Aki Hausa: Wanted Farmer

For almost everything you find in Africa, little or nothing is known of its value
until white people tell us. That had been the case until now; a curious case
of apathy for knowledge. From the aqua petroleo in Equatorial Guinea to
beautiful black silt on the grounds in Itakpe, Nigeria, I have come to believe
that the black race has not applied itself in knowledge at all. We in Africa
literally walk on billions of dollars every day without even knowing. But what
hurts more, is the abject refusal to learn. The acculturation for many of us
has been to go to school, graduate and get a job.

This article is about one of those things you find on the streets in a lot of
Nigerian cities. I guess you might have come across these tiny nut-
like tubers wheel-barrowed by Nigerians and sold in little polythene bags.
Some call it 'Chufa sedge' and others, 'earth almond'. However, in Nigeria,
we know the Cyperus Esculentus by many names: the Hausas call it, 'Aya',
the Yorubas call it 'imumu' and the Igbos call it, 'aki hausa'. In plain terms
this local snack is known as 'tigernuts'.

Beyond being a snack, Tigernuts have very large potential for cash because
of their commercial value. Tiger nuts have long been recognised for their
health benefits as they are high in fibre, proteins, and natural sugars. They
have a high content of soluble glucose and oleic acid. Along with a high
energy content (starch, fats, sugars and proteins), they are rich in minerals
such as phosphorous and potassium and in vitamins E and C.

It is believed that they help to prevent heart attacks, thrombosis and cancer
especially of the colon. They are thought to be beneficial to diabetics and
those seeking to reduce cholesterol or lose weight. The very high fibre
content combined with a delicious taste; make them ideal for healthy eating.
Tigernuts are rich in oil which can be extracted for culinary and industrial
uses. The 'Horchata', avegetable milk produced in Spain is made with
Tigernut juice, hence Spain is the largest importer of tigernuts.

Customers abroad, particularly in Europe are willing to pay as high as
$790.00/Metric Ton for a minimum typical order of 400 Metric Tons of dried
median sized tigernuts.

So if you are unemployed and looking for a job, you are in good fortune.
Search for a company looking to buy tigernuts, source locally and ship. This
could be a start to earning good money.

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How To Plant Fluted Pumpkin (Ugu)

Fluted Pumpkin, also known as Telfairia occidentalis, is the tropical vine which is grown within West Africa. It is a leafy vegetable used as edible seeds whose common names are Ugu, Fluted Pumpkin and Fluted Gourd. This plant is a delicious and drought-tolerant perennial which is normally grown trellised. The young leaves and roots of a male plant can be the important ingredients for edikang ikong, the Nigerian soup. Its seed, which is 5.5 centimeters and dark-red, full of protein and fat, could be eaten and ground towards powder in favor of another soup. This plant fruit is big and weighs thirteen kilograms, yet it is inedible.

How to grow Fluted pumpkin – Step by step guides Fluted pumpkin growing

Firstly, purchase pumpkin plants or seeds at any garden nursery. If not, begin seeds indoors approximately 25 days prior to the final expected frost. If your planting season is warm and long, spread the seeds right away within the garden while the soil heat has reached for 65 degree F.

Secondly, select a plot where gets full sunlight and contains the soil under PH 6.5 to 7. The pumpkins require enough light, very fertile soil which drains best. Dig in big amounts of cured manure and compost to ensure right combination.

Thirdly, cultivate the pumpkin patch wide and deep – both vines and roots can sow for 16 feet within all directions.

Fourthly, harden your seedlings, make sure how it is homegrown or store-bought, and transplant them into your garden while all frost dander frost has passed. Plant or grow them within hills, adjust them for the depth level the same as they are planted within the pots. Spacing can be changeable in accordance with the variety, yet normally allow 5 or 6 feet apart between the plants within each direction.


Fifthly, use the organic matter and mulch to cover the plant when they are produced to keep deter weeds and moisture, and use row covers and cloches to prevent immature plants from the chilly winds. Be sure your plants must get water from1.5 to 2.5 inches every week, particularly once they are getting fruit and flowering.

Sixthly, use seaweed extract or compost tea to sow on the plants every three weeks. Vines must be pinched back in order to fix their growth when their fruits come out. Pumpkins should be rotated one time in a while for keeping them symmetrical, yet try to move the plants a little bit at any time to escape from breaking your brittle 

Seventhly, put boards beneath large pumpkins to conserve them out of rotting. Orange pumpkins could be harvested after your vines have developed and died, before the initial hard freeze. Trim white varieties once their skins remain streaked the green color.

