Baby step.

6 months ago (Edited)

For a very long time, we in the southern part of Nigeria have been told that our soil is not good for farming and as such, people rarely farm here. This has made us heavily dependent on the North for food supply.

It was not until recently, when the prices of food skyrocketed due to the removal of fuel subsidy last year, that people in the South started joining in the Agricultural parade.

Gradually, we saw farmers in the Southern regions, cultivate plants that for a very long time we thought could only be cultivated in the North.

I have a farmer friend who has been urging me to go into Agriculture, he had asked that I start up with cassava farming on a large scale, but I do not have such capital.

Personally, I love nature, I am fascinated by nature. Seeing plants grow from seeds to seedlings has always been therapeutic for me, right from when I was a child.

So when my farmer friend gave me a shot at becoming a farmer and I couldn't take it up, I was heartbroken. Seeing how cash was a constraint, he advised that I start small from any small corner in my compound.

The issue is, when it rains, the compound does get flooded which might be harmful to the plants. It was a tough one for me and then he suggested that I farm in bags and buckets.

I had agreed, but the interest died as I felt will the plants even survive? We had planned on me growing tomatoes, pepper and spring onion.

Since cassava didn't work out for commercial purpose, he recommended that I farm vegetables for personal consumption.

One thing with me is, when I set my heart out to do something and it does not work out as planned, diversifying is not much of an option for me. Thus, I just ignored the whole idea of vegetable farming.

I had given up hope of ever farming and gone on with my life, until recently something weird happened.

There was a time the fence at my dad's place of work was at the brim of collapsing. By the fence is a gutter where all sorts of rubbish from the kitchen was disposed.

As the manager of the establishment, he had mobilized for some molded cement blocks, cement, and sand to replace the old, almost collapsed fence.

The old fence was brought down and its debris packed one side, while the new fence was erected. My dad had wanted to pack them all in cement bags and store, but could only do two while stalling for the rest.

Not long after, he noticed a plant germinating from the debris of the old fence and also from one of the cement bag he had packed.

Taking a closer look, he discovered that the plants were tomato plants. From there, he started nurturing these plants and thus formed a little garden.

When I heard of my dad's miraculous garden from my mom, I played the doubting Thomas. I'm like, what are the odds a plant will grow from broken blocks made of sharp sand and cement? I had numerous questions but just didn't let them bother me until I paid my dad a visit and saw the tomatoes.

I was blown away and immediately brought out my phone to take a picture. It's such a sight to behold and I just couldn't wait to tell everyone about it.

Seeing my dad's tomato plants grow and bear fruit which ripened before my very eye, I became motivated and went back to my farmer friend that I'm ready to farm.

As instructed by my farmer friend, I got all the containers needed for my nursery and a space at my veranda that's not too exposed to sunlight.

From there, my journey began. I grew and nurtured Tomatoes and Pepper, and boy did these plants become a part of me. I love them so much and even call them my babies.

Call me crazy, but I do converse with them. Once, some pepper seedlings were dying, probably due to over crowding, I wasn't myself as I was hurt. Even though not all of them died, I wasn't happy that some died.

Some of the sacks I had wanted to farm with

I already started transferring to the ground as the sacks I had prepared to plant with, got stolen alongside my compost. This happened when my family and I went over to my sister's, when she had a baby.

Thankfully, the rain has subsided and my compound is no longer flooded

In all, I am pretty pumped, waiting to reap the fruits of my labor.

Some photos from my dad's accidental farm