How To Start Fruit & Vegetable Farming Business In Africa
The African continent has a vast abundance of land, resources, and climate variations that allows it to produce different varieties of food and cash crops in its agricultural sector. This industry goes on to employ up to 70% of the Nigerian workforce, while contributing about 40% of the country’s GDP.
In the light of the economic output agriculture contributes to the economies of various African nations, the widespread demand and consumption of fruit and vegetable products in fast jamb runz growing urban and rural areas has made vegetable farming in Nigeria or Africa a lucrative agribusiness to venture into.According to data made publicly available by Statista, the worldwide production of vegetables as at 2014 sits at 1.1 billion metric tonnes, with China been the highest producer at 25.2 million metric tonnes.
Nigerian leads the production volume in Africa with about 1.1 million metric tonnes of vegetable crops produced in the year 2014, followed by Tanzania with about 339,193 metric tonnes produced in the same year.
This excessive production and global demand for vegetable crops is quickly driving up the production capacity of leading producers like China, India, and then Nigeria and Tanzania in Africa.
This opportunity is driving knowledgeable farmers living in these countries to take advantage of the fast growing market by either expanding their fruit and vegetable farms or to setup fruit and vegetable farms as one of their agribusiness subsidiaries.
What Is Fruit And Vegetable Farming About?
Fruit and vegetable farming is the cultivation of fruits and vegetables for human consumption. They can be grown by planting them in hanging baskets and window boxes or sown into dry or moist ground, and are widely consumed in many places around the world.
Business Opportunities in Fruit and Vegetable Farming
1). A Great Source of Food:
Fruits and vegetables have been feeding both humans and animals as far back as history has recorded. They’re highly nutritious and can serve as emergency meals in situations where cooking certain meals may take a long time to complete Mr Legit 2023 Waec Runz.
Some commonly consumed fruits include:
 Apples
 Oranges
 Mangoes
 Strawberries
 Avocado
 Tomatoes
 Water Melons
 Paw Paws
And thousands more.
As for vegetable crops, there are different types of vegetables, and they range between leaf vegetables, root vegetables, fruit vegetables, pod vegetables, seed vegetables, flower vegetables, and bulb or stem vegetables.
Some Leaf Vegetables are:
 Cabbage
 Broccoli (leaves / stalks)
Grape leaves
 Lettuce
 Spinach
 Mustard
Some flower vegetables include:
 Broccoli flowers
 Cauliflower
 Squash blossoms
 Artichoke
Some podded vegetables include:
 Okra
 Pea
 Peanut
 Soybean
 American groundnut
 Black-eyed pea
Some bulb or stem vegetables include:
 Onion
 Garlic
 Chives
Some root and tuberous vegetables include:
 Cassava
 Carrot
 Potato
 Yam
 Tigernut
 Turmeric
 Bamboo Shoot
2). Consumer Goods:
Asides just serving as a great source of food, fruits and vegetables are also used in the production of consumer goods like hair dye, olive oil, jam, foot rub, and metal polish.
 Lettuce
 Spinach
 Mustard
Some flower vegetables include:
 Broccoli flowers
 Cauliflower
 Squash blossoms
 Artichoke
Some podded vegetables include:
 Okra
 Pea
 Peanut
 Soybean
 American groundnut
 Black-eyed pea
Some bulb or stem vegetables include:
 Onion
 Garlic
 Chives
Some root and tuberous vegetables include:
 Cassava
 Carrot
 Potato
 Yam
 Tigernut
 Turmeric
 Bamboo Shoot
2). Consumer Goods:
Asides just serving as a great source of food, fruits and vegetables are also used in the production of consumer goods like hair dye, olive oil, jam, foot rub, and metal polish.