As a result, to know how to grow Fluted pumpkin well, try to read the above details studiously from the first to the seventh step.


Nutrition or benefit – Why growing Fluted pumpkin
If you are aware of how to grow Fluted pumpkin, you will get a lot of benefits as follows:
For foods, Fluted pumpkin is used as leaf vegetables. Its seed can be eaten without poison. Its roots and leaves are invented as main ingredients for making Nigerian soup whose name is "Edikang Ikong." But, its fruit is inedible. Other foods made of Fluted pumpkins are Slow Food, Butternut Squash, Lettuce Wraps, Luxurious Lasagna, Fish Tacos, Vegetable Gratin, Pastor Burgers, Pastor Burgers, Onion Soup and so on. Furthermore, it is also created as some sweets such as Pumpkin Pie, Cupcake Cones, Lava Cakes, Chicken Sliders, Cupcake Toppers, Bento Love, Black Bean, Churro Cupcakes, Pumpkin Roll, Cooked Pumpkin and so on. Exponentially, some drinks are produced of Fluted pumpkin as well like Tom Collins, Fall Beers, Pumpkin Syrup … etc. Also, it contains several vitamins, for instance, vitamin C, B1, B2, B3, E and K. Even better, it is comprises of some minerals such as magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron, Zinc, Sodium, Phosphorus and so on.

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Make Money from Vegetables in Nigeria

Every business in Nigeria shouldn't be about buying and selling, vegetable farming is one aspect of farming in Nigeria that is capable of bringing quick cash to the would be farmer this season. There are so many people in the streets of Lagos who have no business being in Lagos. While they waste away in poverty, hoping for a better tomorrow; opportunity to make good money through farming keep passing them by on daily basis.

In Nigeria of those days, the term 'Farmer' is heavily associated with poverty and illiteracy. But that was then, not now anymore when farmers are becoming the richest people (I heard that one of the richest man in China is a farmer) and living the best of life possible.

Vegetable farming happens to be one of the easiest agricultural engagement, and any kind of edible vegetable is always in hot demand all year round. One good example is Fluted Pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis) popularly known as Ugu (It's Igbo name) across Nigeria.

Types of Money Yielding Vegetables


Ugu vegetable is by far, the most consumed vegetable of any kind in Nigeria. An acre size Ugu farm is capable of turning in above N500,000 and it will take you less than N60,000 to cultivate one acre farm of pumpkin vegetable.

If you are in Lagos, the entire Power Line of hundreds of Acres, that stretched from Egbin power station in Ijede, Ikorodu, down to almost Ikorodu garage are extremely good for Ugu farming and you can get them almost free to cultivate your pumpkin and other vegetables.

Some popular Vegetables in Nigeria that you can Cultivate

Fluted Pumpkin - Like I've said before, Pumpkin vegetable is the most consumed vegetable by Nigerians of all class. It is used to prepare varieties of dishes and it's very nutritious too. When you talk about soup in Nigeria, you are directly talking about ugu because, almost all Nigerian soups are cooked with this vegetable.

Apart from cooking, pumpkin vegetable has been known to increase the volume of the red blood cell when consumed fresh, without being cooked. It's blood enhancing nutrients gives it the ability to expand the volume of your blood at a very short time after consumption!

It is of course natural for a vegetable of these benefits and usage to be in high demand, anyone who can cultivate Ugu, is absolutely going to make good money selling it and can be cultivated in every part of Nigeria due to the plant's tolerant of drought and poor soil.

Green Okra - Okra, which is popularly known as the lady's finger and gumbo, in many English speaking countries is a very nutritious edible green pod vegetable. When sliced, the okra's edible green seed pods produces slippery sticky substance that make the soup tick, smooth, and delicious. My personal experience with okra shows that eating fresh vegetable soup prepared with plenty of okra can relive constipation and increase digestion.

If you are a Nigerian, you don't need to be told about okra soup. It's one of the most popular soup in Nigeria restaurants, usually prepared with Ugu vegetable and smoked fish - very delicious and taste good.

Okra contains good amount of Vitamin-A and is known to be anti-oxidant due to it's good content of beta-carotene. It is also rich in Vitamin-C, Vitamin-K, and some form of Vitamin-B Complexes. Like Fluted Pumpkin, it tolerate all kinds of soil.

