From Empty Plots to Full Pots: How a Nigerian Community Turned Idle Lands Into Survival Farms
- Many Nigerian families are struggling under a tough economy, one that the World Bank said in October 2025 is still lagging in living standards and soaring food prices
- Amid the hardship, residents of a community in Ogun State are embracing small-scale family farming, producing some of the food that they consume
- Legit.ng spotlights this community, whose actions have minimised food miles, reducing the need for long-distance transportation and its associated carbon emissions
Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering social issues in Nigeria and Africa.
Ota, Ogun State - Surrounded by tangled shrubland, Rukayat Ogunjimi’s 30×40-foot ‘farm’ in her compound in Iwoye, Ado-Odo/Ota local government area (LGA) of Ogun State, southern Nigeria, saves her family a significant amount of cash.
“In 2023, when I started, it was a spontaneous decision,” said the secondary school teacher.
Each year since, she has harvested crops the size of an agro tricycle.
Source: Original
Maize, cassava, and plantain grow in ordered rows; spinach, jute leaves, scent leaf, and pineapple file out of the ground. “The soil structure, nutrient cycling, root health…we are blessed, my brother,” she gushes. In the surrounding area, residential homes stand quietly.
Since 2023, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu's policies, including the removal of a costly petrol price subsidy and naira devaluation, have resulted in a cost-of-living crisis.
Source: Facebook
The cost of several staples in Nigeria has risen over the past year, posing hardship for many low-income families.
There is a scourge of kidnappings for ransom in the northern region and deadly conflict between farmers and pastoralists in the central belt, traditionally the nation's breadbasket. These have contributed to the economic hardship, disrupting agriculture and squeezing food supplies.
Amid the challenges, part of the population in Ogun’s Iwoye-Aiyedokun Area Central Development Council (CDC) is banking on favourable soil conditions and idle lands to practice subsistence farming. In pursuit of food security, almost every street in the community has at least one property owner running a ‘farm’ right in the neighbourhood.
Drawing on lessons from his agric classes in secondary school decades ago, Ademola Adedokun, a middle-aged father of four, decided in 2022 to till the soil and plant cocoyam. The land in Iwoye has a favourable climate for crop production, so subsequently, he added cassava, pawpaw, and vegetables.
Source: Original
“The current situation in Nigeria has taught me to ‘wise up’,” said Adedokun, a trader and landlord. “The portion I am using isn’t mine. It is just a stone's throw from my house. There is a structure on the land, but the owner has left it uncompleted for many years now.
“So, I thought instead of allowing the available parts of the one plot to continue to remain idle, it was a good chance to get it engaged and reap from it. I spoke to the land’s owner, who lives in Lagos, and he gave me the green light.”
From their farm produce, Ogunjimi and Adedokun make healthy cassava flour, pap, and soup, which they and their families consume. The cassava flour, which gives them white amala and 'fufu', often lasts a lengthy period. All it cost them was a bit of attention; little or nothing as capital, zero farm workers’ payment, and no transportation.
Source: Original
Source: Original
Source: Original
Like Adedokun, Aloko Aiyegun reached out to building owners who have not yet permanently relocated to the community to seek permission to use portions of their lands. He plants varieties of vegetables and other food crops, consumes some along with his family, and sells to co-residents in Iwoye.
“I originally hail from Benin Republic, and there, agriculture supports more than 70% of the population. That explains why even though I have my hustle, I cannot do without farming, regardless of the scale,” said Aiyegun, who has been living in the community since 2011.
Eminent Nigerians preach subsistence farming
Legit.ng reports that several eminent Nigerians, including government officials and community leaders, have recently urged citizens to embrace subsistence farming to combat worrying food costs and ensure food security.
In April 2024, Nonye Soludo, the wife of the governor of Anambra, said Nigerians should adopt backyard gardening practices to help families cope with the current economic realities.
Nonye, the founder of Healthy Living Initiative, spoke when she received a group of Anambra female farmers and businesswomen in Awka, the state capital.
According to her, home garden practices have helped families as primary and regular sources of diet and nutrition.
The Anambra first lady said backyard gardens will also reduce dependence on commercial food products, which are mostly expensive.
According to The Cable, she said:
“You only need to go to the small farm behind your house to pick up what the body needs to be healthy.
“This is why I am encouraging families to embrace backyard or home gardens.”
“Those who live in areas without enough land for subsistence farming purposes can adopt sack farming, which does not cost anything to set up.
“By having such farms around the house, households can have easier and healthier alternatives, and cut down their costs of living.”
On her part, Esther Chinyere Onyekesi, woman leader of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra State, encouraged Africans to embrace backyard farming to improve food security.
She added that the rising prices of foodstuffs should motivate everyone to take up farming.
In the same vein, Remi Tinubu, Nigeria’s first lady, amplified the subsistence farming gospel via her X verified (formerly Twitter) account in July 2024.
In a post, the first lady shared pictures of herself farming in her garden, encouraging citizens to participate in the ‘EveryHomeAGarden’ competition.
What limits survival farming in Ogun?
There is a high susceptibility of crops to unsupervised sheep and goats, with many residents complaining of free-ranging animals browsing on their crops the moment they emerge from the soil.
Sometime in 2025, this reporter witnessed a tense confrontation between two landlords over alleged trespass. A sheep had wandered into a man’s unfenced compound, prompting him to kill the animal and dump its remains in a public space.
This action enraged the livestock owner, who claimed the man was notorious for such behaviour.
To this end, Dada Adio, the Baale (traditional ruler) of Iwoye Aiyedokun land, enacted a regulation which banned straying animals. By confining livestock to set locations, various conflict issues associated with free-ranging are mitigated.
To serve internet users drawn to videos, this report has been transformed using Pictory. You can watch it here.
Source: Legit.ng
