Why I chose agriculture despite my real estate business —Adediran

Miftah Adediran, is a 37-year-old farmer, with an MBA from Liverpool John Moores University, England. In this interview conducted on his close to 1,000 hectares of maize farm in Iseyin, he tells RUTH OLUROUNBI why he went into agribusiness and why he thinks value addition is critical to business success in the agriculture industry.

From the conversations we’ve had, you have about 18,000 hectares of farmland somewhere in Oyo State, correct?

Very correct. Currently, we have about 1000 hectares cultivated in Itesiwaju Local Government for annual crops, while the massive farm for our  tree crops (cashew to be precise ) is sitting there in Atisbo Local Government, all in Oyo State.

Tell me how you got into farming? What led you to decide you want to farm?

I have been farming in my own little was since about eight years of age. I started out with a garden in front of our house trying out my hands on maize. I was also keeping rabbits in cages and my late grandmother gave me about 20 local chickens to raise then. So I can say that was where I cut my teeth in farming.

You also have a business in Lagos aside farming, yes?

I do property business, dredging and land reclamation from the Lagoon. I also do equipment leasing.

How lucrative exactly is agriculture? From your experience, do you want to share?

Agriculture is superbly lucrative. It is the next big thing after hydrocarbon (crude oil). However it’s what you put in that you get. The more the resources, more money and the bigger the farm, the bigger the income.

I have made some good money, I mean good money selling cassava tubers and soybeans. Imagine if I process them? That’s more money.

Is that why you say value chain is where the money is?

Well value chain is the whole series of activities that create and build value at every step. Assuming you sell a tuber of cassava for N10, but if you add value to it by processing further (not selling raw tuber) you are likely to make N30. So that’s why it’s always advisable to go down the value chain of any crop/raw material you produce.

Is that where you’re focusing on this year?

By the special grace of God. Our cassava processing plant will be coming up to produce food grade starch, and high quality cassava flour, cassava being d raw material. So, no more selling of tubers.

You’ve talked about how difficult it is to access funding to run your farm, how did you raise the money to go into such a massive scale of farming?

Well to God be all the glory. The funding of this massive project is solely from my other business of dredging and property business in Lagos.

Though we still have a long way to go, but we have made a remarkable progress.

For those who are looking to make quick money especially during recession, how are you doing to advise them?

Well unfortunately farming is not a get rich quick venture. It is not a short term business if you are looking to make massive profit. It requires just a little time before you start reaping profits.

What are your future plans regarding your farming business?

My plans include going into massive value addition of our crops after solid establishment of our raw material base, because really, that is where the money is. We won’t have to depend much on other people for our raw material.

I also want to establish farms in all the states of the south western part of Nigeria with each state’s crop competitive and comparative advantage. Honestly, I want to be the biggest employer of labour in the nearest future.

Do you foresee yourself leaving the other business for full time farming?

Oh yes. Investors are invited to buy into the farm. I plan to retire from active business by the time I am 50 years old and dedicate the rest of my life to teaching and charity work.