10 Things To Make Pepper Farming Lucrative
By FS Initiative
Pepper farming is one of the most profitable businesses in Nigeria and other countries of the world as pepper is a vegetable eaten by almost everybody in the world.
Just like tomato farming and cucumber farming, pepper farming can be very lucrative but often not done correctly.
Some of the most popular types of pepper eaten in Nigeria are habanero pepper, cayenne pepper, chilli pepper and sweet pepper. Nigerians call these types of pepper atarodo, shombo, ata ijosi and tatase.
Here are some tips to assist farmers who engage in pepper farming smile to the bank year in, year out.
To make good money from pepper farming, you must take the below steps:
Get yourself trained in modern farming.
Cultivating pepper like how the conventional farmer in Nigeria does will lead to little or no profit. You should get yourself trained in how to use modern agronomic practices and farm technologies to boost your crop yield.
In Nigeria today, the average yield of habanero pepper per acre is about 0.2 tonnes while improved agronomic practices can result to over 5 tonnes of habanero pepper per acre.
If you do not know how to grow crops with modern agronomic techniques, you can hire those who are very skilled in farming.
Sort out finances:
If you want to make good money from pepper farming, you must get adequate finances. Cutting corners will lead to losses.
Do you want to take a bank loan? Will your farm be financed by contributions from family and friends? You must consider all funding options. It is better to use your own funds when starting out in pepper farming.
Get a good farmland:
Fertile farmland can be a very great asset. Try as much as possible to secure a fertile farmland, this will reduce the cost of fertiliser, manure and other farm treatment input.
You can rent a farmland instead of acquiring it, this will reduce initial cost outlay.
Pepper farming in Nigeria soil and water analysis:
You need to know the nutrients level, pH and microbial count in your soil and water. This will guide you on the type of fertiliser and soil improvers to use on your farm.
Farming without carrying out a soil test is like a student who goes into an examination hall with nothing in his brain.
Recruit staff:
You need to recruit good staff. The manager of your farm must be skillful in the cultivation of pepper. Most of the farm hands in Nigeria are people from the republic of Benin and Togo.
They are more willing to work on farms than young Nigerian men.
If your farm is in the northern part of Nigeria, you will not have challenges getting labourers for your pepper farm.
Soil Preparation:
You need to take off the weeds and unwanted trees on your farmland, plough, harrow and ride if need be. If the soil is poor, you will need to add manure or compost and some fertilizers.
If you prefer to go organic, you can add manure. Microbial inoculants and humates like humic acid and fluvic acid.
Install drip irrigation:
Drip irrigation is the passing of water and nutrients to the base of your plants through pipes in a trickle form. It is the most efficient type of irrigation for pepper farming.
With drip irrigation, you can increase the yield of your pepper farm by 40%-200% whilst also reducing the use of water and labour by a significant percentage.
You must get a good drip irrigation system for your pepper farm. To install drip irrigation for pepper farming in Nigeria, you need to have a good water source like borehole, well, dam or river.
You can buy drip irrigation systems from Veggie Grow Limited, the company is the leading supplier of farm technologies in Nigeria.
Get farm inputs:
You also need to get farm inputs for your pepper farm. Examples of farm inputs needed include fertilizers, manure, pesticides, knapsack sprayer or power sprayer, seeds (hybrid or open pollinated), cutlasses, hoes, plough and weeders etc.
Hybrid pepper seeds are high yielding than open pollinated pepper seeds. You need to research the best type of pepper seeds good for your agro climate and type of diseases and pests prevalent in your area.
Take care of your crops:
Practice good agronomic methods to make your crops disease free and ensure a very good yield. Ensure you follow strict pesticide application regime.
It is always better to prevent diseases than attempting to cure them.
Harvest and marketing:
Harvest your produce with care. While harvesting your peppers, ensure that the fruits are not damaged. You may need to preserve the pepper if you do not intend to sell them within days.
Marketing is key and as a matter of fact, you should secure the places to sell your produce before you start farming at all.
You should ask yourself the following questions:
Where will I sell my harvested peppers?
Do I want to sell in the open market or the more organized market like supermarkets and hotels?
Will I sell in markets near my farm or far away markets?
As a farmer, if you ask yourself the above marketing questions, pepper farming can become your own gold, so, research well and start this venture today!
