By Ebele Orakpo

Nigerian farmers lose a large percentage of farm produce yearly in the course of transporting them from one place to the other.  Some get spoilt in transit due to long hours in traffic, and bad roads which traditional trucks used in conveying the goods find difficult to manoeuvre. To solve this nagging problem, Basco Nigeria Limited, an Ibadan-based automobile company, came up with Bazuki Farm, a tricycle built for farm shuttle.

In this chat with Mr. Salawu Oluwaseyi, the manager of Basco Nigeria Limited in Ibadan recently, says the company which has been in business for 30 years, is out to help Nigeria realise her dream of being food-secure by reducing losses occasioned by poor means of transporting produce. Excerpts:

Said Mr. Salawu Oluwaseyi; “Bazuki Farm was designed mainly because of the farmer and the small scale industry. When we look at what the farmers go through to transport their goods from the farm to the city, it is really difficult for them and they lose a lot of the produce in the process because of the handling by transporters. Sometimes, most of the produce get spoilt before they get to the market and that is very painful. Because of this, our company came up with Bazuki Farm to put an end to the problem.”

Our solution:

“We came up with a solution in form of a tricycle which is far better than the truck they normally use. It has reduced the cost of transportation and then helps them to get their crops to the market early enough.

Advantages:

“The reason why Bazuki Farm is far better than the normal truck is that it does not consume much fuel like the truck, it moves very fast and it is very good because it can manoeuvre in traffic and then it is designed for ruggedness and so it can go on very rough terrains.

If you have any problem, just look at the shock absorbers, they look thin and they use propeller, not an ordinary one and it uses rear axles and the tyres are very big. Then the engine is 250, and it can carry a lot of weight because it is meant for goods.

In fact, Bazuki Farm is designed because of the farmers and the small scale industries,” said Salawu.

Speaking further, he said; “When you look at what the farmers are paying to transport their goods, and because of the traffic faced by normal transport vehicles, most of their crops get spoiled by the time they get to the market.

We made Bazuki Farm affordable for farmers.”

Challenges:

“We all know it is not easy doing business in Nigeria. We face a lot of challenges but the major one is government. We are not seeing a lot of support from government. Most businesses in Nigeria are supported by the banks and if you look at the interest charged on loans by banks, it is killing and then mainly, the potential buyers complain there is no money in circulation. But that notwithstanding, they are buying. Small scale farmers also buy. What some do is to deposit small amounts at a time, until payment is complete and they can then go with the tricycle,” he said.

Other uses:

“The tricycle is not meant for the farmer alone, it is meant for all those that are into poultry, fishery etc. Many people use it for different things. Some use it to carry eggs, some live chickens, some fish, some pure water. So depending on what you want to use it for, that will determine the way the body will be constructed,” he noted.