By Ayo Alonge

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Lanre Howells is a farmer and the founder of Farm Estate, a fast growing agriculture startup located in Lagos.

The young entrepreneur, in this interview, discusses the challenges associated with farming, its prospects,  expansion and training in Nigeria.

Starting up

The vision behind this project is to make farming very easy for anyone who desires to go into into it without stress. It is our own way of promoting mechanised farming with comfort.

Affordability

To make farming practice very easy for everyone, we decided to sell and allow people pay in installment. When you buy land from us, we will spread the payment in a way that will be easy for you to pay up. We try to make it very easy by allocating to you your portion of land as soon as the first instalment is made. It is located in Epe because that is the only place government approved for us for farming and also the soil test literally shows that Epe’s soil is very good for farming and yields quick harvest.

Challenges in entrepreneurship

Seriously, it was like I was gambling for almost everybody who is doing real estate and farming business on the Island. It looked like a very stupid idea, but for me, it was just like following my passion.

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At first, when we were allocating the phase one, it was as good as dashing out lands, in order to motivate people to get involved. I must confess that the outcome of the initial stage of the business was nice because we had projected that we were going to be on that site for two years and believe me, we sold all out in 12 months. The first phase is around plus or minus

Prospect

We have 15 farms on the Phase One. There are fish ponds, mechanised ones, where you don’t need to be changing your water. The water is automated and the feeding is the only thing you do manually. Also, the counting is automated. People are also doing water melon, cucumber, pepper, tomatoes and lots of other spices. We have our produce in almost all the malls on the Island.

Business goal

Our goal is to make the produce from Farm Estate as cheap as the ones in the popular Mile 12 market. The difference between Mile 12 products and ours is the processes they go through before being released into the market. All the products from Farm Estate will sure undergo good healthy processes. The prices are very close and the quality of the products you are getting is on the higher value.

Expansion

We are seriously thinking about expanding to other parts of the country. As soon as we are well grounded here in Lagos, we are going to try other states too. We have close to 100 workers working with us, right now.

Mentoring and training

That is the most interesting part. What we do is this: Once you acquire the land from us, we make you go through the due processes that will groom you for the task, free of charge. We have a consultant who is ready to take you on all you need to know. We don’t sell forms. All you need to do is to book an inspection with us. By the time you see the site yourself, you then pick up a form, when you must have known what you are going for.

Advice for entrepreneurs interested in farming

The first key thing in farming is passion. Your passion goes a very long way in determining your success. You draw your strength from your passion to keep you going. It will keep you alive and on the know that you can do more. You must stay away from distractions. So, passion and consistency are the watchword. Honestly, what I can say about mechanised farming is that you cannot get it wrong all the time, but I have to state this clearly that the more your exposure is, the more your profit. One can just say I can invest as much as N50,000 and I will realise N200,000 and so when I make my profit, I can also re-invest it on the farm. That is the beauty of mechanised farming.