Agriculture is the cultivation of crops and production of animals for man and industrial uses.

Long ago, the main source of revenue for Nigeria locally and internationally was agriculture but at a particular point in time when the discovery of mineral resources as crude oil was made extensively in Nigeria, it was then overtaken by the mining and oil sector.

You may be wondering why the oil sector overtook the agricultural contribution to the GDP of Nigeria. This was because most people and even the government abandoned agriculture.

Now, the agricultural sector of Nigeria despite the fact that it is being minimally tapped into, still contributes over 20 percent to the GDP of Nigeria.

This is a big sign that there are still a whole lot of opportunities that can be utilized in the Nigerian agro businesses.

There are actually so many businesses that are agricultural in nature which are very financially potent and can bring life-long profits.

Read Also: Top 20 Lucrative Businesses To Start With ₦100k In Nigeria 2022

The beauty about these agribusinesses is that they do not require large capital to begin with. On the other hand, it can accommodate small amounts of money to start with depending on the capability and intended scale of production of the owner.

15 Most Lucrative Agro Business In Nigeria To Start With Low Capital

Here are 15 most lucrative Agro business in Nigeria to start with low capital

1. Poultry Keeping

This is the process of rearing domestic birds such as turkey, guinea fowls, ducks, chickens and geese for both their eggs and meat.

It will interest you to know that starting a lucrative poultry farming business in Nigeria needs determination and doggedness.

The first thing to be bothered about is where to keep the birds till maturity. Cages can be built for birds and compartmentalized especially if raising different beds at the same time.

All these cost just little amount of money. Even if no cages, unused rooms or buildings can be used for the mean time.

One may keep layers or broilers. It will interest you to know that layers are kept for their eggs while broilers are kept for their meat.

Day old chicks are presently sold for as low as ₦100 naira each at the highest or could be lower.

Young turkeys, geese, and ducks can be little higher than just ₦500 naira. Under good conditions, these young birds can be acquired at dozen prices on the discount.

Poultry keeping is not difficult as it needs little knowledge of how to raise the birds from hatchlings till maturity when they become disease-resistant and either begin to lay eggs or are mature enough for sale.

You cannot lose in keeping poultry because once the birds are mature, they always give back multifold of what it costs to acquire them, over and over again.

Poultry and especially layers, can serve years, laying eggs for the keeper until they can no longer do so after which they are sold for the meat. It is indeed one of the gems of agriculture.

2. Cassava Faming

This is another endeavour that pays to take up. Cassava is one of the food crops that can grow anywhere in the country.

A little farmland or orchard is needed to grow large amounts of cassava. Cassava tuber grows in a very short time and immediately harvested.

On the other hand, the stem of the harvested cassava can be replanted again at the same spot immediately.

The process can go over and over again as long as the water supply to the farm is constant.

Cassava farming can be carried out in a space as small as one’s backyard. It is a sure thing that everyone knows the importance of garri to the Nigerian economy.

Well, without cassava, there is no garri. Cassava can also be used to produce different other items such as wheat flour, tapioca, starch etc.

Cassava farming is lucrative especially because of the little effort one has to put into its cultivation of which eventually yields large returns.

I want to bring to your knowledge that cassava is in great demand, locally and internationally, subsistent and industrially.

3. Herb Farming

This may sound a kind of traditional but people make millions from these. Herb farming is one of the hidden agricultural areas that people don’t really focus on.

I want you to note that the few people who have realized it’s worth are in its oligopoly. Spices such as garlic, turmeric, cayenne, ginger, scent leaves, dried veggie or curry, black seeds, peppermint and so many others are needed by food producing firms.

Now, “kayan yaji” as northerners call it and so many others, are needed by eateries to spice up or add flavor to popularly demanded foods or snacks.

Most of them are used as herbs for different medicinal purposes, used in curing ailments and conditions.

The Northern Nigeria is well known for growing these varieties of herbs. So, with little money you can buy from the north in large quantities at cheaper rate.

Now, you will convey it to the west or south where they are in high demand and make more money.

The beauty about these herbs is that they are durable and the case of loss from perishing is totally out of it.

They can be stored for a long period of time without being affected in nature. This is an agribusiness to consider.

4. Fruit Sales

It will interest you to know that all over the globe people are advised to go back to the consumption of natural juices instead instead of alcohol, sweetened and carbonated drinks.

In the world at large people prefers to consume fruits than manufactured drinks. So, the intake of fruits and vegetables are so high.

Oranges, tangerine, watermelon, bananas, pineapples, apples, berries, peaches etc are now in plummeting demand.

However, with few thousands you can buy a sack of orange at cheaper rate and resell it in bits. The returns is massive because you will make almost double the cost price as profit.

On the other hand, the fruit dealers buy watermelon in large quantities, say ₦200 naira per one. After slicing one full melon ball into six, each slice is sold for ₦100 naira or ₦200 naira in other places.

It means that for each watermelon gotten for ₦200 naira, one makes ₦600 or ₦1200 on it. This is applicable to other kinds of fruits. Fruit are products of agriculture that command huge profits.