Cabbage - Cabbage is another popular vegetable in Nigeria and is popularly used to prepare salads. The only part of the plant that is normally eaten is the rounded leafy head (the spherical cluster of immature leaves) excluding the partially unfolded outer leaves.

Because of it's spicy flavor, Cabbage is used in a variety of dishes, and is widely consumed raw as well. It is in high demand in Nigeria and sells for reasonably good price.

Cabbage really does not like the sun, it grows better in a cold environment but must get at least 6 hours of sunlight everyday. It grows well on a well fertile, well drained manured soil.

Cucumber - As I always says: Great skin starts with Cucumber; If you really want your skin to be happy, your number one answer is cucumber. This is because, cucumber and skin is known to share the same level of hydrogen content, which makes it easier for cucumber to deal with the skin problems by engulfing them. It works well in soothing, softening, and relaxing your skin very quickly.

Cucumber can be eaten raw and is used for preparation of many kinds of food in Nigeria. Cultivating this vegetable will surely put money into your pockets.

Cucumbers like every other vegetables like soil that is well drained and rich in organic matter, but don't stress about the soil conditions. Cucumbers are hearty plants and easy to grow. Just make sure they have full sunlight and soil that is rich in organic matter.

Cucumber sells quick to in markets across Nigeria and is widely consumed. It is another vegetable farming that makes a lot of money.

When you engage in farming, you will have plenty of food to eat, you sell to make good cash, and it gets you closer to nature. These will increase your overall well being as a human-being. So, give it a trial today and see yourself happy.

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Malawi government to rent out tractors to farmers

The Malawian Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has disclosed that it will soon start renting out tractors kept at the Plant and Vehicle Hire Organisation (PVHO) in Lilongwe to farmers.

Principal secretary of the Ministry, Geoffrey Luhanga, told the Malawi News Agency (Mana) that his office has meanwhile started transferring tractors to some districts of the country.

"Yes, it is true that we have started moving the tractors to some of the districts and what will happen is that those farmers wanting to use them will have to liaise with the district council," explained Luhanga.

"Farmers in recognised groups have an opportunity to also hire the tractors," he added.

Luhanga said commercialising agriculture in Malawi has been a challenge as many farmers lack the necessary assistance.

The tractors will act as a solution to some of the problems that Malawian farmers have encountered in their quest to improve their farming career, he added.

The rental tractors were initially bought to fulfil the purpose of the Green Belt Initiative championed by the late President Bingu wa Muntharika, Mana said.

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Nigerian government to cut wheat imports by 20 per cent

Nigeria's government will from 2014 cut wheat imports by 20 per cent, saving more than US$800mn from its annual wheat imports bill of more than US$4bn, the country's minister of agriculture Akinwumi Adesina has announced

The announcement was made on behalf of Adesina by his technical adviser on the cassava value chain, Toyin Adetunji, in Lokoja at a two-day training workshop on cassava bread.

The event was organised for members of the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria from the North Central zone.

According to Adesina, the government has concluded plans to implement its policy of 20 per cent substitution of wheat with cassava flour in bread production to reduce its wheat imports bill.

Adesina said the Master Bakers' training was part of the measures aimed at developing the cassava industry, creating jobs and boosting the income of the people.
The policy was also aimed at diversifying the country's economic base from oil to non-oil sectors, he added.

"The challenge to us as a nation is that Thailand, which is the third largest producer of cassava, controls over 80 per cent of the world market of cassava starch," Adesina said.

"Hence, there is need for us to play our role as a leading producer nation," he added.
The minister also confirmed that President Goodluck Jonathan had approved a cassava bread development fund of US$63mn.

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FAO rolls out campaign to reduce fish losses in Uganda

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is seeking to raise awareness of post-harvest fish losses in Uganda by launching a campaign in the country
The UN agency is driving towards educating the public on hygiene and quality in handling fish in small-scale fisheries.

Alhaji Jallow, FAO representative in Uganda, said the campaign was put together by small-scale fishermen, fish traders and consumers, to educate others on the importance of hygiene to preserve fish.

The campaign will be launched through the 'Clean Fish, Better Life' video campaign along 12 major landing sites in Busia, Namayingo, Mayuge and Buikwe districts.

