet, in journals or from individuals could be dangerous. Like I said earlier, quantity information is prevalent, quality information is scarce – search for the later.

Don’t avoid insurance 

As much as possible, include insurance in your plan. Yes, plan for it! I didn’t insure my first farm products, I learnt the hard way, learn from my mistake.

Don’t trade quality for cost 

One major thing I learned is that the quality of your harvest is directly proportional to the quality of your seed and maintenance (fertilizer, weeding, spraying etc). It is good to cut cost, don’t do it with agricultural inputs. I did and as you well know by now, I ran at a loss on my first farm.

Don’t give up

I have had some bad experiences on this journey – but I didn’t give up. Why? Because failure is not the aim – success is! Why start at all if you won’t achieve your aim right.

These are just some of the things you should avoid, the juicy part – practical guidance on different aspects of farming is dropping soon. Watch this space.