Understanding the Business Model of Farming.

It is rather unfortunate that most people see farming in this part of the world as an occupation for the illiterates and school drop out. Some see it as an occupation meant for aged people in the rural community. The benefits of farming is far beyond who is involved in it but rather, how can it become a business that brings about sales and profit generation. This is not to say that there are no challenges involved, because there are but as an investor seeking out ways to reduce these challenges should be one of your concerns.

1. What are the numbers involved? You need to know the production quality and quantity of produce or animal husbandry you want to get involved in. Its not all about planting vegetables or rearing catfish, because someone says its a good business. It finally comes down to number and how much you were able to turnaround. A business may look good and still not have prospect for growth or profitability. That's one of the hiccups in agriculture, it is  a business of volume and numbers. It would be very challenging to break even just cultivating one plot of land as compared to another investor who cultivates over 1  hectare of land using same crop.
2. Crude Implements and Modern equipments: The use of hoe and cutlass is still a common method of farming here in this part of the world. There is a limit to the number of plots the hoe and cutlass can be used, even in the clearing of weeds. This primitive method, not only wastes time, it delays the planting period of crops and also results to a waste of productive man hours. When compared to the use of small mechanised equipments like the mini tractor for tilling the soil, the results gotten are different. In considering agriculture as a business model, then the thoughts of using hoe and cutlass is not welcomed at all.

3. Forecast as a business man not as a farmer: A farmer says he would wait for the planting season before he starts to cultivate the land or after the first rain. A business man would rather create irrigation systems and go ahead to plant Again you need to look at the numbers and turnover ratio. If you are considering planting in March for example because its the rainy season, then you may likely not have a sustainable business model. It is no longer new that climate change is altering so many things. The idea of native knowledge in terms of dry season and rainy season no longer works. There are some times when a glut would be experienced in the market and there are times of scarcity, you need to take advantage of both situations. In times of scarcity, the produce may be small in supply but a business man can still have much more demand and meet supply same way it was done during the glut period, this would help to keep the income steady and not nose diving.

Agriculture is a serious business and a source of regular income if properly done and treated as such.