#ArewaEconomy: In Bauchi, this young farmer is scaling despite spectre of insecurity

When Yettore Farms began operations in 2005, it was responding to a growing demand in Bauchi State for reliable poultry products such as eggs, meat, and manure.

Like many indigenous agribusinesses in Northern Nigeria, the journey has not been smooth. The farm faced early challenges and even suspended operations in 2011, but nearly two decades later, it is still standing — scaling despite economic shocks, insecurity, and policy disruptions that have forced many agribusinesses to shut down.

“We were forced to pause production because of internal operational challenges,” said the Managing Director of Yettore Farms, Adamu Tilde.

“But we revived the business in 2020 with clearer structures and a renewed focus on sustainability and scale,” he added.

Yettore Farms is a multi-product livestock and poultry enterprise that produces eggs, broiler meat, beef, rams, and organic manure. Operating from Bauchi State, the company supplies markets within the state and across Kano, Kaduna, Adamawa, Gombe, Taraba, Yobe, Maiduguri, and Abuja.

At its core, Yettore Farms maintains approximately 50,000 laying hens and has the capacity to hold up to 1,000 cattle and 10,000 broiler chicks at any time, in addition to thousands of rams during festive seasons.

The farm is also developing a permanent 10-hectare site along the Jos–Bauchi Expressway that will include a mini abattoir and cold storage facilities to support processing operations.

“Our goal is to increase egg production to 100,000 birds by the end of 2027,” Mr Tilde said.

Building scale from Bauchi

Strategically located in Tilde, along the Jos–Bauchi Expressway, the farm’s current site has been fully maximised.

“We have currently exhausted our existing space. That is why we are developing a permanent company site and working towards increasing production capacity,” Mr Tilde noted.

The planned expansion will enable the farm to support processing lines for both chicken and beef products, reinforcing its position as one of the larger private livestock operations in Bauchi State.

“At full capacity, we can hold up to 1,000 head of cattle, about 10,000 broiler chicks at any given time, and thousands of rams during festive seasons,” he explained.

Yettore Farms’ structured approach is rooted in professional expertise. Most of its management team are trained animal scientists and veterinarians.

“Professionalism is what sets us apart. When your management team understands animal science and veterinary practice, it naturally influences how the enterprise is run. Our watchwords are quality and reliability. We want to be ethical and sustainable in our approach,” Mr Tilde said.

Daily operations reflect this professional orientation. The Operations Manager, Abdulkarim Adam, supervises production, monitors quality, and ensures safety standards are maintained.

“I review performance data daily, update records, and plan the next day’s activities to maintain productivity and minimise waste,” he said.

Feed and biosecurity are the largest operational costs, and disease monitoring remains a constant challenge.

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“One of our biggest challenges is early detection of diseases and identifying causes of mortality. This is made more difficult by limited access to standard laboratories and diagnostic tools,” Mr Adam added.

Yettore Farms supplying markets beyond Bauchi

From its Bauchi base, Yettore Farms distributes products across several northern states.

“Nigeria’s market is large and expansive. We don’t restrict ourselves to a single customer group because everyone consumes eggs and meat,” Mr Tilde said.

The farm is also developing a business line targeting hotels, restaurants, and urban consumers interested in free-range and organic produce. However, distribution is constrained by infrastructure.

“Due to road conditions, we currently use non-temperature-controlled vehicles. We complement this with early morning and late evening deliveries to reduce heat exposure,” Mr Adam added.

While refrigerated vans would be ideal, cost remains prohibitive.

Surviving economic shocks

Rising feed prices, fuel costs, subsidy removal, and naira devaluation have tested the farm’s resilience.

“The last three years have been nothing short of a rollercoaster. We experienced a cashless policy, subsidy removal, and naira devaluation almost back to back,” Mr Tilde said.

He illustrated the impact with input costs.

“Before subsidy removal and naira devaluation, a day-old chick sold for between ₦650 and ₦700 as of April 2023. Today, it is about ₦2,500. A 25kg bag of finished feed (layer mash) cost about ₦7,500 as of May 2023, though this varied by company. Today, it sells for about ₦14,000, and at some point it was close to ₦20,000.”

