How To Start a Profitable Beans Farming Business In Nigeria

As an Agropreneur, you don’t just want to start any farming business without considering the marketability and profitability of the farm product you want to venture into.

As a matter of fact, this is where your planning should start from.

Beans farming for example are a lucrative food product that is profitable and marketable any day any time.

The nutrient that beans supplies to the body makes it one of the essential foods that people cannot do without. Beans remain one of the most consumed foods in Africa, particularly in Nigeria because varieties of different end product are derived from beans.

There are other competitive food products such as the cassava and rice, yet an average Nigerian cannot do without beans or beans product in a day or a week.

Beans are rich in the following nutrients:

• Vitamin B,
• Minerals (magnesium, calcium, potassium and selenium)
• Folic Acid
• Fibre

One of the reasons beans farming business will be a lucrative business for any Agropreneur or intending farmer is because it is highly demanded in the nation.

Yes, Nigeria is a blessed country but the challenge is that we are not really into production.

Many of the food we eat for example, beans, is being imported from Benin which happens to be a neighbouring country.

The implication of buying from neighbouring country is that we are improving their economy, helping them to get rid of unemployment while many people are unemployed here.

To say the fact, Nigeria soil is rich and farming friendly. Nigeria soil is conducive for any kind of farming system we want to practice.

Despite the fact that beans can be cultivated and grown in almost any part of the country, it has discovered that only the Northern part of the country are into massive cultivation and production of beans which is sold across the country to complement the imported beans.

Despite all the opportunities inherent in the farming business especially beans farming, majority of our youths and entrepreneurs are not ready to dirty their hands with the soil.

They are not paying good attention to the ready market that is available for the production of beans, even with the fact that they know that the market is yet to be satisfied or unsaturated.

One of the reasons farmers, entrepreneurs, and the youths are not taking action is simply because of fear of failing or the risk that are associated with beans farming. But of a truth, life itself is a risk and not taking a risk is a risk itself.

Entrepreneurs don’t want to lose their money just because one factor was not well calculated. Our youths don’t want to farm after spending several years reading for a degree. They prefer a white collars job, that requires sitting down in an office with air condition chilling their bodies.

Another fact we must take note of is that there are few investments that can offer a steady income and one of the ways you can get a steady income is to invest in farming business such as beans farming.

No matter the quantity you farm, you cannot satisfy the market in Nigeria because food is a daily necessity.

The South western and South eastern part of Nigeria have been proved to be highly fertile for beans farming according to research. The most shocking thing is that the youths in these parts of the country don’t love to farm.

They rather prefer yahoo yahoo or searching for a white-collar job, leaving many of them jobless; and they end up blaming the government for their ordeals when opportunity is staring them in the eyes.

This article is a complete guide for all potential farmers and that there is an opportunity and ready market for beans production if you can follow this guide.

Take your seat and relax with a cup of coffee as you read and digest this article.

Before Starting a Beans Farming Business in Nigeria, Here Are the Things You Need To Know

As we are looking at how to start beans farming business in Nigeria, there are certain key factors that we must consider, and have listed them below:

• Benefits of beans farming
• Resources / Equipment required for beans farming
• Where and how to source capital
• How to market your beans when it’s ready
• A glimpse into the profit in beans farming

You would know what to expect from going into beans farming business after going through this article.

Benefits of Beans Farming

One of the easiest sources of protein is beans.

Beans is consumed by virtually every family in Nigeria, not only because of the nutritional value but because you can also make different varieties of food from beans.

There are no ethnics or culture that is against beans. Though, some people don’t take beans if they are allergic to it, or maybe for some personal reasons aside health.

The Most Common Varieties of Beans Product:

Rice and Beans (Beans Porridge) – This is when beans is cooked with the combination of either yam, potatoes or plantain, and pepper, oil, onions are added to spice it up.

Beans Pudding – This is called moi-moi in the south western part of the country and it is mostly taken with pap, bread or rice. The preparation involves removing the beans coat after soaking it in water for some minutes. It is then blended with other ingredient like pepper and onions, stirred together with spoon or stirrer, then, it is packaged into cans, or nylon or a special leave for wrapping moimoi and then cooked.

