Hey dear, congratulation on taking this bold and brave step. You want to start up an agribusiness (Agricultural business), right? Yes, I guess. That is very good and you know what? You have just made a good discission. Now...
Hey dear, congratulation on taking this bold and brave step. You want to start up an agribusiness (Agricultural business), right? Yes, I guess. That is very good and you know what? You have just made a good discission. Now to some serious and exciting issues.
Agriculture no doubt is very lucrative (profitable) but believe me it can also be extremely frustrating if you don't do it right.
Several factors contributes to the success of every business (including Agricultural businesses) and those factors, as well as how you can easily incorporate them into building a prosperous and a profitable Agricultural business is what we will be discussing today. So ensure that you read through to get the best out of this guild.
A cocoa farmer
You may also want to read some agricultural business that worth investing or putting your money into.
Below are the strategies that you should follow in starting up an agribusiness
Know the area of Agriculture that you want to go into
Knowing what you are going into is very good.
If you want to go into poultry for example, ensure that you have a good knowledge of things such as the different types of poultry birds, the purpose in which they are kept (meat or egg), their vaccination programs, their diseases and symptoms etc
If you are also intending to go into the production of some crops then you should know their various diseases, fertilizer requirement and others.
Carry out feasibility study
Feasibility study is when you take a quick overview of the location in which you want to set up your business, as well as the market that you want to go into.
Are people actually in need of what I want to produce? How lucrative will this business be in this location? Will it be convenient for me to transport my farm produce to the market when necessary? Will the location of my farm be easily reachable?
These and others are what your feasibility study should be able to answer
Have a huge vision but start small
Yes, the power of starting small cannot be overemphasized.
While you may want to have a large farm it is important that you start small and grow on that basis.
Even when you have more than enough money to set up the business, do not put all into it. You just have to start small and grow.
Starting small will help you understand the business and learn some of the tricks and tactics of it..
If you want to set up a poultry farm for instance, instead of starting with 5,000 birds, you can start with 50-100. In this way you will learn more about the business as it grows
And if you by any chance lose some or even all of those birds (as a beginner) you will not feel it as much as loosing 1,000+ birds and you can still easily bounce back.
Quick tip: when you jump up you will certainly fall down, but when you grow up falling down will be far from you.
Get your capital ready
This may look a bit obvious as no one can start a business without capital.
While that is true, what I am actually trying to say here is that you should get your full capital ready especially in animal production.
If you want to keep layers (in poultry) for example, you will need money (capital) to provide feed for them for about 4 months before you will start getting eggs from them which you can then sell to get income to buy their feeds.
Ensure that there is proper management
This is when your entrepreneurial skill should come to play. Management is key in every agricultural business.
You can only manage your agribusiness effectively when you have a good knowledge of it.
Management in this case entails proper record keeping, use of efficient farming technics, efficient method of disease control, efficient ways of employee motivation and knowing how to control your staff.
So I will advice you always have a good knowledge of that agricultural business you are aiming at as I had rightly said above.
Read also>> 5 different types of poultry production
Leave your farm in competent hands
As your farm begins to grow bigger so also do the challenges. At this point it is important for you to put your farm in more competent hands.
This is not to say that you should quit coming to your farm, but even as you may still need to come to your farm it should be to supervise and check out some critical activities in the farm.
Conclusion
Just like any other business out there Agribusinesses also have their own problems.
With that been said, setting up an agribusiness requires you to follow these simple steps:
Following all the above strategies will lead you into building a thriving agribusiness.
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