Barrister Raymos Guanah is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Guanah Farms Limited, the largest mechanized and integrated farm in Delta State today. A lawyer of more than 27 years experience, he veered into partisan politics and got elected the executive chairman of Patani Local Government Council in Delta State from 1999 to 2002.
In 2002, he was appointed Special Adviser to the Governor of Delta State on Local Government Affairs, and in 2005 – 2007, he served as Political Adviser to the Governor. He was appointed as Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development in the Delta State government in the year 2007, a position he held until 2011 when he resigned his appointment.
He thereafter ventured into large-scale farming when he registered the Raymos Guanah Farms Ltd with the Corporate Affairs Commission in Nigeria to carry out the business of farming and agro-allied services.
He started with a large-scale cultivation of rice at Illah on the land allocated to him by Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority. His mission, according to him, is to be a major contributor to the production of food in the society, with a vision that it is possible to produce for all in the society. He said he went into large-scale farming believing that as Nigerians we can feed ourselves and to prove a point that agriculture with all its value chains is wide enough to provide employment to all Nigerian graduates.
\From the onset, Raymos Guanah aimed at achieving 100 per cent mechanization of his entire farm process, relying on modern farm tractors and implements. He is unarguably the biggest rice farmer in Delta State today. He has progressed into rice processing and his local rice product is certified by NAFDAC and meets international standards as well.
Raymos Guanah Farms is presently into the cultivation of hundreds of hectares of sweet cayenne pineapple farms at Oviri Ogor, Omavowe, Agbaha, Ughelli, Okpe Orogun and Otor Ogor all in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State. It has also introduced sugar loaf pineapples, courtesy its partnership with National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan Oyo State.
The farm ventured into cassava plantation with a successful pilot cassava farm at Okpe Orogun where it acquired 200 hectares of land for large-scale mechanized farm with the Tropical Agricultural Machine International Agricultural Mechanization (TARGM) cassava planters and harvesters.
Other areas where the Raymos Guanah Farms Ltd is making waves presently is in fish farming with over 20 earthen ponds with a capacity of 5,000 fish coupled with a modern hatchery. It is also into the cultivation of plantains and bananas and in fact, it is presently maintaining 10 hectares of plantains and bananas farm in Okpe Orogun in Ughelli North.
In October 2015, the Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, commissioned a multi-million naira rice mill built by Raymos Guanah Farms Limited in Asaba, the state capital. The mill has a capacity of processing one tonne of rice per hour and is capable of doing 16 tonnes of rice daily. In 2015, Raymos Guanah Farms produced over 1,000 metric tonnes of rice which was wholly processed by the ultra-modern rice mill established by the farm.
The farm also offers employment to close to a 100 young graduates who were provided with farming inputs, seeds, agro-chemicals and land preparation that will enable each young farmer cultivate five hectares of rice. Their harvests were bought over by Raymos Guanah Farms Ltd. According to Guanah, it has set a target of 3,000 metric tonnes of rice annually.
It has gone a step further venturing into dry season farming by acquiring modern water pumping machines that will facilitate all-year round production of rice.
Raymos Guanah Farms Ltd is presently collaborating with several agricultural research institutes across the country in areas of modern technology in seed development and capacity building and modern farming inputs. For example, it has signed an MoU with the National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan, Oyo State for a partnership using Raymos Guanah Farms Ltd as out-station farm research.
After inspecting the over 500 hectares of land acquired by the Farms in Edo State, including about 56 hectares of pineapple, water melon and plantain farms in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, the Assistant Director, Fruits and Biotechnology Programme of the Institute, Dr. Sunday Akinyemi, gave assurance that the institute would partner with the farms.
The institute is also to engage in the training of workers and farmers groups, establishment of new farms, supply of identified varieties of planting materials and for Raymos Guanah Farms to serve as a centre for showcasing research of findings of NIHORT.
