Introducing Joseph Anthony from Okpokwu community in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue state. Joseph was born and brought up in Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State. He is a graduate of Accounting from the Federal Polytechnic Bida, Minna also in Niger state.
Farming has always been part of his life as he grew up going to the farm with his parents. Farming was the source of food in the house as they grew almost everything then from melon, Bambara nut, maize, yam, groundnut, sorghum to even rearing of animals like chickens and turkey.
After graduating from school, he decided to go into the sale of agro chemicals and seeds and with the profits, he decided to start a poultry farm but not before he had attended several training programs to prepare. From poultry he expanded to include planting rice, maize, yam, sesame and groundnut using his residual knowledge from his childhood.
Joseph says farming is a very viable and profitable business because people must eat therefore increasing the chances that whatever you are selling, they will buy if you are visible. He also said that selling in bulk can be highly profitable as you do not have to spend money on the costs associated with storing your produce.
When asked if he has faced any challenges in his agribusiness venture so far, he said bad road networks sometimes impedes the movement of goods from one market to the other, the fact that there are too few equipment leasing companies, making it expensive to lease farm implements and lack of funding necessary to upscale his production.
His advice to new farmers or intending farmers? If you must go into farming, make sure you have a passion for it and make sure you have a market for whatever you produce or intend to produce.