How To Start Commercial Guava Farming Business In Nigeria
Guava farming business is a wonderful agribusiness investment that can make millions for you in Nigeria. The agricultural sector of Nigeria is fast becoming the hot cake in terms of profitability, especially fruit production. You don’t need a prophet to tell you that investing in agriculture in Nigeria will turn your financial fortunes around. There is the need for you to seize this opportunity in agriculture using guava farming business.
Read: How to start an avocado farming business in Nigeria
Guava farming business can earn you lots of profits especially as guava plant requires minimum care during the growing period. Commercial guava farming has greater success potential than other tropical fruits due to high fruit yield and low plant maintenance. It is advisable that you go for guava farming rather than any other farming business in Nigeria. The thing you should consider before venturing into commercial guava production is that it doesn’t give quick returns.
When you invest in guava farming business, you must have the patience as the guava plant takes years to mature. Guava plants thrive under irrigated and rain-fed conditions in Nigeria. In the world of commercial fruit farming, guava farming acquires a significant position. You don’t need to put in too much work in Guava production as guava plants require minimal care and management. The only thing you need is a practical base knowledge to obtain very decent returns on investment.
The main objective of this article is to provide you with the basic knowledge to succeed in the guava production business.
Guidelines For Starting A Successful Guava Farming Business In Nigeria
Below are the basic things that you will need to succeed in this commercial guava farming business in Nigeria. These guidelines include:
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Having A Well-Detailed Business Plan
The number one requirement for starting a successful guava production business is having a well-detailed business plan. Your business plan will serve as a guide for you in the course of the business. Things like the market strategy, market survey, financial projections, and SWOT analysis are all contained in the business plan. You can see that without a business plan, the business has little chance to succeed.
Aside from being your guide, the business plan also gives you the opportunity to access government and private loans. Your business plan will also help you to woo investors in your commercial guava farming business.
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Site Selection
After you have gotten your business plan the startup capital, the next step is to choose your farmland location. For the fact that guava fruits are hardy in nature means you can grow them over a wide variety of soil types. You need to know that guava plants thrive best in a deep, well-drained, and aerated loamy soil. Fertile and productive soil is needed for high fruit yield. You should avoid water logging areas as water stagnation can lead to root rot of guava plant.
See: How to start and succeed in ginger farming business in Nigeria
It is advised that you select the soil with a pH range of 5.0-6.8 for optimal production. For commercial guava production in Nigeria, soils along the river basins are most ideal. It is recommended that you carry out a single soil test to identify any soil deficiency before starting your business.
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Farmland Preparation
For land preparation, you should plow the soil deeply and excess water drained out from the field. You should also apply farmyard manure during land preparation to improve the fertility of the soil. Try to remove all tree stumps and hard soil in order to loosen the soil for easy penetration of the roots of your guava plant.
It is also recommended that you sterilize the soil before planting in order to kill soil-borne harmful and plant pathogens. You can carry out this sterilization by applying suitable fumigants and herbicides.
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Planting Your Guava Seeds
You can propagate guava plants either through quality seeds or vegetative propagation. In order to get high quality and quantity yields, growing with seedlings is the best approach. If you want to follow the vegetative method, the most suitable method must be followed. The vegetative propagations methods you can employ include grafting, cutting, air-layering, and budding.
The practice has shown that air-layering is the best vegetative propagation method for commercial guava farming in Nigeria. For rapid multiplication of guava plants, stooling or mound layering in nursery beds is the cheapest. Although planting spacing varies from one variety to another, the spacing of 5-8 meters is most ideal. The spacing of 5m by 5m is best suited for commercial guava farming in Nigeria. You can also grow them in the hedge-row system using a spacing of 2m by 6m and 3m by 6m.
Related: Wheat farming in Nigeria: how to start and succeed
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Manure And Fertilizer Application In Guava Farming
Guava plants respond positively to both organic and inorganic fertilizer application. You should always carry out your guava plantation on fertile and productive soil types. There are different ways that you can learn about the nutrient level of the soil. You can carry out leaf analysis or soil analysis in order to determine the nutrient status of the soil.
While fertilizer to your guava plants, make sure it is at the base of the plants and at the recommended doses. You should apply Nitrogen in two equal splits of dose. The NPK fertilizer is always the best for this particular purpose. It is important for you to know that Zinc deficiency may also result in lower guava fruit production. For this reason, you should spray 450g of Zinc sulfate with 350g of slaked lime in 75 liters of water.
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Pest And Diseases In Guava Farming Business
The major pests of guava plants include fruit borers, fruit-piercing moths, leaf-feeding caterpillars, beetle borers, fruit flies, etc. Diseases that hinder optimal guava production include:
- Tree decline
- Nematodes
- Brown blight
- Parasitic algae, etc
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Yield And Harvesting In Guava Farmin
Guava yield greatly depends on the variety of the guava plant. Observation has shown that hybrids start bearing fruits before the ones propagated from seedlings. For those vegetatively propagated plants, it takes a maximum of 3 years to yield fruits. The guava plants grown from seedlings takes up to 4 years to bear fruit.
Once the fruits are mature, picking should be done as soon as possible. You can decide to harvest manually or use fruit plucking machines.
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