When recession hit my rabbit farm
What is a recession?
A recession is when the economy declines significantly for at
least six months. That means there’s a drop in the following five economic
indicators: real GDP (Gross Domestic Product), income, employment,
manufacturing and retail sales.
People often say a recession is when the GDP growth rate is
negative for two consecutive quarters or more. But a recession can quietly
begin before the quarterly gross domestic product reports are out.
A recession is usually underway when there are several
quarters of slowing but still positive growth. Often a quarter of negative
growth will occur followed by positive growth for several quarters, and then
another quarter of negative growth.
When recession hit my rabbit farm
On the evening of Aug 31, 2016 I was at a local restaurant near my
apartment. A plate of pepper soup has just been placed in front of me when the
voice from a television set announced that Nigeria was in a recession.
“Chai!” the men who had their eyes glued to the television
chorused. Curses followed and the restaurant became noisy. The sales girl
returned to my table with a bottle of malt “Oga! Maltina is N250 O!” she said
to me bluntly with no apology. I asked why a bottle I have been buying for N200
suddenly became N250. “Oga you no de watch news?” was her reply. It’s the
recession I guess.
I like many others had foreseen this. Our schools have been
spewing out millions of unskilled graduates, dumping them in the labour market
to compete. Having been through schools where their minds are so abused, they
end with very low self-esteem, having little or no confidence in themselves and
their abilities. These graduates in fact
abhor creativity and productivity, they want instant gratification. Very few I
mean very little few are willing to put the time and effort to build a new business,
be innovative or to CREATE something of value that others will be willing to
pay for. Their minds have been configured to be better job seekers and better
government blamers.
Some of us took precautionary measures others did not. I for
one did all I could, but when the recession came it felt like a final punch
from Mike Tyson landing on my handsome face.
Once upon a time, my rabbit farm had 700 breeding does, 3120
weaners and a hundred bucks.
I was always smiling to the bank – not to spend, but to save
in my fat bank account which soon depleted during the recession.
I was dealt a severe blow as I lost hundreds of my rabbits
daily. Know that the recession that hit my rabbit farm is not in totality same
as the recession that hit Nigerians. Even though the unfortunate events that
took place in my rabbit farm occurred during the same period that Nigerians, I
mean common folks like me, were going through a lot from suffering, scarcity,
hunger, injustice, setbacks, despair to lack of jobs, just about a year into
the reign of the Change Giants and when the country was plunged into deep
recession.
Even though I am gradually recovering from the recession, I
guess that you already feel my pain. My pen could not hide the fact that this
recession is a destructive monster!
It has sent many people to their early graves, broken
hundreds of homes, put thousands in the hospital, turned many a gentle ones
into monsters and has made many young entrepreneurs to age more rapidly.
Now I am wondering how many monsters were created already.
To me, recession was when I lost hundreds of my rabbits,
hundreds of thousands of Naira, a couple of friends, few clients and countless
opportunities.
A figure head decided not to decide and a group of egocentric
cabals made the wrong decisions. The Dollar kept rising while the Naira was
losing value (from N150 to a Dollar – N360 to a Dollar). Our schools won’t
teach us how to produce; we have become fat and potbellied from consuming
foreign products. Our parents and guardians teach us to compete the wrong way.
The political class keeps milking the masses dry with policies and laws that do
not empower the people. Simply put ‘WE LACK LEADERSHIP!’
When recession hit my rabbit farm I bought medications, feed,
supplements and other supplies needed in the rabbitry at double the price.
When recession hit my rabbit farm the money in my savings
account lost its purchasing power. In other words, I became a poor millionaire.
When recession hit my rabbit farm, production and demand
declined dramatically.
Here is the mysterious part; the most terrifying thing that had happened to my rabbit farm during the recession was the loss of over a thousand rabbits. I trusted a group of cons who dealt my rabbit farm a severe blow which I am recovering from.
The experience was not any length pleasant. As if the change
driven recession was not enough, the rabbit farm had to be dragged down.
Even though the Information minister is telling us that
Nigeria is out of recession, I have a strong conviction that Nigeria is still
in deep waters. My reasons:
- By 2020 most advance economies in the world will abandon petrol driven cars as the world will be leaning towards cleaner renewable source of energy.
- The Nigerian government still has a large unproductive work force on its payroll
- The Higher Institutions in Nigeria are comatose! Lecturers abuse, torment and torture students psychologically and emotionally only to have them graduate with certificates and very little abilities.
- The politicians ruling the country are extremely selfish, conceited and occult
- Agriculture is being buried, no thanks to the government, the policy makers, the legislators and the law enforcement agencies. Before APC and PDP, before oil and solid minerals, before any cabal and selfish leader, AGRICULTURE has been the main stay of the common people. WE had fewer beggars on the streets, fewer prostitutes and criminals… You can simply put ‘EVERYONE WAS EMPOWERED. ‘Then the egocentric and the ignorant cabals, the political class, the government and now HERDSMEN killed the EVERYONE SPIRIT and brought up the MYSELF SPIRIT to run a nation with over 360 tribes. Wrong policies were made to suit the cabals and soon enough we saw very large farms with heavy fencing emerge throughout the country. What followed next was the technical withdrawal of government from agriculture making it unattractive to the teeming unemployed youths.
- Herdsmen! Forget the politicians who own most of these crop eating cattle, most youths are afraid of talking against these monsters who do not know the difference between cassava leafs and Bermuda grass, groundnut leafs and alfalfa leaves, yam tubers and plant roots, rice plants and rye grass, legumes and weed, farm land and forest, residential area and cattle ranch. These herdsmen have chased Nigerians who have no other way of surviving but farming away from their farms.
These and many other factors have contributed in creating
disunity and damaging the image of Nigeria across the globe. And so long as
Nigeria is made to remain a ‘CONSUMING NATION’ with the almost valueless Naira,
Nigeria is out of recession yet.
Measures I have taken to save my rabbit farm:
- Cut on feeding cost
- Increase hygiene / bio-security
- Increase reproduction
- Expand my market
- Save
I will explain in detail how I did (still doing) each of
these 5 things to save my rabbit farm in a later article.