5. Fish Farming

I know a man who began his fish pond business with ₦60, 000 naira in all and now he has uncountable fish ponds where he deals mostly in cat fish.

Learning how to keep the fish and the right way to maintain their water habitat and feeding them is the extra thing needed.

Fingerlings are sold at very cheap prices and in less than 5 months, schools of fishes have filled your pond.

The beauty of fish faming is that it needs an aquatic environment you can decide to use a broken tank, a large bowl or a constructed reservoir as the pond.

It needs perseverance and care though but this business is lucrative and can be done with very low capital.

6. Onions Business

Despite the fact that onions is a spice, for the sake of this write up, I wouldn’t mix it up with other spices. Onions in cooking is as important as the source of heat itself.

I want to bring to your knowledge that onion is one of the most needed ingredient in every cooking. Sales of pepper and tomatoes can hardly be made without onions being involved.

This is to say that onion is a lucrative item in the African ways of cooking. Nigeria for one, is known for varieties of dishes.

So, cooking any of these dishes involves the use of onions. Onions has its own seasons when you can harvest it in large quantity.

It is expedient for one to use these period to buy large quantities of onions at a cheaper rate from northern State of Nigeria to make more profit.

However, onion is gold in the Western and Southern hemispheres of Nigeria because they are not mainly grown there.

It will interest you to know that in the North basket and tippers of onion bags are transported from the North to different States in Nigeria weekly.

This is one of the most lucrative agro-business that so many people venture into. They have already acquainted themselves with the local farmers in the North.

So, what they need to do is just put a call through to the local farmers so as to load and transport the onions to them.

They sell in bits to market retailers and they get three or four times the gain from a bag after it has been sold.

Those in this business are mostly ex Corp members who had the opportunity to serve in the North but caught a glimpse of the lustre of onions farming business.

They found out that onions are cheap in the North, but too costly in the East, West and South which is sold at ₦100 naira for one onions bulbs.

This shocking discovery made most of them become dealers in onion business as they realized that buying onions from the North at cheaper rates to sell in their various states yielded multiplied profit.

You can buy each bag at ₦10, 000 or ₦15,000 Naira and resell it and make as much as ₦40,000 naira as gain form each bag.

This is a good business in the agricultural periphery that can be started with extremely low capital but yields huge sums of profit.

7. Cocoa Farming Business

Cocoa farming business is the alternate entrance way on how to start cocoa exportation business in Nigeria. A person can decide to become a middleman or a wholesaler.

There are a lot of farmers in the rural zones who cultivate cocoa and are only waiting for private individuals to come and buy them.

Whatever they do with them after then is none of their concerns. This is to say in other words, that some cocoa farmers have no direct connection or contact with the main users of the cocoa as such foreign people who come from outside Nigeria to buy.

This is an opportunity for one to buy from these unconnected farmers in large quantities and sell to the foreigners who need the products.

You necessarily do not have to own a plantation by yourself in order to get involved in cocoa farming business.

Here, the capital required is not too demanding because you are not buying hectares of lands or consulting experts for cocoa plantation, neither are you employing labour. You are buying cocoa with money and reselling it to make profit.

Cocoa is one of the most useful items in the world especially in its raw form. Cocoa farming business is lucrative men hardly regret going into it.

8. Goat/Sheep Rearing

Cattle would have been great but then the total time for a cow to reach maturity is long. Now, with ₦100,00k you can get lambs and ewes with little amount of money and begin to rear them.

It is expedient to get a male and female so there can be mating for the sake of multiplication. What matters most is keeping them safe.

The food they consume doesn’t cost much money because most times, they can forage for themselves. During the festive season, these animals are sold for high prices.

So, one will make triple profit of the amount he started with at the end still have many of it unsold.

9. Palm Oil Trading

Palm oil trading when viewed in the perspective of lucrative farming business, dealing in palm oil supply business as means of income needs a prospective palm oil supplier.

This area is involved in the after-production activities of the palm oil. Since palm oil is a necessary commodity in food production and consumption, you can be a wholesaler or retailer of palm oil.

Some farmers purchase drums and gallons of palm oil and sell them to petty traders in kegs and smaller bits.

This is the easiest way of partaking in palm oil business despite having a small capital and still make a lot of money from it.

I want to bring to your knowledge that there are different qualities and grades of palm oil. You as a seller need to know the type that your customers prefer and where to get it from.

I am sure that you have been travelling from one part of Nigeria to another and you must have come across roadside sellers of palm oil in yellow and white gallons of different sizes and colours.

These people are retailers. They buy in larger quantities from local producers and sell in bits to roadside buyers.

They make thousands from each 20liters sold and in days they sell more than 200liters. This is a very good way to make money from reselling of palm oil.

10. Surrogate Animal Rearing

I know you may be hearing this for the first time and the reason you may not know is that it is a business mostly common among the illiterate Fulanis/Hausas.

