I have seen wealth in agriculture – Female accountant

The Kaduna based farmer is now an employer of 12 agricultural staff in her farm, including a graduate of agriculture and has in addition to her poultry, embarked on orchard farming, processing and marketing that include orange, mango, paw-paw and guava juice.
Hajiya who spent some time looking for work after graduation, said the attention she was paying on her 20 birds when she started he poultry attracted her husband’s attention.
“He noticed that I was so interested in the chicken, so he gave me money to buy more chicken and encouraged me to expand it to a business. The result is what you are seeing today. My major driving force was my interest in poultry then the support and encouragement from my husband.
“I started with broilers at the gestation period and later went full time into layers which are now producing eggs for me in large quantity. My accountancy background gave me an edge in managing my business. I devote a lot of time for my birds and made sure they were comfortable,” she said.
She recalled that she started with the 20 chicken in the house but when her husband gave her finance support to develop the business; she bought 3,500 birds and opened her poultry farm that is today known as Hazusma farm.  
On the orchard farm, Hajiya Farida said she has started using the fruits from the mango, orange, pawpaw and guava fruits to process and package natural juice without sugar or water that is already in the market.
She said her orchard is doing fine because very good seeds were planted which she said is responsible for the good yield, adding, “the fruits have been okay with me. I am now harvesting Chinese lime.”
She noted that the activity of egg merchants that buy eggs on credit and delay or refused to pay is crippling the business. “But because of my accounting background, I insist on cash-and-carry. By so doing, I have succeeded in avoiding too much bad debt as many customers try to play tricks.”
She said poultry business cannot succeed when eggs are sold on credit as the farmer would like to have money to buy feed for the birds. “People think when they buy eggs from you the money they pay you is your gain. About 90 percent of the proceeds go for feed,” she added.
Calling on other married women to ensure that they venture into business, Hajiya Farida said she did not take any bank loan to run her farm and is advising other women to avoid loans as, “one can start with a little capital. Don’t go for bank loan because if you pick loan how will you remit it when you have challenges with your business?
“The main thing is for one to be dedicated to the work and you will succeed. If you are not indebted to anybody, you will be able to manage your losses better than when someone is running after you to pay their debt,” she said.
She said she has opened outlets for selling eggs as buyers are not allowed into the farm on experts’ advice so that they do not import diseases into the farm, adding, “we pick the eggs in the morning and store in the farm. When they reach 1,000 creates, we convey them down to the shop where customers go to buy.”
She said she is contemplating embarking on the rearing of goats, rams and cows but wants to study them first before venturing into that aspect.