My Strategic and Specialized Masterclass On Ginger Farming & Ginger Valuechain —Going For More Knowledge

INTRODUCTION

Those that has been following me in this platform would carefully observe that I don't just write on agriculture, I practice it! My passion in agriculture has been driving me to engage my My little space, my little resources and my knowledge. I am limited in resources like money and land, but I wouldn't want to have a limited knowledge in the areas of farming of my interests. One of such areas is:GINGER FARMING AND GINGER VALUECHAIN.

For one to start up any thing— be it business or career, the first step to take is to go for the knowledge. Going for the knowledge first would save you from making a whole lots of costly mistakes. To avoid these costly mistakes as a passionate farmer, I decided to go for a 2 day intensive Ginger Farming Masterclass.

Knowledge is the bedrock for development. Before the “black gold" (Crude Oil) was discovered, agriculture had been the major sector sustaining many nations. Palm oil, Cocoa, groundnut, cassava were some of the agricultural produce that earned us foreign exchange. Along the lines of research, oil was discovered. All attention, resources, more research and development were now channeled to the oil and gas sector.

This discovery made many agricultural powerful nations abandon their pursuit into agricultural innovations to the preference of the liquid black gold. Now that the oil and gas sector is becoming saturated and alternative gas (bio-fuel) is becoming an option, food insecurity on the increase, environmental pollution due to oil spillage affecting aquatic lives, it would be 500 times costlier to fully deploy resources to revitalize agriculture.

Today, how has the journey been? Oil discovery has done us good, but doesn't the man drilling the oil eat food, wear clothes, shoes and make use of upholstery? Doesn't that man drilling the oil take some medications when sick? Supplying answers to these questions will all point to the fact that agriculture provides these needs.

Why I Attended A 2 Day Training On Ginger Farming and Ginger Valuechain Masterclass

My late parents were farmers who without any structured or formal means earning, were able to sustain their family through farming. Ginger was among the plants they cultivated. As their time, they planted the ginger so as to use it to prepare medicine to cure some ailments such as sore throat. Infact, the ginger plants were growing in every part of the house and most of them were cleared away like grass. This was done because no one knew that ginger could be a multi-purpose health beneficial plant.

Although ginger was still cultivated prior to oil discovery, its valuechain had not been identified or created. Ginger was been used in its most primitive means. But the truth is that the story is not the same again—I am now realizing that ginger farming is a sustainable agriculture. It is a sustainable agriculture because of its valuechain.

This year, I have already planted ginger on a little portion of my farmland. I'm using as a testing ground before effectively embark on sustainable ginger farming. I have been carefully monitoring my ginger farm—looking for ways for improved farming and productivity. For me to have improved farming and productivity, I needed to go for more knowledge on this ginger farming.

I'm Now More Informed Than Before

I would have regretted it if I didn't attend the giner farming training. A lot of experiences were shared by the facilitator and I gained more knowledge.

First, anyone getting into farming with the mindset set of becoming rich overnight, then farming is not just for including ginger farming. Knowledge, consistency, patience, hardwork, and being a smart farmer are key to succeed in it.

Secondly, There are different players in the ginger farming and ginger valuechain. There are the producers, the processors, logistics and transportation. Choose what you can offer. One can start small rather than waiting for the big capital to start off.

For me, I'm veering into production as you all could see that I have started already. This aspect is very technical but having gotten the knowledge of how to handle it, I'm in a better position to advance in ginger production and supply. Next year, I would be looking forward to expanding a little more on ginger farming.

There Is Still A Wide Gap Between Ginger Demand And Supply Lines

In this, the estimates of ginger demand and supply may differ from different ginger research firms. But our facilitator who has been in the this agriculture subsector for years, gave figures showing that the world's estimated ginger market in 2025 hovers around $4.4 to $5.2 billion dollars. The forecast market growth between 2030 to 2032 is 6% to 9% a year.

In Nigeria before and after the ginger blight approximately 751, 473 tonnes were produced in the country by farmers. In 2023, production declined to 67,600 tonnes. In 2024, production started to recover a little bit around 159,600 tonnes. These figures suggest that a huge gap still exists for gingers farmers to even meet with local demand.

Time has gone when one would think of farmers as persons working under the scorching son with their hoes, shovels and cutlasses. To contribute in meeting the widening demands of ginger, there now needs for massive training, and empowerment for giger farmers. This should include producers, processors, logistics and transportation as well as the farm inputs.

Going further, with the knowledge that I have obtained from this training,I am starting with what I can manage, protecting my money or investment, and reaching out for necessary collaborations. So this ginger farming is not done in isolation.

To contribute in meeting the local or even at large, meet the global demand for ginger, steemit is a platform to enable or promote the activities of ginger farmers. In the this steem agro community, we can start making collaborations would really engage agro steemians to source and supply ginger. This means that we agro steemians, need to go beyond producing contents alone. For instance, ginger is a multi-purpose health beneficial commodity with global demand. Through the agro community, we can identify steemians who are really into ginger production and and match them with ginger processors. This is going beyond content writing to providing practical solutions.

At this my starting point, my finger farm is small. But guess what? the quality of my ginger is what is needed in the market; the real Nigerian ginger with flavor, yellow and pepperish.

Who Attended This Training?
The training was not just for anybody. It is a specialized training for passionate ginger farmers in my state. New and practicing ginger farmers attended the training. While old farmers came to broaden their knowledge, new farmers came to acquire new knowledge and seek suitable valuechain to start up with.

Even though I had already begun planting ginger before the training, I participated as a new farmer. But of course, I'm just beginning but hope to expand in the nearest future in line with what I can manage in terms of ginger production and supply.

The training is what I needed in terms knowledge to really understand ginger farming and ginger valuechain. It is not a government sponsored training. The training is an initiative of of an agroprenure —known as FortuneWel Farms.

He is into livestock such as piggery, goats cow, ducks, local fowl, and vegetables. He doe these on several hectares of land. His drive to host the training is to open up the minds of the youths into several opportunities in the ginger farming and ginger valuechain.

His benevolence speaks loud as he promised to provide support, connections, and other resources to assist youths who are passionate n ginger farming .

There is a whole lot to share from the training but let me stop here. In the course of my other writing, more would be shared.

I'm now better equipped with the right and needed knowledge on ginger farming and ginger valuechain. Since I have already started this journey, my area of specialization is ginger production and supply. I'm open to collaborations in this area .

Thank you for taking the time to go through my training experience. I appreciate all your supports.