Surrogate rearing is when you help people rear their animals until they are ready to use them or sell them.

If we would be honest, the truth is that when animals are in an open space, they can fend for themselves and live on.

A lot of people need to rear animals and keep them until they are mature enough. Some people buy animals before the festive season so as to avoid being hit by high price at that time.

Unfortunately, they do not have places to keep these animals. People who are really business oriented have taken this opportunity.

They don’t wait for clients to buy the animals before being called. They persuade people to buy animals through them and make them know that they can help them rear them until they are needed.

Hence, the animal owners will agree on monthly subscriptions or all-time payment for the services.

It is either the owner states the total time the animal will be kept for and pays up at once for them or agree to be paying monthly for the upkeep of his livestock.

These payment include services for taking care of the animals feeding and medical expenses.

All you need is one or two persons who watch over the animals and the service of a veterinary doctor in case of any animal showing signs of illness.

I must say that this business favours people who have unused large areas of land and therefore, converts the land to a grazing field.

This is a secret business and rare knowledge but if you can find your way around it, you will be making a lot of money.

Some people deal with only cattle, sheep and goats, others go as far as accepting pigs, poultry, rabbits and even horses.

The animals stays in your grazing land, they defecate and these dungs are needed by farmers who buy them to distribute in their lands.

It is an opportunity to rear your own animals too without spending a penny and yet, receiving much money from it.

11. Snail Farming

Just like keeping fishes, you can also keep snails. Snails are not scarce meat and rich source of protein and calcium, they are highly medicinal in nature.

It will interest you to know that you can make money on snail farming business in Nigeria if you venture into it.

Snails are rare food and it happens to be the reason why a snail farmer is likely to be in financial abundance from the business.

An oft-wet environment is where snails need to thrive. One will discover that snails are not in the market during the dry seasons and for this reason are expensive during this season.

Imagine you being one of the few farmers who are able to supply snails even at the scarce periods, then you are in a monopolistic bliss. Learn to keep snails and see the lustre in the business.

12. Maize Farming

I want to bring to your knowledge that the lucrativeness of cassava farming and maize farming, is not different at all.

It is cultivated and harvested in a short while and maize can easily be planted without much effort.

All the land needs is water. Maize is in high demand because it is used to make a wide varieties of Nigerian foods and dishes.

On the other hand, it is a substitute for wheat and rice that have become grains of gold (too expensive).

Pap, oils, alcohol, animal feeds, corn flour, starch, custard and corn powder are few of the local products of maize. The popular cornflakes is made from maize as the name implies.

A farmland and maize grains, stuffed into the ground and in few days, cobs and ears of corn are pointing towards the sky. It is indeed a way to make quite a lot of money.

13. Bee Keeping

You can’t always think of only stings at the mention of bees. We all know that the scarce and sweet medicinal honey are only created by bees.

One can decide to make the backyard, especially the one with trees, a bee farm. Honey is very scarce and it explains why one can hardly find original undiluted honey from vendors.

People who need pure honey can pay any amount for it. Bee keeping is just all about the honey and a question you should ask yourself is when last did you find pure honey?

It takes a long thought to answer that but then, what if you were one of the few who can supply pure honey even if it is a keg in few months?

So, bee keeping is one of the most lucrative agro-business you can start with low capital. Make the honey and get this money.

14. Horticulture

This is called ornamental farming. It simply means the growing of flowers that beautify the surroundings.

Have you gone by the roadsides and see vases with flower plants? This is what some people do in the field of agriculture to make their money.

It may be seen that most people in it are like peasants. This is because it requires absolutely low capital to begin with.

Planting young flowers in plastic vases or polythene beds is not stressful or expensive at all. People don’t build houses alone nowadays without budgeting for the beautification.

This involves beautifying it with ornamental plants, orchards or gardens. You may start growing different varieties of flower plants so that when they grow at nursery beds, they can be sold.

Decorators require dozens of flowers to beautify the construction sites or Estates and this is where a flower seller makes his money.

15. Agricultural Vegetable Items

This is good for highly industrious people. In Sokoto for example, onions, carrots, cabbages, cucumber and even green peas are very cheap in some seasons but they are very expensive in the western Nigeria.

These food items are jointly needed for salad (coleslaw) preparation which are regularly demanded for home consumption and ceremonies.

If one can make use of the advantage from place to place, with very low capital, a lot of food items can be made and business sets off.

It is a matter of going physically to the place once or twice and get allies who will aid one to buy and transport the food items by calls.

So, buying these agricultural vegetable items cheap at a place and resell it at a place where it is expensive is good money. One can hardly loss from this business.

Conclusion

The truth is that gradually, the agricultural sector has begun contributing higher percentages into the GDP of the economy.

Soon, it will take over its position as the first revenue earner for the country while the oil sector might drop back to second.

The agricultural sector has the tendency of increasing the standard of living of people when they direct their productive activities towards it.

Until the end of life, agriculture will continue to be the pillar with which human lives lean on to survive biologically. Where is food without agriculture? Who lives without food?