How to Register Your Farm Business in Nigeria – Step-by-Step Guide

If you want to start an agricultural business in Nigeria, it’s crucial to know that it goes beyond just planting crops or even raising animals. It’s a lucrative activity that serves as a steady source of income for farmers that are ready to take the risks of going into the business.

Agriculture is among the oldest occupations both in this country and in Africa at large. To set up a farm, registering your business name is one of the key steps to take.

The process may seem like a big deal, especially for Nigerian entrepreneurs operating on a small scale and thinking they’d be extorted or required to supply documents, which are not easy to come by.

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), which is the government agency that handles registering new businesses, has made the process a lot easier. You can do it on the agency’s official website or by going to their office to obtain registration forms.

Here’s a tutorial on how to register your farm in Nigeria:

Steps to Set-up an Agricultural Business in Nigeria

Conduct Research

It’s common knowledge that the more we ask questions, the more we obtain new information about things and gain a better understanding. Research helps you gain knowledge of the profitability of the aspect in agriculture you’re venturing into. It enables you to know the kinds of livestock or cash crops people are most likely to purchase and the seasons that the crops and livestock are available in markets. Research also helps you get information about the rates they’re being sold, depending on the quality and freshness.

While you can conduct the research anywhere, it’s better you do it in a marketplace so you can meet farmers and buyers for advice.

Select Your Crops or Livestock

Having conducted the market research, you should now have an idea of the specific crops or livestock that are in demand in your area. Whether you’re able to grow those crops will depend on certain factors, like the actual location of the farm and the size of the farmland. Carry out an estimate of the climate of the land to determine if it’s conducive for the crops or livestock you’ve selected.

Acquire Adequate Land

It’s vital to secure land in an environment that’s conducive for your crops and livestock to grow. Ensure you check the farmland carefully to determine the content of the soil so that the growth of your crops or livestock won’t be affected.

If you get a land whose soil is not fertile, it’ll hamper the growth of the crops, so they won’t produce good fruit when it’s harvest time.

Ensure there’s a regular and reliable supply of water on the farm or there’s a large water body like lake, ocean, sea near the farm for proper supply of water to your crops or livestock.

Register the Farm with Relevant Organizations

Farm registration is one of the most vital steps in setting up a farming business. You’d need to register the farm with organizations that are in charge of agricultural practice. This will offer a better chance of getting loans from the government. Also, it enables you to take part in any governmental benefits, such as the distribution of farm machinery, fertilizers, herbicides as well as pesticides.

More on how to register a farm below.

Use the Services of Hired Farm Labor

You can hire full-time labor to assist on the farm before, especially during activities like clearing of the farmland, harvesting the crops, and caring for livestock.

Manual labor will make sure bushes are cleared; heaps are made; crops are planted; fertilizer is applied; pest is controlled; rodent and watering the crops are taken care of regularly. Also, you’ll need an extra hand in picking some of the crops and harvesting them.

As regards livestock production, manual labor will help you take care of the livestock, feed them regularly, give them injections for controlling animal disease, and perform a regular check-up on them.

Registering Your Farm Business

A small private company that holds share capital of 1 million Naira or less is to pay 10000 Naira only for registration. But registration of a private company that has share capital above 1 million Naira and as much as 500 million Naira will go for 5000 Naira for every 1 million naira share capital or part thereof.

In the same vein, agribusiness entrepreneurs that have low capital (without share capital) will pay 20,000 Naira to register their farm business.

Before you contact CAC, you’ve to determine what your company will be; examples: Private Limited Company (Ltd.), Public Limited Company (PLC), and others.

Ensure the choice of your company aligns with the company’s goals and long-term objectives. Up and coming agribusiness entrepreneurs, who are specialized in packaging and value addition of agricultural products or similar businesses have to

• Choose a name, which can be branded and easily memorized by people
• Buy the Availability Form (AC1) and fill it accurately
• Contact their staff if you’ve any issue with any of the parameters
• The cost for name reservation and business name registration is 10,000 Naira
• Ensure you keep copies of the ACI form for future use
• Ensure you check back at the CAC office, where you submitted the AC1 form 3 days after submission to get feedback if the proposed company name is available. If it’s not, the process must be repeated again
• If the business name is available, go ahead with your registration as required for the farm business
• The registration form will now be taken to court for attestation and is to be submitted at the CAC
• The next thing is to collect your certificate of registration that should be ready after 1 week or thereabouts

Outlined above are the steps to take to set-up a farm business in this country. Registering the farm is one of the most crucial of all these steps.