Beans Cake – The process of beans cake is similar to beans pudding as you have to remove the coat and blend with other ingredient, stirred it together, but this time around, you then fry it with palm oil or groundnut oil depending on your preference.

There are still other products that beans can be used for, but these are the general recipes.

As at the time of writing this article, these are the current prices of different species of beans you can find in the Nigerian market:

• Oloyin beans (50kg) – N29, 000 to N37, 000
• Olotun beans (50kg) – N28, 000 to N35, 000
• Oloyin beans (25kg) – N14, 000 to N18, 000
• Olotun beans (25kg) – N13, 000 to N16, 500
• Brown beans (50kg) – N30, 000
• Butter beans (50kg) – N30, 000
• White beans (50kg) – N30, 000
• Butter beans (25kg) – N15,500

Please note that the price varies from location to location and the price may change for any reason notable reasons like importation, type of seasons (raining and dry season), and some other factors like cost of transportation, miscellaneous by the seller.

Before we proceed, let’s do some mathematics: assuming that you sold 100bags (50kg) of beans at the rate of N30, 000,

This is what you will have: 100 x N30, 000 = N3 000 000. This is quite a sum of money.

The truth is that you can make more than this if you plan your business well.

If you are new to farming or beans farming, it is better that you start small, experiment for a while to gain some experience through the challenges that you are going to be facing. Don’t go and put huge amount of your capital investment into a farming system that you know little or nothing about practically.

By rough estimate, you would need an average of N1M to produce at least 200bags (50kg) of beans, and you know that’s not less than N6Million when you sell it. If you are experienced and have the capital requirement to start, this could be a good deal for you.

You must also factor in availability of land and labour; labour that is affordable will decrease your total expenses which invariably means more profit.

With all this points, you will agree that there is immense opportunity in starting a beans farming business; in case you are still afraid of taking action.

The fact that you have it available in the market to buy shows that some people are taking actions and getting results.

Resources / Equipment Required For Beans Farming

There are some resources that are very essential for you to have before you venture into the beans farming business.

It is very important that you are acquainted with these things and prepare for it before you start up so that it would not be a challenge or discouragement when you kickstart your beans farming business.

Farm Land

One the capital requirement for every business is land. Availability of land is a major factor if you will succeed in farming.

The expanse of land you will need depend on the nature of farm you are planning to have.

If you are planning a large-scale farming, then you will need hectares of land situated possibly in a location (i.e. not different location). You can either lease or buy, but it would reduce your overhead expenses if you lease a land than buying a land.

You can find out how to get government land for agricultural use, this will be more affordable.

The process of getting government land for agricultural use cannot be explained in this article because the process differs from one state to the other and it changes at times as there is change in power.

If you are leasing a land through people around you, make sure there is a written agreement based on the durations of years you want to use the land and signed by a legal practitioner to avoid any issues along the line.

The next thing after the land issue is solved is to clear up the land. The clearing method may depend on the location, so, get to know the location first and seek counsel on how to clear the place.

It would be good if you can use tractor on the land to loosen up the soil.

Another point you must know is that the climatic conditions of the area must be moderate.

Beans don’t do well when there is too much rainfall. The rain cycle should be between 300 to 400mm (crop cycle).

Dry weather is needed during harvest and long dry condition or wetness could destroy the crops.

Different species of beans react differently in the same soil and under the same climatic condition. It will be good to check out the land and the climate to determine which specie of beans would do well on the land you have.

The soil should be moderately heavy or light. Dwarf beans do well on moisture levels that is high while climbing types do well where there is high rainfall.

Farming Equipments

If you are planning a commercial beans farming, you will surely need the followings:

• Tractors (walking or mini tractors)
• Spraying machine
• Wheel barrows
• Cutlasses
• Sickle, etc.

If you are starting small, you will not need to plan to get a tractor but hire their services if need be.

But for a large-scale farming, the mini / walking tractor will save you days of manual cultivation as the tractor can do it in a space of few hours. You can search the internet to have an idea of how much a fairly used or new tractors could cost.

