Bamidele Onibalusi is a blogger. But he has also achieved success in agribusiness. He is the founder of Deloni Farms Limited, an integrated farm that specialises in catfish and crops, such as cassava, plantains, and maize, DANIEL ESSIET reports
Bamidele Onibalusi is a blogger who has switched to farming. He hopes to make a career in agriculture.
At a time the farm subsector is distressed, Onibalusi, whose farm is based in Oyo State, has become a role model for youths. He started with fish farming, then verred into crop farming. This made his transition easier, and helped him to learn by observing which helped him during subsequent conversions of his land.
He said: “I started farming in 2014. I was driven to go into farming when I came across data that showed that a lot more people are born than die in a given year. At the time, the data I came across showed that an average of two people will die every second while an average of 4.3 people will be given birth to in the same period. This made me realise that there will never be enough food in the world. It will become difficult to feed people due to a rapidly-increasing population and also because of a decrease in availability of land for farming.
‘’While my farm started with one employee in 2014, by God’s grace I have gradually expanded to a stage where I employ 25 people and we continue to grow.”
Initially, he faced his share of challenges. But that is now history.
A key practice for him was intercropping, as it helped achieve a diverse output and reduce the risk from mono-cropping. The results are showing, as he reaped a bumper harvest of crops. The economics of farming are in his favour. Higher realisation from more output combined with lower investment and costs improved his net income. He established market linkages, thus creating the demand for his supply.
He plans to expand his market linkage by using teams and technology and hopes to expand profit margin.
His mantra has been ‘sky is the limit’. He attends industry events for networking. For him, agriculture is going to create huge opportunities.
His goal. “I have a simple goal for now to feed Nigeria. I recently came across a report by the World Bank that showed that food insecurity is rising in Nigeria, and that as much as eight percent of the population is undernourished. The gravity of this becomes even clearer when you consider that a lot more people are born in Nigeria than die when compared to the world average I cited earlier data from the Central Intelligence Agency(CIA) shows that 3.6 times more people are born than die in Nigeria at any given point (when compared to the data I cited earlier in which 4.3 people are born for every two people that die. This means in Nigeria 7.3 people are born for every two people that die). If care is not taken, Nigeria will have a pretty serious food challenge in the future and I want to play a role in addressing this.”
For him, feeding Nigeria is a big challenge and will get increasingly challenging. He said: ‘’So far, I’m still very far from my goal of feeding Nigeria but I’m making progress. My farm has gradually grown from having just one employee to 25 in about six years, and we’ll continue to grow. I’ve also gradually increased the size of the farm (when it comes to both livestock mainly catfish and crops) to more than 10 times what it was when I started. Besides massively increasing production and growing, I’ve also hosted some eminent visitors on my farm. This includes the former Special Adviser to the Oyo State governor to governor Abiola Ajimobi, Professor Segun Adekunle; the National President of the Nigerian Association of Yam Farmers, Prof. Simon Irtwange. I’m also involved in supporting and developing the local communities in which my farms are located.”
His challenges are many. “There is also the cattle/herder issue. I had to significantly reduce how much crop I planted and also had to delay the onset of farming due to the herder/cattle issue. I also know a few people who wanted to get into farming but had to hold on due to this. The cows are everywhere, and nothing is being done to check this. I believe cattle and farmers can coexist peacefully without the need to resort to violence; it used to be this way many years back. However, a lack of regulation and attention from the government is making things difficult. More than half of my cassava farms have been destroyed by herders and their cattle; in a particular farm where we planted about 10 acres of cassava, about seven acres was destroyed and what we harvested was barely three acres. In fact, at a point we saw what amounted to signs of herders harvesting the cassava for their cattle; with eyewitnesses reporting seeing hundreds of cows on the farm at times.”
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