Farming remains the only miracle Nigeria needs to survive in the face of crumbling of other lucrative ventures.

Mr. Dannie Ubani, the Chief Executive Officer of Fortunewell Farms, Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, gave the recipe while interacting with newsmen in his office.

He urged farmers to equip themselves better by learning contemporary farming procedures to enable them to excel.

Ubani stressed that farmers wishing to succeed in this technological age must be conversant with contemporary agricultural techniques and be connected to other farmers on the internet for development of better skills.

He pointed out that a potential farmer may not necessarily need to start on a large scale, explaining that all levels of farming were very rewarding to practitioners who develop themselves and their businesses.

The big-time farmer, therefore, advised people wishing to go into farming business without adequate capital to start at the level they can afford, stressing that farming lends itself to all classes of people and days of small beginnings.

“That empty space of land that is at the back of your house can be turned into a farm, a vegetable garden. You can have your starting point from there. Remember, Rome was not built in a day. Everything big started small,” he said.

He said farming was necessary because “feeding is a primary human activity considered before other things.”

“If you have not eaten well, you cannot afford to buy good phones, buy and drive good cars or clothes. So the survival of nations has always been premised on farming and farmers.

“So when you see people who have made their marks in every other area of human endeavour turning to farming, that gives you a good signal, and sends a clear message.

“Oil has failed, the banking industry has collapsed and the capital market is virtually non-existent now. As a result the only miracle that can turn things around in this country now is farming,” he said.

Ubani said that for any farmer to succeed, the person must cultivate the virtues of patience and hard work, principles taught by farming itself.

He advised aspiring farmers not to harbour the ambition of getting rich quick if they wanted to succeed in farming practice, adding that it was incumbent on farmers to be knowledgeable about the weather, which he noted, was important for successful farming.

•Photo shows Agric Minister Audu Ogebh.