"This comes at a time when different countries, particularly in Africa, are striving to ensure food and nutrition security for their people, in addition to enhancing revenue-generation from fish and fisheries products. Fisheries play a significant role in the socio-economic development of Uganda..." Jallow said while addressing journalists at Hotel Africana during a recent conference on fisheries.

The FAO representative added that post-harvest fish losses were affecting the quality and quantity of fish Uganda produces.

Fish exports rose from US$5.3mn in 1991 to the highest value of US$143mn in 2005, but fell to US$83.3mn in 2010.

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Kenyan government invests US$2.2mn in fish ponds

The Kenyan government has invested US$2.2mn in the construction of 940 fish ponds in secondary schools across 47 counties in Kenya
Each county will create 20 fish ponds at a cost of US$2,400 each to encourage fish consumption in their regions, the government revealed.

According to Kenyan officials, the cash will also be spent buying liners, fingerlings and feeds for the first six months, while students from selected schools will be trained on modern fish farming skills.

The government has already constructed four fish mini-processing plants in Tetu in Nyeri County, Imenti in Meru County, Rongo in Migori County and in Kakamega County.
Five years ago, the Kenyan government launched the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) to boost fish programmes in the country.

Under the programme, fish production has increased from four tonnes in 2009 to more than 50,000 tonnes last year, the government said.
A reported US$14mn was spent to construct fish ponds in more than 140 constituencies.

Among its targets were investment in long–term solutions to the challenges of food security and expanding economic opportunities in rural areas for employment creation.

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VIV organises animal protein summit in Nigeria

Nigeria's agribusiness leaders, organisations and authorities partook in a one-day international summit to explore the development of the country's poultry production sector

The event took place in Nigeria's capital city, Abuja, on 15 January 2014 and was organised by the VIV Europe team.

Nigeria is expecting that its demand for animal protein will rise quickly over the next few years, with its population set to reach 700mn and the government has listed agriculture and food production as its top priorities to meet the challenge.

It also recently revealed that the expansion of the poultry and aquaculture sectors are a key target.

Nigeria is the first African nation to hold an event under the official title of the VIV International Nigeria Summit, which included some roadshow activities visiting various continents on behalf of the VIV Europe 2014 global expo for poultry and livestock husbandry and processing.

Global experts in poultry and aquaculture hosted the event, providing examples of technical best practices as the foundation for the expansion of animal protein supplies from Nigerian farms.

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Articles under The Hindu's Farmers Notebook in book form
Speakers at the release of the book, Impact of The Hindu's Farmers Note Book on Technology Literacy of Farmers, here on Saturday dwelt on ways of making farming remunerative.
Welfare Organisation for Rural Development (WORD-Tirupati) and Sustainable Agro Alliance Limited (SAAL-Madurai) brought out the book, a compilation of 180 articles published over the past six years in the Farmers Notebook column of The Hindu.
Farm scientist Velamoor Rajagopal, the brain behind the work, said the book carried interesting articles with case studies, success stories and innovative farm practices.
It would be translated into Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi and Hindi.
Expressing concern at the falling contribution of agriculture to the Gross Domestic Product, Chittoor Collector K. Ramgopal called cooperative farming the elixir to rid agriculture of its woes.
An agriculture graduate himself, Mr. Ramgopal advised farmers to divide tasks among themselves to cut operational cost.
"Strong leadership at the village level and farmers' willingness to look beyond their farm bund can ensure its success."
The Hindu's Managing Editor V. Jayanth, who released the book, said dissemination of information was a major function of a newspaper.
Agriculture was an important sector where information needed to be shared. The successive editors of the newspaper had great concern for agriculture and felt that the newspaper would be failing in its primary duty if due priority was not accorded to agriculture.
K. Ramaswamy, Vice-Chancellor of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (Coimbatore), lauded the efforts of The Hindu's agriculture correspondent M.J. Prabu and wanted the book made part of the curriculum.
"Science journalists have the ability to look beyond what we [academics] see," he said, seeking a higher allocation to strengthen the academic infrastructure to match the rise in the number of seats.
ISCA president and former Vice-Chancellor of Sri Venkateshwara University R. Ramamurthi called farmers "rural innovators."
SV Agricultural College Associate Dean N.P. Eswara Reddy, Regional Agricultural Research Station associate director of research T. Giridhara Krishna, P.N. Vedanarayanan of the special task force on delta farmers' welfare (Tamil Na

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