At a critical time like this when the country is groaning ober falling oil prices and dwindling revenue, Raymos Guanah, the CEO of Raymos Guanah Farms Ltd has the following words for Nigerian teeming unemployed graduates: “I hold it very strongly that our young graduates today do not need to be looking for white collar jobs that are not there but should know that all Nigerian youths… can be engaged in agriculture gainfully yet there will still be space for more people to be involved.”
He thereafter ventured into large-scale farming when he registered the Raymos Guanah Farms Ltd with the Corporate Affairs Commission in Nigeria to carry out the business of farming and agro-allied services.
He started with a large-scale cultivation of rice at Illah on the land allocated to him by Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority. His mission, according to him, is to be a major contributor to the production of food in the society, with a vision that it is possible to produce for all in the society. He said he went into large-scale farming believing that as Nigerians we can feed ourselves and to prove a point that agriculture with all its value chains is wide enough to provide employment to all Nigerian graduates.
\From the onset, Raymos Guanah aimed at achieving 100 per cent mechanization of his entire farm process, relying on modern farm tractors and implements. He is unarguably the biggest rice farmer in Delta State today. He has progressed into rice processing and his local rice product is certified by NAFDAC and meets international standards as well.
Raymos Guanah Farms is presently into the cultivation of hundreds of hectares of sweet cayenne pineapple farms at Oviri Ogor, Omavowe, Agbaha, Ughelli, Okpe Orogun and Otor Ogor all in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State. It has also introduced sugar loaf pineapples, courtesy its partnership with National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan Oyo State.
The farm ventured into cassava plantation with a successful pilot cassava farm at Okpe Orogun where it acquired 200 hectares of land for large-scale mechanized farm with the Tropical Agricultural Machine International Agricultural Mechanization (TARGM) cassava planters and harvesters.
Other areas where the Raymos Guanah Farms Ltd is making waves presently is in fish farming with over 20 earthen ponds with a capacity of 5,000 fish coupled with a modern hatchery. It is also into the cultivation of plantains and bananas and in fact, it is presently maintaining 10 hectares of plantains and bananas farm in Okpe Orogun in Ughelli North.
In October 2015, the Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, commissioned a multi-million naira rice mill built by Raymos Guanah Farms Limited in Asaba, the state capital. The mill has a capacity of processing one tonne of rice per hour and is capable of doing 16 tonnes of rice daily. In 2015, Raymos Guanah Farms produced over 1,000 metric tonnes of rice which was wholly processed by the ultra-modern rice mill established by the farm.
The farm also offers employment to close to a 100 young graduates who were provided with farming inputs, seeds, agro-chemicals and land preparation that will enable each young farmer cultivate five hectares of rice. Their harvests were bought over by Raymos Guanah Farms Ltd. According to Guanah, it has set a target of 3,000 metric tonnes of rice annually.
It has gone a step further venturing into dry season farming by acquiring modern water pumping machines that will facilitate all-year round production of rice.
Raymos Guanah Farms Ltd is presently collaborating with several agricultural research institutes across the country in areas of modern technology in seed development and capacity building and modern farming inputs. For example, it has signed an MoU with the National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan, Oyo State for a partnership using Raymos Guanah Farms Ltd as out-station farm research.
After inspecting the over 500 hectares of land acquired by the Farms in Edo State, including about 56 hectares of pineapple, water melon and plantain farms in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, the Assistant Director, Fruits and Biotechnology Programme of the Institute, Dr. Sunday Akinyemi, gave assurance that the institute would partner with the farms.
The institute is also to engage in the training of workers and farmers groups, establishment of new farms, supply of identified varieties of planting materials and for Raymos Guanah Farms to serve as a centre for showcasing research of findings of NIHORT.
At a critical time like this when the country is groaning ober falling oil prices and dwindling revenue, Raymos Guanah, the CEO of Raymos Guanah Farms Ltd has the following words for Nigerian teeming unemployed graduates: “I hold it very strongly that our young graduates today do not need to be looking for white collar jobs that are not there but should know that all Nigerian youths… can be engaged in agriculture gainfully yet there will still be space for more people to be involved.”
