You must have heard it said now and again that one of the ways of managing in hard times is to cut down on your expenditure. The other is to increase your income. Some people have made a joke of the cost reduction prescription. They ask, for instance: which of the expenditures are you going to cut down on – house rent, school fees or what? You can’t, for instance, tell your child’s school proprietor that instead of N100,000 per term you will now be paying N95,000, or tell your landlord to reduce your rent from N500,000 to, say, N450,000. The people who make this argument certainly have a point. However, the other point is that while you cannot possibly reduce expenses in these areas, there are other areas where you can take steps that will eventually amount to cost saving. For instance, it’s a known fact that the average Nigerian household spends a huge chunk of its income – 56 per cent, according to data compiled by the World Economic Forum – on food. That is the highest in the world. And as I write, the cost of food items is still on the rise. So what if you can cut down on the cost of food by providing some ingredients by yourself?
Let’s start with vegetables. Pumpkin (ugu) leaves appear to be the most consumed leafy vegetable in Nigeria. To make a pot of vegetable soup or sauce that will be enough for a family of five, you may need as much as N2,000 worth of pumpkin leaves because the smallest tie in the market now, which is not up to a handful, goes for N200. Imagine if you can provide that quantity of pumpkin leaves by yourself, you would have saved N2,000 from your expenses. This amount may look like it doesn’t matter when weighed against the big expenses, but imagine you make this vegetable soup or sauce twice a week, you would have saved N4,000 in a week and N16,000 in a month. That money can solve some other issue in the home.
Cultivating pumpkin is pretty easy. If you have a small patch of land within your compound where you can cultivate it, good for you. It’s unfortunate that these days, most compounds are paved such that there is no space for basic gardening.
Mrs Osas, a landlady in Benin City, had assorted vegetables, including scent leaf, bitter leaf, and ugu, in her compound before it was paved. When the floor of the compound was being paved, however, she insisted that the edges of the compound fence where the vegetables were be left out. Now she still enjoys her vegetables as well as her paved compound.
Another landlady I know, her children who built the house had the compound paved but made provision for flower beds because she asked for it. At first she planted flowers in the beds but when they didn’t survive, she planted water leaves and pepper. Now, apart from providing regular supply of water leaves and pepper for her cooking, the beds are a beauty to behold, especially when the vegetables are in full bloom. Picture the green and red peppers and the colourful flowers of the water leaves.
So, having your compound paved is not an absolute hindrance. Think of how florists nurture their flowers in vases before they sell to customers. The same process can work for pumpkin leaves. Get your sand bags, get your pumpkin seeds, and sow. Make sure you keep the sand bags in a place where the sprouting pumpkin has access to sunlight and water. Come back and thank me in about four weeks. I used ugu as an example here because of its wide consumption. Just know that what worked for ugu can work for other vegetables like water leaves, tomatoes, pepper and others.
If you live in a rented apartment, you may still be able to do this if you have a space at the backyard. You can improvise your own soil using sand bags or plastic containers. Depending on your circumstance, you may need to find out from your landlord or landlady whether he or she approves before you go on with your plan.
Dear reader, we are in a season of experimentation. Prices of everything have hit the roof and it is worse with food items. While you can do without a good pair of shoes, you cannot go without food.
Meanwhile, when was the last time you had fresh tomato stew? You see? In the midst of high prices of fresh tomatoes, necessity has given birth to invention. Some Nigerian chefs have been experimenting with alternative ways of making delicious pots of stew without fresh tomatoes. They have tried cucumber stew, cabbage + beetroot stew, white garden egg stew, and so on. Which of these have you tried? How did it taste?
Dear reader, in these hard times, you must not give up on trying new things. If it will bring out the farmer and chef in you, it’s all for good. Remember, tough times don’t last, tough people do.
Do have a lovely weekend.
Queen, a personal finance advisor, can be reached via [email protected].
