By Jimoh Babatunde

With a degree from an American university, not many will take to farming which is often seen as the profession for the dregs of the society, but that is not the case with Lady Uwa Osunbor, a mother of two, who takes pride in being called a farmer.

Today, she sits atop a palm plantation that stretches over 100 hectares of farm land in Edo State, Nigeria. The down-to-earth farmer, in this chat, revealed that her journey into farming began in 1989 when she came home on holiday from America.

“Actually, my farm was established in 1989, I was on vacation, and I, my sister and uncle were having tea together when he said he just started a plantation which I said was something nice. He was telling us how he enjoyed the farm and I said that will be something nice to do when I come back

“I asked if I could get land too where he had his farm, and he said yes and we set out to meet the King of the area.  With my American long hair, the king on seeing me, said you want to farm, asking how I will do it, he thought I was joking, but I told him I was serious.”

Lady Osunbor added that out of excitement and interest, the king asked how much land she needed, “to me then 20 acres was huge because I thought it was big, but by the time they calculated the number of palms that will go into 20 acres, it was like having a garden.

“Quickly, I told them it was not the type of farming I wanted, and then we now went into hectares, so the man sold the first 50 hectares to me. I did not even have the money to pay, but because the king wanted to see what I will do, he gave me the land and said I should pay as I go. I thanked him.”

Securing the land from the villagers, she set out to work by opening up the forest through cutting of trees and ended up cultivating 20 hectares of palm trees before going back to America. “Before I left, I made sure I protected the land, planted the palms. While I was away in America, my sister and brother were helping out.

“I chose to cultivate palm as the oil palm is an important crop with perhaps the largest number of value added products.

“It provides food and raw materials for the confectionery and personal care products industry as well as employment for a large section of the country, especially where it grows. Nigeria was a foremost producer of oil palm in the 50’s and 60’s, but has since ceded this position and is today, just the fifth largest producer.”

Lady Farmer as she is fondly referred to by the over 50 people working at her Uwa Farms Nigeria Limited, said the challenges of preparing the land for cultivation will discourage anybody from venturing into the business.

“At the initial level, it was land preparation. Preparing the land is what discourages people from farming, especially when it is a forest.  Land preparation was a challenge, just like finance was a big challenge too.“

She said she was able to overcome that because it was something she wanted to do.
On how she overcame the challenge, Lady Osunbor said “instead of using bulldozer, I employed the service of motor saw men who cut the trees down and everything, but this later became a problem to me when I wanted to tractorize, the stumps were still there which made it difficult for the caterpillars to go in and they were killing the blades.

“That was the first part, so after that, when we were to prepare the other part of the farm, we then used bulldozers to cut the trees and clear the trees out.”

She added that the same passion that saw her through the land preparation also saw her through the challenge of financing the farm. “I approached the Bank of Industry, they came , did a lot of survey, did a lot of things , but at the end of the day, they approved money that was  not going to be given to me as cash, they were going to give me machines, but the kind of machines they were going to give me then were not the type I needed , because the farm was just  starting.

The Lady Farmer described agriculture financing in Nigeria as ‘not just a major issue, let me say super major.’ While calling on the government to evolve a responsible policy of funding agriculture, she said she was able to overcome the finance challenge by running to family members as well as her savings while working in America. “When I was working in America, for every one dollar I made, 70 cent was going into the farm and my elder sister had been a major pillar as she helped in securing loans for me from her banks which I will then pay back or she gives me money from her other businesses.

“If you have a passion for something and it is what you want to do, no matter the challenges, you will look for ways to overcome them. I already chose a path that I wanted – to be a farmer – and I am not a quitter, when I start anything, I finish it no matter what it will cost.”

Lady Osunbor said looking back today; she does so with a kind of mixed feeling. “I thank God when I look back at the way the farm started and where it is now. Sometimes, I feel pained that you are trying to help the economy grow and the government, people and the banks do not care about you. It is frustrating and you ask yourself why don’t I just back out?”

One such time she almost backed out was when she ventured into cassava cultivation under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration that urged farmers to do so. “Some of the land we had not cultivated for palm then, we planted 50 hectares of cassava. Thinking that when we harvest that the money will come to sustain  the farm, but at the end of the day, it was just stories as most of the cassava rotted away as there was nobody to buy off us and for those that were bought, we could not get the money. “