The Oil palm is as old as creation itself. Apart from being a major part of cuisine in west Africa, it is also used for industrial production. It takes about four years for oil palms to produce fruits suitable for harvest.
Each tree will then continue to produce fruit for up to 30 years, at which point they would have grown to around 40 feet tall. So when an Agripreneur decides to occupy a space in the oil palm business, you know they are in it for the long haul.
This is the case with Barka Benson Saleh, a Mechanical Engineer turned farmer. According to him, there is no room for short term players in the Agribusiness sector, except for those who are into buying and sell. He says irrespective of your positioning, you must come in with the mindset for a long term prospect.
The following chat highlights our interview with him.
Business 360: Coming from a background in Engineering and oil marketing, you decided to go into Agribusiness, what inspired this decision
BBS: Well, as they say, change is the one constant thing in life. I developed an interest in the Agribusiness Sector more for long term reasons.
For me, it’s more of a long term vision than the need for immediate gain. Its actually not advisable to go into Agribusiness for a short term gain, so the fact is that I look forward to being part of those that created and built something from scratch… and not the other way round.
I also would like to use it as model to others that it’s possible and not loose hope. (Laughs). The fact is that one must endeavor to leave legacy for generations to come.
Lastly, everyone wants to retire in peace and not the other way round. So, the idea is investing into something for the longhaul. You look at the future and ask yourself, what the is the future of an oil dependent economy. Then you ask yourself, what is the future is of Agriculture in Nigeria.
The answers are not far-fetched, the latter has been and always will. Well, as for the former (speaking about an oil dependent economy), you and I know the answer already. Anything that affects oil prices on the international scene, ultimately affects our own economy.
However, the story is different with Agribusiness, the value chain is huge. And the good news is there is room for anyone who decides to play in the Agribusiness space.
All you need is identify what space you want to occupy, take position and grow in it. I am not trying to say it is a bed of roses out there, you need to speak to players in the industry and you will understand what I am saying.
Business 360: Looking at your pictures we see that you are involved in at least three aspects of the value chain- farming, production and packaging, why this choice
BBS: Agribusiness is broad, our core area of focus is palm plantation, production & packaging.
Business 360: We know in Nigeria, oil palm is one product every household can not do without. Would you say you already have a market waiting to be reached.
BBS: Besides being part of our staple food in Nigeria, it is used for the manufacturing of diverse products in the cosmetic industry. As such we decided to position ourselves in that space.
Business 360: As an Agriprenuer, what are the challenges you face considering that you are coming from the corporate sector
BBS: First of all, we need to understand that no business is challenge – free. We also need to understand that Agribusiness in itself is a specialized aspect of Agriculture, it requires Skilled and dedicated manpower, production and packaging machinery, Logistics, Funding and Machinery.
You need knowledge and experience. If you have knowledge and experience you can structure the business in a way that would allow resources flow. Money as you know will always follow a good business.
If you notice, I did not say you need money, yes there is a place for funding, however you cannot quantify how far knowledge and experience will take you.
These two things are more valuable than the money you have. This is because if you have money and you don’t have knowledge and experience, you will spend perhaps 10 times what you ought to have spent on anything. So, knowledge and experience make a lot of difference. It does make a lot of difference.
Business 360: Would you say Government is doing enough in its effort to boost the Agribusiness sector in Nigeria
BSB: If you look back in history, you will discover that as a Nation, we did so much more with Agriculture than we have done with oil today. There is so much more government can do to to improve the lives of Agribusiness operators in Country. The truth is farming and agriculture in Nigeria will not grow until we develop its value chain.
Have you ever wondered why during harvest we have abundance and surplus of farm produce, and once the harvest period is over scarcity comes. And so one season a certain product is cheap and the next season it is expensive.
We are yet to have a storage system in Nigeria that allows Framers to store products through its season. And this is what we mean when we talk of the need to add value to the sector.
Business 360: What has been your most challenging experience in this sector
BBS: The need to radically catalyze investment attraction and stability of the business. If you take a look at the Agribusiness sector, you observe more and more people are coming into the sector. And fantastic! We have increased exports in Nigeria in the last 5 years, but we are yet to move away from exporting just raw materials to processed produce.
If you look at countries such as Ghana and Ivory coast, a lot of value addition is being done by some companies in those countries, and where do they get their raw materials, they buy from Nigeria. Cashcrops such as ginger, cashew are still being exported out in their unprocessed state. The truth is all of these require funds. And trust is attracts funds.
And this brings us to the question of education and capacity building for farmers. I am not talking about the graduate turned farmer or the corporate Executive turned farmer. Farmers at the grass root level, they need a lot more incentives than fertilizers and pesticides.
Again, we come back to the question of knowledge and experience. And there is so much government will gain when Nigeria becomes a country that exports not just raw materials, but finished products as well.
Business 360: Any collaborations?
BBS; Yes, the scale is high, and collaboration balances decision making and risks sharing.
Business 360: On that note, we come to the end of this interview, it’s been wonderful speaking with you Saleh. Thank you.
BBS: You are welcome!
I am quite impressed tks for the sharing the experience