You might be wondering why you should start cucumber farming in Nigeria. It’s quite simple. The value and importance of agriculture in Nigeria has grown year on year, and currently it is the most profitable and high profile sector in the country.
While there is still a vast sea of opportunities in Nigerian agribusiness, the full potentials have not been fully tapped and optimised, which is also why there is an abundance of opportunities begging to be explored by entrepreneurs just like you.

Cucumber farming in Nigeria is one of those opportunities that are begging to be explored. So, if you too have already realised the potential and importance of cucumber farming, then you are obviously already on the right track.
So yes, cucumber farming is a lucrative business in Nigeria!
Although previous experience is desirable, cucumber farming in Nigeria is not as complex as other areas of agriculture, so you can start small with relatively little or no experience.

Overview:
Cucumbers, Latin name Cucumis sativus, are a plant that grows along vines and thus are efficient in their use of space since they can be grown on a trellis. Slicing cucumbers are used raw or cooked in recipes (but mostly raw), while pickling cucumbers have a rougher, bumpy skin and are pickled in brine or in vinegar and then canned.

Planting Time:
Ideally, start cucumber seeds indoors 3 weeks before the planting date. Bottom heat of about 70 degrees F will help cucumbers thrive. You can also direct seed them in the garden no earlier than 2 weeks after the last frost. This is also when you should transplant any indoor starts. Cucumbers are very susceptible to frost damage, so don't get overeager and seed or transplant outdoors too soon.
Spacing:
Sow seeds in rows 6 to 10 inches apart. Plant seeds one inch deep. If transplanting seedlings, plant them roughly 12 inches apart.
Growing Notes:

Under the scorching southern Viet Nam sun, every exertion is a challenge likely to be rewarded with torrents of sweat.
Thankfully for pioneering farmer Tran Huu Thang, his entire pepper garden is automatically watered and fertilised at the flick of a switch.
This innovation is not just a labour-saving tool; it also conserves water and reduces the need for fertiliser by 50 per cent, bringing efficiency and consequent economic rewards.

Tran Huu Thang is not only the subject of admiring tales in Dong Nai Province's Xuan Loc District, he also serves as a teacher to locals who visit his farm in Xuan Tho Commune to seek his advice and experience.
Xuan Tho is considered Viet Nam's "capital of pepper", with almost 100 per cent of farming households working in the industry.

Introduction
Bell and chile peppers are members of the same plant family as tomatoes, eggplant, and potatoes. They are unrelated to the spice pepper plant that produces the seasoning ground black pepper. The most popular mild peppers are the bell and banana varieties. There are many types and varieties of chile (hot) peppers with varying degree of pungency or “hotness.” U.S. consumption of fresh bell peppers averaged 10.6 pounds per person and 7.2 pounds per person of chile peppers in 2014. (ERS 2014).

Bell peppers color up as they ripen on the vine and follow the mature green stage. The brighter colored peppers tend to be sweeter than green peppers because the sugar content increases as the pepper matures. Bell peppers are high in vitamin C. Peppers are also excellent sources of dietary fiber and provide small amounts of several other vitamins and minerals.
Marketing
Produced and marketed year round, bell peppers are usually sold as fresh produce.
Production

Pepper is one of the most important spices used in making most Nigerian food. There is hardly a complete meal without the use of at least one variety of pepper.
Pepper belongs to the Family Solanaceae, which is an important group of vegetables.

Origin.
Pepper generally originates from Central America. Capsicum annum is from middle America (Mexico) while Capsicum frutescens is from the northern half of south America to part of central America and Caribbean area. Pepper played a significant early role in the development of food in America[i]
Pepper production statistics/Economic Potential

Pepper Yellow Mottle Virus(PYMV) disease is the most harmful disease for pepper caused by a combination of viruses. Initial yellowish spots could be seen on young leaves and subsequent stunted growth of the vine, small, irregular leaves with yellow mosaic patches, Short internodes, and small spikes with half filled berries are visible symptoms. Gradually yield decline drastically. Disease is spread through vectors such as Pepper lace bug, Mealy bugs and infected planting material. No identified control measures except the use of healthy planting material and destroying infected plants and vector control.
Quick Wilt

Pepper is the most widely used spice in the world and known as “King of the Spices”. Pepper crop is native to South Asia and historical records reveal that pepper is originated in South India. Peppercorns were a much prized trade good often referred also as “black gold” and used by as a form of commodity money. Until well after the Middle age, virtually all of the black pepper found in Europe, the Middle East and the North Africa traveled there from India’s Malabar region. It was some part of the preciousness of these spices that led to the European efforts to find a sea route to India and consequently to the European Colonial occupation of the country as well as European discovery and colonization of America/s. Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Brazil are the main pepper producers in the world.

Products and Uses

Peppers lend themselves well to small-scale and part-time farming operations. Various markets exist for growers with small-acreage farms (those with fewer than 5 acres), and the multiple mature fruit colors (green, red, yellow, orange, purple, and brown), shapes, and varying hotness (from sweet to very hot) make it easier for growers to find niche markets.