Select The Seeds To Plant

It is important that you decide the type of beans that is perfect for Nigerian soil.

We have the “Phaseolus Vulgaris” which is the White Beans and the “Vigna angularis” which is the Red Beans. The seeds come in 1kg, 5kg and 10kg pack for you to select from.

Do well to choose the best and healthy seeds for planting.

Planting

The spacing between one beans and the other should not be less than 6inches and it can be planted in blocks or in rows. The depth of the seeds into the soil should be 2inches and must be covered immediately with soft soil.

The seeds will start sprouting out within 6days and sprout out within two weeks.

Weeding Method

Any crops that is not given appropriate care will not survive or do well. The same is for beans, you must make sure you weed it properly and be watchful of the root while weeding.

Avoid direct sprays of chemicals if it has the tendency of destroying the beans crop.

Method of Fertilization

If you get a good land, fertilizer may not be necessary as beans do grow well under normal soil fertility.

What this means is that, you will only need to apply fertilizer when the soil fertility is perceived to be low.

However, it is important to choose fertilizer that has more nitrogen content.

If you can get manure for your farm, it would really be of great benefit to your farm and the soil compared to fertilizer. You can get manure from animal droppings from poultry or cow dunk and the likes.

You can make a compost from the combination of the green grasses and leaves of various kinds to reduce your expenses.

Planting Season

The beans can be planted anytime in the year and can be grown in any part of the country.

There are seeds that have been improved upon (hybrid) and introduction of a standby irrigation, you can farm beans all-round the year and have consistent and bountiful harvest year-round.

Profitability of Beans Business

If you have followed this article to this point, you would have seen beyond doubt from our simple mathematics that beans farming is highly profitable.

For mechanized farming of five (5) hectares of land, the total cost of starting, maintaining till harvesting is roughly estimated to be around N245,000.

• Beans seeds = N30,000
• Weed control = N42,000
• Lease of tractor = N35,000
• Labour = N70,000
• Fertilizer/manure = N38,000
• Miscellaneous = N30,000

Profitability: The return on investment on beans farming in Nigeria is really looking good, especially with the gradual embrace of mechanized farming by Nigerian farmers.

The cost of cultivating beans on five hectares of land is estimated to be about N245,000 (N30,000 for procuring beans seed, N42,000 for weed control, N35,000 for lease of tractor, N70,000 for labour, N30,000 for miscellaneous expenses and N38,000 for fertilizer/manure).

If you maintain the farm well enough, the five (5) hectares should give you at least 140bags of beans and that’s about 100kg. You are expected to make nothing less than N2,500,000 if you sell a bag at the rate of N18, 000.

Your profit would be N2,500,000 – N245,000 = N2, 255, 000.

You can judge if its profitable now or not.

Although your expenses may be more than the estimated value here, but there is no way you do it and maintain the farm well that you will not have a mouth watery profit from it.

Market Availability

Beans is highly demanded all over the country and in all the African countries as well. Beans are sold in different places and are sold with different packaging.

Some sell it in congos or in bags. Some are specially packaged for special target market. Some people have become wholesalers while some people are retailer of beans.

The point is that you should be rest assured that there is a ready market for it. You should only look out and guide against weevils’ attack that can invade your beans and destroy it.

How To Source Capital

One of the major challenges that farmers and potential farmers have is the lack of fund.

Another is the lack of information that could help them.

There are different ways you can get funds but you need to stay informed, and research online for open grants opportunity that you can apply for.

There are government Agricultural intervention fund that you can take advantage of such as the Bank of Agriculture. There are cooperative societies, commercial banks like First Bank of Nigeria that can give you aids, or support through soft loans to start up your farm business.

If you have read this piece to this point, thanks so much and start taking actions with what you have learnt from here.

See you at the top doing well with beans farming business in Nigeria.

For More Info, You May Check Out The Following Resources:

https://punchng.com/what-to-know-about-soya-bean-farming/

https://www.nairaland.com/5600389/please-planting-beans-really-profitable