The Chief Executive Officer B. I. C. Farms Concepts Debo Onafowora, uses a unique method in farming. He deploys technology to grow crops in water, DANIEL ESSIET reports
Chief Executive, B.I.C Farms Concepts, Debo Onafowora, is an Ogun State-based entrepreneur making waves in the agro business sector.
He started the business 10 years ago dealing on aquaculture, livestock, crops, vegetables, processing and packaging of crops and animals.
Though he started small, he has built a successful business, which focuses on training entrepreneurs.
He processes and packages local products, such as ofada rice and garri.
His story did not start in one day. Frustrated by the quality of raw grain he gets for animal feeds, Onafowora set out to develop a more efficient way of growing the cereals that are used in making animal feeds. This is how he came across hydroponic technology.
His hydroponics technology offers farmers year round supply of nutritious green fodder, grown in just eight days. The technology has the ability to grow fodder and other crops without the soil.
Since he started installing the hydroponics systems across the country, Onafowora has built many systems to assist farmers looking for a cheap alternative to commercial feed.
According to him, hydroponics is a method of growing crops using mineral nutrient solutions in water and without soil. He is a trainer in a new age fodder production that has become a popular among farmers.
After several months of trials, he is satisfied with the skills and knowledge of how to handle the technology.
After witnessing the success of his efforts, he decided to take a bolder move by enriching other farmers with the new skills he has acquired.
His farm at Asero,Ogun State, grows tomatoes, lettuce, and maize on a reservoir of nutrients in water and without soil.
He helps farmers instal the system for N100,000. It takes between five and seven days for corn to mature for harvest to feed their cattle. In conventional farming, it would take weeks.
He said farmers using the system can make 10 times their investments at the end of the year.
His farms on the road to Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State has become a training ground for curious farmers eager to adopt the technology. The venture has improved his financial status and is gaining him admiration from people.
What the farmer needs is shade nets to ensure temperatures are maintained at certain degrees and aluminum trays for growing the fodder. He encourages other farmer to buy appropriate seeds he intends to grow.
Explaining th esystem, he said an hydroponic farmer also needs some water to produce the fodder.The system is efficient in water usage because the water and nutrients are repeatedly recycled.
Plants grown hydroponically, typically tends to be 30 to 50 per cent higher than the yield of the conventionally grown plants. Farmers who want to learn the new technology enrol for a few days training.
He described the system as “cheap, efficient and highly productive”. Already, farmers in the Southwest have accepted the project seen as a revolutionary way of farming. This is coming at a time land is becoming limited, thanks to population pressure and the ever-rising cost of commercial feeds that is stopping hundreds of farmers from accessing the much- needed feed.
Onafowora is a consultant to many top organisations, including Afe Babalola University(ABUAD), where he is instrumental to setting up the university’s massive phase II Fish Farm, and the largest Moringa Processing Factory in West Africa, processing over seven products from the Moringa tree.
According to Onafowora, his organisation has assisted over a thousand Nigerians to start the small business of distributing local products and also helping rice farmers in Ofada community to find ready markets for their products.