Contents
1. Marketing
2. Production Considerations
3. Pest Management
4. Harvest and Storage
5. Environmental Regulations
6. Risk Management
7. Good Agricultural Practices and Good Handling Practices
8. Sample Budget
 Sample Budget Worksheet
 Initial resource requirements for fresh market bell peppers
For More Information
 Publications
 Association
Authors
Contact Information
Many field operations, such as land preparation, planting, and harvesting, can be custom hired, and any equipment owned by the grower can be used for other crops.

Variety
Grow Panniyur - 1 which is an early bearing High Yielding Variety capable of giving 3 to 4 times the yield of other local varieties.

Climate
Pepper is a plant of humid tropical climate. An annual rainfall of about 250 cms is required for its proper growth and successful cultivation. It tolerates a minimum of 10°C and a maximum of 40°C. Although pepper can be grown from almost sea level to an altitude of 1,200 metres, lower elevation may be preferable.

Soil
Pepper can grown in clay loams, red loams and sandy loams. However, it thrives best on well drained virgin soil rich in humus content and other plant nutrients.

Propogation
Generally propagation of Black pepper is done from cuttings. During the month of March- April, pepper cuttings of 2 to 3 nodes length are put in the soil filled bamboo basket or in perforated polythene bags fof initiation of rootings. These cuttings are ready for planting in about 3 months.

Rapid Multiplication of Panniyur - 1

Pepper is a tropical plant that grows in hot humid areas with a high rainfall. Locally it can only be grown in the Lowveld and along the northern coastal areas of KwaZulu-Natal.

Botanical characteristics
• The pepper plant is an evergreen perennial. It attaches itself to trees or trellises by means of aerial roots and is not a parasitic plant.
• The leaves are oblong, pointed at the tip and arranged alternately.
• Pepper plants have a shallow root system. There are usually a few major lateral roots that can penetrate the soil to a depth of 2 m.
• The white flowers are minute and mainly hermaphroditic (both sexes in one flower). The flowers converge in oblong spikes which later form clusters.
A fruiting branch of a pepper plant
• The pepper plant has 3 types of runners:
- The main stem (primary runner) forms the permanent stem from which other runners develop.

A useful but wasteful product…
With the improvement in technology and the advent of the printing press and the mechanical harvesting of wood, disposable paper became more affordable for the average consumer. This resulted in a drastic increase in consumption and of course, waste – which all contributed to Paper Pollution. It is estimated that 40% of the waste in the U.S. is paper.
The environmental impact of paper production is important to note since it has many negative effects. Here are some of them:
• 40% of the world’s commercially cut timber is used for the production of paper.
• Pulpwood plantations and mills endanger natural habitats.
• Over 30 million acres of forest are destroyed annually.
• The pulp and paper industry is a big contributor to the problem of deforestation and is partly to blame for the endangerment of some species that live in the forests.

The European recycling rate for paper reached 72% in 2014 - that amounts to 2 tonnes of paper being recycled every second!
European Declaration on Paper Recycling, Monitoring Report 2014
The European paper industry is a leading recycler and, with local collecting systems improving, will increase its recycling rates even further.
In some regions, recycling rates range from 70-75%, which is likely the practical maximum recycling rate. Some paper products cannot be recovered for recycling because they are kept for long periods of time (books) or archived (records); others are destroyed or contaminated when used (e.g. tissue and hygienic paper).
5

The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood as raw material and produce pulp, paper, board and other cellulose-based products.
The industry is dominated by North American (United States and Canada), northern European (Finland, Sweden, and North-West Russia) and East Asian countries (such as East Siberian Russia, China, Japan, and South Korea). Australasia and Brazil also have significant pulp and paper enterprises. The United States had been the world's leading producer of paper until it was overtaken by China in 2009.[1]

Tomatoes in India
India grows its tomatoes in a very different way to other regions. Although India is the world’s second largest producer of the fruit, its tomatoes aren’t cultivated on large swathes of agricultural land, but by millions of smallholdings across the country. Due to a lack of access to the necessary expertise, cultivation methods were suboptimal for a long time, meaning that the fields only produced moderate harvests. Bayer addressed the problem by running large-scale training projects that introduced tens of thousands of smallholders to improved cultivation technologies. Yields have since multiplied.

India is also becoming more aware of the importance of healthy, high-quality foods. It is therefore crucial that farmers use crop protection products properly. Thanks to the training projects and cultivation expertise, things have greatly improved in this area, too. That means supermarkets and consumers are benefiting from increasingly high-quality tomatoes.

Greenhouses in the Netherlands have robots on their payroll: the machines glide automatically from one tomato picker to the next, collecting crates of the popular red fruit. A touch of a button is all it takes to make the fully loaded robot car follow magnetic strips on the floor into the warehouse. Although these electronic harvesters aren’t at work all over the world, many tomato growers have already fully automated their processes. Today’s greenhouses are equipped with computer systems that maintain the weather conditions best suited to promoting growth. The modern technology also controls temperature and humidity, and regulates irrigation, ventilation and the amount of light. In other words, computers cater to the tomatoes’ every need. Given the enormous quantities of tomatoes the world now consumes, keeping on top of the work would be almost impossible without automation.