28/08/2026
𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞
“𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑝𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒; 𝑒𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡, 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑. 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦, 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑, 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛.”-𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑝ℎ𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐴𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑦𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠
Whenever you see people excelling in an area where you are struggling, repeatedly hitting brick walls, or concluding that something cannot be done, there is a good chance they know something you do not know.
Sometimes, that is the entire difference.
Rather than remaining frustrated or joining the “it is not possible” camp, invest in finding out what successful people are doing differently. Ask questions. Seek mentorship. Get trained. Pay for expertise where necessary. Knowledge may cost money, but ignorance often costs far more, especially when you pay for it with years of trial and error.
This principle applies to virtually every area of life: family, business, ministry, career, health, relationships, and finances. What you do not know can limit what you are able to achieve.
Your health may deteriorate simply because you lack the right knowledge about nutrition and healthy living.
Your business may remain stagnant because you have not learned the fundamentals of building and managing a profitable enterprise.
Your career may be stuck because you do not yet understand what is required to move to the next level.
Knowledge changes possibilities.
Now, let me bring this home to agriculture. More specifically, primary production, i.e. farming and crop production.
I have heard people advise prospective agricultural investors to stay away from primary production because “the farther you stay away from the soil, the more money you make in agriculture.”
There is some truth in the argument.
Aggregation and storage, logistics and transportation, processing, value addition, distribution, and marketing can all offer attractive opportunities.
But there is something we must not forget:
Without the right knowledge, you can lose money anywhere along the agricultural value chain.
Primary production remains the foundation upon which much of the value chain is built. Someone must produce the tomato before it can be aggregated. Someone must grow the pepper before it can be transported. Someone must produce the maize before it can be processed.
The real issue, therefore, is not whether primary production can be profitable.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀:
𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲❓
And because primary production is one of the riskiest parts of the agricultural value chain, investing in the right knowledge becomes even more important.
𝗜 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻❜𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄
When I decided to venture into vegetable farming in 2019, I reached out to a former schoolmate who had already made millions from farming.
I didn't approach him pretending I knew everything because I understood agriculture academically. I wanted to learn the business of vegetable farming from someone who had already achieved the results I wanted.
He agreed to provide technical backstopping and market-access support for our first year of operation. He assigned a consultant, whom he personally placed on our payroll, to work on our farm every day alongside our field supervisors, helping them develop the technical competence required to manage commercial vegetable production. At the same time, he personally coached me on the commercial side, particularly how to identify markets and sell our produce profitably.
That decision cost money.
But it saved us something far more valuable: time, avoidable mistakes, failed production cycles, and potentially millions in losses.
We chose to pay the cost of ignorance with money rather than spend years paying for it through painful trial and error.
And that investment in knowledge has contributed significantly to our ability to consistently make profits from vegetable farming.
Profitable farming stands on TWO pillars.
I learned very early that knowing how to grow crops does not automatically mean knowing how to make money from growing crops.
𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗽-𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀: 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲, 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆.
This includes variety selection and seed quality assessment ; nursery management and crop establishment; transplanting and spacing; fertilizer and nutrient management; irrigation and fertigation; pest, disease, and w**d management; harvest timing; and post-harvest handling.
This is the science and craft of producing the crop.
Get the agronomy wrong, and even the best marketing strategy may not save the business. You cannot sustainably sell what you cannot efficiently produce at the required quantity and quality.
But there is a second pillar that is too often neglected.
𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲, 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴.
This means understanding your market before planting. Who will buy your produce? What quality do they require? How much do they need? When do they need it? At what price?
It means knowing your true cost of production per kilogram, not merely how much money you spent on the farm.
It means understanding market seasonality, pricing, demand and supply.
It means keeping proper records, measuring post-harvest losses, managing cash flow, negotiating effectively, and knowing the minimum selling price below which your business becomes unsustainable.
This is the discipline of converting agricultural production into profit.
Unfortunately, many agricultural training programmes concentrate heavily on agronomy while treating commercialization as an afterthought, that is if they address it at all.
And that imbalance can be very expensive.
You can produce the most beautiful tomatoes in the world and still lose money.
You can achieve an excellent yield and still run an unprofitable farm.
You can harvest tonnes of vegetables and watch them deteriorate because you started looking for buyers only after harvest.
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗜 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗮𝘆:
𝗔𝗴𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗽. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵.
So, enough of the stories...
If you are tired of paying the cost of ignorance with your time...
If you want to understand not only how to grow vegetables successfully but how to approach vegetable production as a business...
If you would rather learn from experienced professionals than spend years repeating avoidable mistakes...
Then I invite you to join the 7th Cohort of the GrowVeg Challenge.
Come and learn.
Come and ask questions.
Come and build the technical and commercial knowledge required to approach vegetable production differently.
Because sometimes the difference between struggling and succeeding is not working harder.
It is knowing better.
And once you know better, you can make better decisions.
𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙘𝙠 𝙛𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙.
I love you, and I will keep rooting for you.
Sincerely,
Dr Abidemi Talabi
