Member profile: Frederick Nomayo

1. Mr Nomayo, please tell us a little about your career in agriculture so far.

I helped my father with farmwork as a teenager throughout the school vacations. Although I studied accountancy and finance, I always dreamt of being a farmer with, even back then, sowing crops and harvesting the most exciting times of the year. So, after graduation I started my own farming business helped by personal commitment and also by attending agricultural seminars, various training courses and visiting exhibitions.

2. What are the present aims for your farming business - and future targets?

Improving productivity is a major strategy on our farms, and this includes an emphasis on product quality. Our farms also support the sick and needy. For the future, a main target is to maintain business stability while expanding sales in Nigeria and further afield.

3. Speaking of Nigeria, what do you see as specific challenges for farming there?

As well as improving farm management practices and establishing sound employment strategies with proper training, learning more about agricultural mechanisation possibilities and applications is a major challenge for all farmers.

4. And the main tools that can help in this context?

Personally, I think attending conferences and researching on the Internet are both very helpful in this respect. The Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources also supports development of farmers. But important, too, is regular reading about latest developments and research in agriculture, particularly in the DLG magazines »DLG Mitteilungen« and »agrifuture«.

5. Does DLG membership help in other ways?

It certainly does! The exchange of ideas with other agricultural experts during DLG events is a great help in farm business development. What I would really love to see is increased DLG presence in events here in Nigeria, especially with the aim of increasing farmer awareness of modern agricultural machinery and its use.