An illustrated Agrovia farm with fields of maize, cassava and rice, three fish ponds, poultry houses, grain silos and oil palms. As you scroll, the year moves from the dusty harmattan through the first rains, the long rains and the August break to the golden harvest, and the crops grow, ripen and are harvested.
Integrated agriculture, Onitsha
Agrovia grows, raises, mills and delivers food across Anambra and Delta. Scroll through a year on our farm and watch the seasons change the work.
January, harmattan
Dry air from the north settles a fine dust on everything. We clear and plough, desilt the fish ponds and mill the last of the cassava into garri.
March to April, first rains
The first storms arrive in the evenings. Maize goes in first, then cassava stems as soon as the ground holds water. Outgrower input packs leave the depot.
May to July, long rains
The heaviest rain of the year. Rice goes into the flooded paddies, the catfish ponds fill to the brim and the weeding gangs never stop.
August, the short dry spell
A few dry weeks in the middle of the rains. We harvest the early maize, dry it on clean floors and sow the second maize season straight after.
October to November, harvest
The paddies turn gold and the second maize is ready. Offtake trucks bring outgrower crops to the mill every day, and cassava starts coming out of the ground.
Today at Agrovia
Depot open until 6pm
Yellow garri in stock: 342 bags
Fresh eggs: 1,180 crates
Next farm tour: Saturday 8:30am, 9 places left
Cassava buying price: ₦118,000 a tonne
Updated from the COVORN apps (example data) at 07:00
Chapter 02, the land
Today we farm 1,840 hectares across Anambra and Delta. Every hectare has a plan for the year, from the first rains to the harmattan.
The soil here is deep and sandy loam, the rains come twice and the Niger is never far away. That is why one family could grow from a single plot to a group that feeds four cities, without ever leaving the valley it started in.
1998
Forty hectares near Otuocha, one secondhand tractor and a cassava grater.
2006
First poultry house. Eggs sold from the back of a pickup at Main Market.
2014
The garri mill opens and 300 neighbouring farmers join as outgrowers.
2021
Fish ponds, a feed mill and solar power backup for the whole estate.
2026
1,840 hectares, 2,300 outgrowers and deliveries across four cities.
Chapter 03, what grows
Chicken manure feeds the maize. Maize feeds the chickens and the fish. Cassava peel feeds the goats next door. Nothing leaves the estate as waste if we can help it.
Maize, cassava and rice on 1,840 hectares, planted to the rains and harvested twice a year where the land allows.
Inside crops84,000 layers and 30,000 broilers in open-sided houses, with eggs collected every morning and graded by noon.
Inside poultryTwenty-two earthen and concrete ponds raising catfish from fingerlings to market size in about six months.
Inside aquacultureA garri and flour mill, a rice parboiling line and a palm oil press that turn the harvest into products you can store.
Inside processingPoultry and fish feed milled from our own maize and soya, sold to 600 small farms across the South East.
Inside feed millChapter 04, the chain
No middlemen between the field and the bag. What we plant, we harvest, mill, pack and deliver ourselves.
Step 1
Certified stems and seed, tested in our trial plots before any farmer plants them.
Step 2
Ploughed, planted and weeded to a calendar set by the rains, not by guesswork.
Step 3
Peeled, grated, pressed and roasted within 24 hours of harvest, so nothing ferments too long.
Step 4
Weighed, sealed and batch coded, with the farm and the date on every bag.
Step 5
Delivered to shops, kitchens and feed mills in Onitsha, Nnewi, Asaba and Awka.
Chapter 05, the people
We give them seed, fertiliser and training before the rains. They repay from the harvest, and we buy what they grow at a price agreed before planting.
Before Agrovia I sold my cassava to whoever came. Now I know my price in March and I am paid by the Friday after harvest.
Chapter 06, the market
Order by the bag, the crate or the truck. Pay by card or bank transfer through Receivly, and track the delivery in your account. Example rates.
per 50 kg bag
₦62,000
per crate of 30
₦5,400
per 50 kg bag
₦78,000
per kg
₦9,500
per 25 litre keg
₦58,000
Chapter 07, the numbers
1,840
hectares farmed across Anambra and Delta
2,300
outgrowers on agreed prices
21,000
tonnes of cassava milled a year
96%
of orders delivered on the day promised
84,000
laying hens
22
fish ponds
640
people employed full time
38%
of estate power from solar
Example figures for this demo.
Chapter 08, come and visit
Saturday field walks, family farm days and school trips the children will talk about for weeks.
Two hours through the maize, the paddies and the mill, with lunch from the farm kitchen. ₦7,500 a person.
Book a place
Collect eggs, feed the catfish and plant a cassava stem with your name on it. ₦12,000 a person.
Book a family day
Curriculum linked trips for primary and secondary pupils, with a worksheet and a seedling to take home. ₦3,500 a pupil.
Plan a school tripAI phone line
It takes orders, checks stock and delivery days, books farm tours and passes anything tricky to a person on the team in the morning.
Example number for this demo.
What buyers say
★★★★★
The garri is the same every single bag. My customers at Main Market ask for Agrovia by name now.
★★★★★
We take 40 crates of eggs a week for the restaurant. Never short, never cracked, and the driver calls before he arrives.
★★★★☆
Their layer mash is consistent and the account page shows every invoice. I only wish they delivered to Ekwulobia.
From the journal
What we do in the three weeks before the first storms, from ridges to stem cuttings.
Read moreMoisture, pallets and why we never stack bags against a wall in January.
Read moreMonth by month, what to plant, tend and harvest in the Anambra valley.
Read moreMessage us on WhatsApp, book a farm visit or open an account to track every order and delivery.