Hello Hive

Happy New Day to everyone in the community. The weather is still cold around here, which is a bit unusual because by this time the heat dry season with extreme heat would have taken over, but the weather is a bit different this year, and we are still privileged to enjoy the cold up until now. We pray and hope for better weather conditions.

Lately I have been visiting various fruit plantations, learning about different species and how they can be grown. We have earlier been to a banana plantation, and today I'm looking at the possibilities of growing oranges in the state.

Not all states of the country here can grow the different categories of fruits we have. Basically, I have known that the best qualities and species of oranges grown in this part of the world come from Benue State. This north-central part of the country has weather favorable for growing fruits. We have lots of bananas, African star apples, oranges, mangoes, and others. Various plantations of these crops are found there.

I'm looking at the possibilities of plantation farming in any of these fruit trees and if the weather in the part of the country will be good enough for growing such.

The oranges I see here look really small in size compared to the one from Benue State. If these oranges are this small, would they have a good enough taste as fruits? The market possibilities for the fruits at harvest or if these would be a profitable venture.

Planting oranges will take about 5-7 years before we can begin harvest. This particular tree is about 10 years old now and has been consistently producing fruits. It was planted through the normal method, which takes about 5 years and above before the tree starts to produce fruits. Bananas wouldn't take that long. Grafted orange trees take a shorter period before maturity before they start producing fruits; the maximum is set at 4 years.
The choice now lies between orange, banana, or cashew plantations. The one that has a better market value for investment purposes would be the choicest for plantation farming.

Such quality of a better market value must also be complemented with good weather conditions that will favor the growth of the tree in such a location since it will be an extra cost to grow certain fruit in one location before transporting it to an entirely distant location for sale. Hence we must get some quality fruits to be grown in a good location with a close proximity to a market demand for such fruits.