Types of Vegetable Farming to Start
Vegetable farming happens to be one of the easiest agriculture to engage in. Any kind of edible vegetable is always in hot demand all year round. One good example is Fluted Pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis) popularly known as Ugu in Igbo and across Nigeria.

Ugu vegetable is by far, the most consumed vegetable of any kind in Nigeria. An acre size Ugu farm is capable of turning in above N500,000 and it will take you less than N60,000 to cultivate one acre farm of pumpkin vegetable.

If you are in Lagos, the entire Power Line of hundreds of Acres, that stretched from Egbin power station in Ijede, Ikorodu, down to almost Ikorodu garage are extremely good for Ugu farming and you can get them almost free to cultivate your pumpkin and other vegetables.

1. Fluted Pumpkin (Ugu Leaf) Farming
Like I’ve said before, Pumpkin vegetable is the most consumed vegetable by Nigerians of all class. It is used to prepare varieties of dishes and it’s very nutritious too. When you talk about soup in Nigeria, you are directly talking about ugu because, almost all Nigerian soups are cooked with this vegetable.

Apart from cooking, pumpkin vegetable has been known to increase the volume of the red blood cell when consumed fresh, without being cooked. The blood enhancing nutrients gives it the ability to expand the volume of your blood at a very short time after consumption.

It is of course natural for a vegetable of these benefits and usage to be in high demand. Anyone who can cultivate Ugu, is definitely going to make good money selling it to market women. Ugu can be cultivated in every part of Nigeria due to the plant’s tolerant of drought and poor soil.

2. Green Okra Farming
Okra, which is popularly known as the lady’s finger and gumbo in many English speaking countries is a very nutritious edible green pod vegetable. When sliced, the okra’s edible green seed pods produces slippery sticky substance that make the soup tick, smooth, and delicious. My personal experience with okra shows that eating fresh vegetable soup prepared with plenty of okra can relive constipation and increase digestion.

If you are a Nigerian, you don’t need to be told about okra soup. It’s one of the most popular soup in Nigeria restaurants, usually prepared with Ugu vegetable and smoked fish. Very delicious and tastes good.

Okra contains good amount of Vitamin-A and is known to be anti-oxidant due to it’s good content of beta-carotene. It is also rich in Vitamin-C, Vitamin-K, and some form of Vitamin-B Complexes. Like Fluted Pumpkin, it tolerate all kinds of soil.

3. Cabbage Farming
Cabbage is another popular vegetable in Nigeria and is popularly used to prepare salads. The only part of the plant that is normally eaten is the rounded leafy head (the spherical cluster of immature leaves) excluding the partially unfolded outer leaves.

Because of it’s spicy flavor, Cabbage is used in a variety of dishes, and is widely consumed raw as well. It is in high demand in Nigeria and sells for reasonably good price.

Cabbage really does not like the sun, it grows better in a cold environment but must get at least 6 hours of sunlight everyday. It grows well on a well fertile, well drained manured soil.

4. Cucumber Farming
Great skin starts with Cucumber; If you really want your skin to be happy, your number one answer is cucumber. This is because, cucumber and skin is known to share the same level of hydrogen content, which makes it easier for cucumber to deal with the skin problems by engulfing them. It works well in soothing, softening, and relaxing your skin very quickly.

Cucumber can be eaten raw and can be used for preparation of different kinds of food in Nigeria. Cultivating this vegetable will surely put money into your pockets.

Cucumbers like every other vegetables like soil that is well drained and rich in organic matter, but don’t stress about the soil conditions. Cucumbers are hearty plants and easy to grow. Just make sure they have full sunlight and soil that is rich in organic matter.

Cucumber sells fast in markets across Nigeria and is widely consumed. It is another vegetable farming that can make you lot of money.

5. Ewedu (Jute Leaf) Farming
Ewedu is probably the most popular vegetable among the Yoruba people of Western Nigeria. I have seen people make good money cultivating ewedu in commercial quantity.