The Multimillion Naira Roadside Vegetable Farms

By Suleiman Ugbokhe

If you are a first time traveller on the Iyana-Oba expressway going to Iba, or vice versa, you can be forgiven if you mistake the beautiful flat beds of greenery on both sides of the road caressing the perimeter fences of Lagos State University (LASU) on one side and that of the Barracks (Post-Service Housing scheme, Ojo) on the other side, as mere ornamental landscaping.
A closer look at this enchanting sight that runs for about three kilometres from very close to Iyana-Oba garage, off the Lagos – Badagary expressway, passing by both establishments mentioned earlier and ending just before Iba will reveal a money-spinning specialized sector of agriculture.
Welcome to the multimillion naira roadside vegetable farms.

 “I am building my house now. I am also training my children. My first born, a boy, has finished university. He is about to go for youth service (NYSC). My second child has written his WAEC and the third one has done junior WAEC. My last born is about to sit for common entrance examination ….”

Agbelonews.com in conjunction with agricriches.agbelonews.com recently took a tour of this aesthetic vegetable farm that can as well pass for a tourism spot.
At that early morning before sunrise, the large expanse of land on which the farms lie was already beaming with a lot of activities.

Sellers and buyers at the vegetable farms

Transplanting of nursery vegetables on well measured flat ridges, watering of growing vegetables, as well as harvesting and selling of the green leaves were going on simultaneously.
The first person, a young man of about 25 years old, Agbelonews meets was harvesting vegetable specie popularly called efo in Yoruba. He gives his name as Isah Suleiman and says he is a labourer working for a man he calls “Baba.”

Isah Suleiman harvesting vegetable (efo)

He points at Baba, who is a few metres away working on his vegetable farm. Baba, carrying two water sprinklers, moves from a small pod where he dips the two containers to collect water and goes to water the vegetables.
As he is doing this, he calls on one Musa, who is in a nearby hut in the farm having his breakfast of tea and bread, to come and attend to Agbelonews, as Baba could not speak English.
But Musa only helps to direct Agbelonews to the chairman of the vegetable farming community, about fifty metres away from where we stand.
Abdullahi Sale, a tall, slim man in his 60s is the “Chairman of the farmers,” he says.
“I don’t know the figure, but they are many. But every person has his own farm,” when asked of the number of farmers.

Chairman of the farmers, Abdullahi Sale

He says any person interested in vegetable farming in the area known as “Post-Service Farm,” will come to him to pay a monthly rental fee of four or five thousand naira, after which he will be allocated a piece of land – about a plot – on which to farm.
On how much cash transactions take place there on a daily basis, the chairman says: “…two hundred to three hundred thousand naira (N200,000 – 300,000.00) per day.”
As Agbelonews moves away from the chairman, who says he has built a house and was training his two children with the proceeds from his own farms there, a lady who buys vegetables from the farm to sell comes into the picture.
She gives her name has Bose Folarin and says she has been in the business of buying vegetables at the farm to sell for about 20 years.
She is unequivocal that the vegetable business is lucrative. “If the market is good, I will make a profit of five thousand naira (N5,000.00) in a day,” Bose, who is a widow said.

Bose Folarin with her vegetables bought at the farm

“I will make forty thousand naira ( N40,000.00) minimum,” on the average in a month.
To buttress her claims, she says “I am building my house now. I am also training my children. My first born, a boy, has finished university. He is about to go for youth service (NYSC). My second child has written his WAEC and the third one has done junior WAEC. My last born is about to sit for common entrance examination….”
Agbelonews concludes the farm tour but not before speaking with another farmer, Sanusi Ibrahim, who has been in the vegetable farming business for 10 years, after having understudied his master for one year.
According to Sanusi, he started his own farm “with fifteen thousand naira. The amount covered clearing and digging and the purchase of seedlings as well as fertilizer and manure.”
Aligning with his chairman and Bose, Sanusi affirms the profitability of the vegetable business.

Sanusi watering his vegetables

“I am from Katsina (state). My wife and children and my mother are there. I cater for their needs. So, I do send money to them to take care of their needs.
In addition, whatever remains of the profit is used to buy cows and goats for rearing back home for sale,” Sanusi explains to Agbelonews.
To tell a successful story of being a vegetable farmer, perhaps you need to follow Sanusi’s daily routine: “When I come to the farm in the morning before sunrise, I will water the vegetables. If there are areas to apply fertilizer or manure, I will apply accordingly.
“In the evening, I will water the vegetables again. If there are weeds, I uproot them.
“That is all I do in a day at the farm.”
(See Interview Page for details of interviews with the three people that featured in this story.)