Agriculture is a goldmine and economists have declared it as a
panacea to the crashing of Africa’s economy.
As a result of the revolution in Agriculture and especially the
desire for people to tap into its goldmine, many people have and are investing
in farming. Agribusiness which is a word coined for commercial farming has been
booming. Many has also seen the importance of farming as a serious business and
many are venturing into it.
There is no doubt that agriculture is vital for the sustainability
of most countries as it supports the basic need to get back to the farm and
feed ourselves, communities and even the world. Despite that, we seem to be
making some fundamental mistakes when venturing into agribusiness.
Do you want to avoid making these mistakes? If you are, you’ve come
to the right place!
Mistake 1: Producing without having buyers
Most people start up an agribusiness venture without having buyers.
They just hear about a farming venture and delve into it without even having an
idea of how or where they will sell their farm produce.
I can’t just be telling you this if I haven’t made the mistake. I
made this mistake when I started my first poultry farm, did it again when I
started my catfish farm. For my catfish, I ended up selling them off at a cheap
price. But now I know better.
Most times you end up selling your produce at a ridiculous price and
end up incurring a loss.
The situation I found myself then is still being experienced by many
farmers who start without having buyers or a marketing strategy.
As a business person (not a mere farmer), you have to know who and
where your farm produce will be sold, even before you get started in whatever
agricultural venture you choose.
I am not saying that you should just have the idea of where to sell
your farm produce. I mean, reach out to your target market, speak with
potential customers, discuss with them and make sure there are people (buyers)
who will be willing to buy your farm produce, even before you get started.
That’s called having a marketing strategy.
Mistake 2: Thinking agribusiness is a get rich quick
scheme
A get rich quick mentality is not new; it’s only a surprise that no
matter what most people try to lay their hands on, they want success, immediately!
It’s not always like that. Many things in life don’t work that way
unless you win the lottery. Agribusiness in Africa and everywhere is not like a
lottery because its success is not down to luck, but hard work, patience and
planning.
Your agricultural business venture could be successful, you could
make millions through it, but it won’t happen overnight, it might not even
happen next month or next year.
Be patient, persistent and pursue your goal until you achieve it.
Don’t get discouraged easily if you want to make it in Agribusiness. Don’t be
deceived by whatever you might have heard or read because you won’t become rich
overnight.
I lost a lot of birds in my first poultry farming experience before
I gained more experience and became successful. Now I do consulting for people
going into poultry farming business.
Mistake 3: Not doing enough market research or avoiding
it entirely
To most people new farmers, starting a farming business is as simple
as acquiring a land and start farming.
As I said earlier, farming is a business and has to be taken very
seriously.
If you’re going into agribusiness, the very first thing to do is to
take time to conduct a market research so that you can determine the internal
and external factors, both negative and positive that can potentially impact
your business.
Market research will include seeking for possible buyers and where
to find them, identifying competitors and ways to package or present your own
business as to outshine them.
Market research helps you discover the best strategies to adopt in
selling your farm produce.
Mistake 4: Seeing yourselves as “mere farmers” and not
having a business mind-set
This mentality is dangerous because the world has moved away from
this mentality.
Modern farmers no longer see themselves as “just farmers.” 21st century farmers are businessmen who
are in the business of producing food.
Take for instance if you think yourself as just a “mere farmer”, you won’t see your
agricultural produce as something that you have to brand, package or vigorously
market with clearly defined marketing strategies.
If we’re into catfish farming we should be thinking of processing,
and packaging our catfish.
It makes us stand out. Same thing goes to every other agribusiness
out there.
It’s not enough to encourage people to go into farming without
equipping them with right business skills, knowledge, tactics, and strategies
that will help them to compete favourably in the market.
You as an individual potential farmer or practicing farmer have to
understand this.
In any business, any Jack can produce anything, but it takes a smart
man to sell, I mean to sell at a good price and make a profit. Without profit
there is no business.
Knowing how to grow certain crops or how to raise certain animals is
one; selling those products at a good profit is another thing altogether.
Mistake 5: Not doing large scale and mechanized farming
Our forefathers were known to use hoes, sticks and cutlasses to
farm. A technique which ended up cultivating only a small piece of land. This
was small-scale or subsistence farming carried out by our ancestors.
It’s shameful to still see farmers involved in small-scale farming
without mechanization.
Till this very day, when you look around in Africa, you’ll observe
that more than 90% of farming is still small-scale farming.
For us to move forward from here to where we dream of, we must make
agribusiness work for African farmers. We must adopt mechanized and progressive
farming techniques. We must start viewing farming as a lucrative business.
Without this change, the popular noise about our intending economy
diversification will end up being just noise with no action.
We have to adopt massive mechanized and commercialized farming.
Remember my
contribution when you finally succeed in agribusiness!!
Comments
Post a Comment