Bitter Kola also known as Garcinia Kola is a species of flowering plant in the Clusiaceae or Guttiferae family. Bitter Kola demands a lot of patience from the farmer because it can take a minimum of 7-10 years before it can grow into fruit-yielding stage, even as it can take 56 days before the planted seed can shoot out from the ground.Bitter Kola also known as Garcinia Kola is a species of flowering plant in the Clusiaceae or Guttiferae family.
There are shortages of farmers farming bitter kola compared to the highbred kola nut which is ready for harvest between 3-4 years. A farmer would certainly be making a lot of fortune investing in this type of high-end lucrative farming as bitter Kola is widely sought after in the international market due to its various health benefits while it is also heavily consumed in the local market with cultural values attached to this plant.
Explaining from his many years of experiences, Mr Wale Adekanbi, a farmer and dealer in cash crops, advised against too much exposure of harvested seed to sunlight or to heat to avoid spoilage. According to Adekanbi, storing the seed inside sandy soil and jute bags are the best local materials to preserve Bitter Kola seeds.
“Bitter Kola farming is unlike other cash crops as it can take five to seven years for it to grow and yield fruits. A person who is not patient will not be able to stand or wait for years whereas you could have made good money in planting of crops like corn, cassava, even yam. But I can assure you of good returns when the tree start bearing seeds. As a seller, you must learn how to preserve the seeds and you must know ready markets for it,” he pointed out.