By Moses Nosike

Mr. Akinyemi Oluwagbenga is a researcher and Founder, Bell Apple Wealth Ventures. In this interaction with Saturday Vanguard Business, he  states the need for agricultural research and prospects for investment in tropical apple.

Concerning  financing of agricultural projects, not enough is being done and that is not encouraging. Though the government has made some efforts, it is not enough and that is not encouraging individuals to go into agriculture. If you look at the climatic conditions in the country now, when you invest, you are taking a big risk as the challenges are numerous. For instance, we have seen climate change leading to excess rainfall or excess heat. So entrepreneurs and investors are very cautious when it comes to investing in agriculture.

Effects of poor funding
The effect of poor funding surely will affect food security if we look at the area of food security. Some countries engage seriously in plantation farming, and as a result they have enough food to take care of their populace and even export, but in our situation where we don’t have enough plantations whatever food we produce that is what we consume. Even that is not enough. We have arable land but we still import. We shouldn’t be importing food, but the situation is that we have not been able to go into massive production of food that will take care of our population and still enable us to export.

Bell Apple

Entrepreneurs’ attitude towards research
Research is very important to people, who want to invest in agriculture. From my experience, however, young people are not interested in research. They see it as a waste of time. They just want to get a monthly job and start making money. Some that I have come across will look at me and say things like, “What is this guy doing?”, “You are just wasting your time, putting money into research”, “You know the type of country we are in”, “Who will encourage your” and so on. The attitude of many young entrepreneurs is not encouraging at all.

When it comes to research, you have to have passion for it to go into it; it’s more about your talent or gift. I was fortunate that I did my NYSC at the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research. That is where I really developed the ability to do research. I worked with professors and doctors and we will go to the field and I will ask a lot of questions. At times they will give me assignments, which will require me to go to the library and study extensively. All that really encouraged me, seeing people with really inquisitive minds in agricultural research in the country.

Entrepreneurs need to know that research is not about immediate gain, but about facts that can help them with their investment. Unfortunately, many of the research documents end up on tablets and in shelves. And so many times, investors come into the sector without even being aware of these research findings. This is because several research institutes, from my own findings, carry out research and put them in a journal and leave them on a table wasting away.

Investment opportunity
What comes to my mind is bell apple. When I mention bell apple, your minds goes to the imported apple, but bell apple is a tropical apple that grows here in Nigeria. It is bigger in size compared to the imported apple, very attractive, highly nutritious, and even medicinal. It grows  in Lagos, Delta, Edo and Benue States. We have bell apple trees sparsely scattered around the country.

Cultivating and selling bell apples
When you talk about the time it takes from planting to your first harvest, you are looking at three years. From the third year, it starts fruiting gradually. When it comes to the fruits you can get over 1,000 apples per harvest and you have two harvests per annum.