Despite these pressures, production levels were maintained.

“We did what needed to be done, managed resources prudently, cut costs where possible, and remained hopeful. But we did not reduce our production volume,” Mr Tilde said, adding that financial discipline has been key.

“Prudent and judicious use of resources has been crucial,” he added.

Spectre of Insecurity

Beyond economic pressures, security challenges have also shaped the farm’s operating environment. Mr Tilde explained that insecurity in Northern Nigeria varies across locations and intensity, ranging from banditry to farmer–herder clashes and insurgency.

“We have had our own share of security challenges, largely due to the incursion of dispersed bandits from the Zamfara axis into southern Bauchi,” he said. He disclosed that he lost his brother during a bandit attack, describing the experience as deeply traumatic.

According to him, the farm has been able to continue operations largely due to the intervention of the Bauchi State Government and security agencies.

“We remained in business because of the prompt and decisive response of His Excellency, Senator Bala Mohammed, the Governor of Bauchi State, to the bandit attacks recorded between 2020 and 2023, as well as the efforts of our security personnel. Since then, there have been few incidents of banditry or any other form of attack,” he said.

Jobs and local economic impact

Yettore Farms employs 57 permanent staff, excluding casual workers and interns. Indirect employment is generated through suppliers, transporters, and off-takers.

“At any given time, the farm is a beehive of activity. Either egg off-takers are loading products or feed suppliers are delivering inputs,” Mr Tilde said.

Workers like Adam Mustapha have grown alongside the farm.

“I started as a hall attendant, feeding and maintaining pens. Later, I became hall in-charge and then assistant manager,” he said.

“From my monthly salary, I can save money and use it to support my crop farming,” he added.

Beyond income, Mr Mustapha highlighted skill development.

“I’ve learned how to manage day-old chicks, identify sick birds, differentiate between laying and non-laying pullets, and handle record-keeping.”

Customer experience and market perception

Retailers like Mas’ud Rimi rely on Yettore Farms for both quality and reliability.

“The products are cheaper and easily accessible,” he said. “It has positively affected my business because of the steady supply,” he added.

Deliveries are largely dependable.

“They deliver to my shop reliably,” he said, while noting that price fluctuation and lack of farm-owned delivery vehicles for wholesalers remain areas for improvement.

The farm’s next phase focuses on gaining greater control of the production value chain.

“Without end-to-end control of production businesses, you will always be at the mercy of middlemen,” Mr Tilde said.

Expansion plans include strengthening feed milling operations and transportation logistics. For Northern agribusiness more broadly, Mr Tilde believes technology adoption will determine competitiveness.

“Integrating advanced technology into production and processing is essential. But access to cheap and patient capital remains the biggest challenge,” he said.

On youth participation in agribusiness, Mr Tilde said that while impact is difficult to measure, he hopes his journey will encourage others.

“There is no metric to measure that. However, I do hope and pray that by sharing bits of my activities on social media, I might inspire some young people to venture into agribusiness,” he said.

He advised aspiring entrepreneurs to focus on practical action rather than online pessimism.

“They should stop listening to talkers and start paying serious attention to doers. Many positive things are happening in the country, and the agribusiness space is vast and barely scratched. If your understanding of Nigeria’s prospects is shaped mainly by social media, you risk misreading the country’s true potential.”

Despite the scale of its operations, Mr Tilde said the farm has not benefited from government support.

“So far, I have not received any form of support whatsoever from the government in the region or country,” he said.

Scaling in Bauchi and beyond, Yettore Farms exemplifies the resilience of Northern agribusinesses. Its growth under rising costs, security challenges, and policy shocks shows how professional management, strategic planning, and local enterprise can sustain jobs, support livelihoods, and strengthen the region’s economy.

“Scaling under these circumstances is not easy, but it is possible with careful planning, discipline, and the right mindset. That’s exactly what we are doing at Yettore Farms,” Mr Tilde noted.