This is my first blogging in homestead and more is yet to come.
This pawpaw below is a hybrid dwarf pawpaw ipb9 variety which is found in Nigeria, IMO state LGA of Oguta. Originated in Indonesia.
I am here to talk about the reasons for farmers in Nigeria and the world to go into the cultivation hybrid dwarf pawpaw ipb9 variety which can be used to feed animals like pigs, goats, snails etc. It can also be used to generate quick and easy income when cultivated in commercial quantity.
Hybrid dwarf pawpaw, especially the ipb9 variety which was imported to Nigeria originated from Indonesia. The ipb9 arguably is the best and mostly demanded variety all over the world.
It is oblong in shape. The inside is very reddish in color. It is very sweet to eat and very rich in vitamins. It is also the most expensive of all varieties.
It fruits all round the year. This means that is not seasonal like other varieties.
It is dwarf as it starts bearing fruits at the height of less than a meter.
If handled well, it starts bearing fruits at the age of three and half months and the fruits are ripe and ready for consumption at the age of six and half months.
It also bear a lot of fruits which makes it good for commercial farming. On average, a stand of it will give you a total of 144 balls (fruits) in a year.
The benefits and financial return in cultivating pawpaws is really unbelievable.
Here is an estimate of one stands to gain in cultivating this wonderful and money spinning plant, based on practical realities.
One stand of the pawpaw gives you seventy (70) balls during the pawpaw season and forty four (44) off season, this makes it a total of one hundred and fourteen (114) balls a year. Even if you sell a ball for N100, it means that a stand will give you a total of N11,400 in a year.
We know that the least you will sell a ball of pawpaw during season is N250 and up to N350 during the off season. So you should do the calculations by yourself and see what free, easy and serious money you will make if you have a free and empty land and make a plantation of about 200 or 300 stands. And a stand has a five years lifetime before it drops in the rate of production before you replant new stands of pawpaw.
It is a business that gives you time to attend to other issue because it does not tie you down. All you need is to nurture it up and it takes care of itself as we know that pawpaws are very rugged plants. You only go to the farm to weed and apply manure when necessary.
Some of us will be wondering if the ipb9 will do well here in Nigeria since it originated from Indonesia.
I want to assure you that it does well in Nigeria exactly the same as it does in Indonesia because our weather and climate is exactly the same as those of Indonesia and other southeast Asia countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Philippines, Brunei etc.
Note that about fifty years ago, Malaysia came to Nigeria to pick up their first palm fruits and today they are world leaders in Palm produce with Indonesia. If the weather and climate are not the same the palm couldn't have done well there.
Demand and market for pawpaw in Nigeria.
The truth is that we have not been able to meet up with the demand of market women not to talk of pawpaw juice companies and also the demands of the animals like pigs, goats, snails etc in our farms as pawpaw is a very good source of calcium for the animals.
There are no much pawpaw juice companies here because they cannot access good quality pawpaw fruits.
Also, the export aspect of it is a great means of foreign exchange and the demand for high quality pawpaws like ipb9 overseas is tremendous.
This are more pictures of ipb9 variety.
