We will be looking into profitable agribusiness ideas for Higher Executives - (In paid jobs) but strictly for Senior/Mid level Managers.

WHY THIS POST?

Agriculture is what we all are used to. Agriculture is what our Parents practiced. Some of us still practice it today. Agriculture is supposed to create wealth and empower the masses. But today, Agriculture is impoverishing alot more people. This is because they are doing things in the old ways and repeated too and hoping to get different results; but forgetting that new dynamics have emerged i.e climate change, global warming, soil nutrients are depleted greatly by man's activities of industrialization and Urbanization.

Truth is:
1. Agriculture is not like every other business where you start reaping profits immediately.
2. Agriculture is a business of hope.
3. Agriculture has a gestation period before it starts yielding benefits.
4. Agriculture will never make you rich! Will not make you Super rich but will make you comfortable and fulfilled.
5. Agriculture will not lift Nigeria out of recession or makes its economy better off.

Agribusiness is the order of the day now. Agribusiness is taking and doing Agriculture as a business. Doing the old things in NEW ways differently.

Just recently, I was listening to the news, and I heard that Dangote Group just signed an MOU with Niger State Government on the development and expansion of Sugar farms and that the company would invest $450m in agriculture development in Niger State over the next three years.

This bugged me a great deal!

He was heard saying something like" Our Refinery and fertilizer plants Project is small to what Agriculture will do for Nigeria". Meaning; there is even more money to be made in Agriculture/Agribusiness than His Company can earn from the massive Oil and gas plant he is currently building.

That was what prompt me to write this.

Can you beat that?

Human Resources Management in Agriculture /Agribusiness

Managing people and resources can be an heculine task in our part of the world. Several people have lost money and wasted valuable money and time in the process of setting up and managing a farm either for crop production or animal rearing.

These are not due primarily to any known faults of theirs; but their inability to manage efficiently the human resource they have available to run their enterprises. The bulk of employees in this cadre are low level/cadre staff who do mostly labour intensive and menial jobs. Coupled with few skilled or literate farm staff who serve as managers and farm supervisors. They most times are the major problems of agricultural enterprises. They make and mar your venture.

Usually,
- they are not time conscious.
- they are reluctant to work.
- they will not work without supervision.
- they will always look for short cuts
- they will usually want to undermine your strategies.
- they are not ready to obey your instructions to the latter.

Managing these people efficiently as a business owner is therefore your greatest asset.

All known business management strategies and human resource management strategies therefore, apply to these employees.

Do we farm owners layout clearly defined protocols to put these our employees under check??

As a senior level Manager or Skilled employee in your paid employment; and thinking of other means of generating income; don't you think it is possible to provide them with that sense of ownership or co-ownership that will motivate them to do exactly what is required of them

Example 1:

Where I usually farm (dry season farming) I usually find it difficult to get labour to work for me on my farm for strategic farm operations. But in the farmstead close by at any given time of the day when I visit my farm, there will be at least 10- 15 able bodied men sitting idly in the farmstead - playing, gisting away and of course hungry.

To them, I'm some favored kid with opportunities and only looking to waste some of the resources. On closer observation and discussions, I realised they wish to do what I'm doing but do not have resources to embark on it.

So after convincing some of them to work for me and get paid, I observed they will still do Shoddy and poor jobs for me even repeatedly. I wondered why?? and for long I wondered.

Then, I came up with an idea. Discussed with 2 seemingly straight headed ones amongst them. Let's team up to work together. I foot the bill from A-Z, they will join to do the strategic jobs and employ others to complete the jobs, while I paid. The strategy worked.

The works are completed in record time and my supervision burden lessen. I visit less frequently but mostly unscheduled as against my usual routine.

However; the key to this success was that the project''s profits will be split in 4 ( 1 for each partner and 1 for the expenditure cost). So I walk away with 50% profits after deducting my cost.

Kinda win-win right??

As a Senior Executives, why do you have to start a farm growing all kinds of crops and animals when you can be managing others and dictating to them what to plant, what to grow anf you dictate the ace.

All those Senior Executives going into direct production are only wasting their money!

In what league do you wish to play?? I don't mean Seria A or Champions League or Carlings.


What I mean is that at what level of the ladder you wish to play?? The top Strata or Lower Strata??

Of course the top strata makes the money! Why not take any of the paths I will be itemizing below:

1. Crop/ Produce Aggregator.

You could be an aggregator of farm produce or crops like maize, soyabean, cocoa e.t.c The aggregator usually have pre-defined agreements with big companies or end user who add value to a group produce or export this produce.


What can you aggregate? ?

Various Ecological or Geopolitical Zones have different productstyles which you can tap into and make a good living for yourself while empowering the rural folks are directly involved in production.

Note that aggregators have levels: Some go to the interlands while others remain in the city centre while communicating with their down-lines in the rural areas.

As an elite, you can use your knowledge and exposure to locate end users of these products and fill the gap of market linkage

2. Farm Power & Machinery Hiring Schemes

As a Senior Executive with access to financial Support, you could start a farm power & machinery hiring scheme. This hiring scheme will be a coordinated hiring schemes servicing Farmer groups and cooperatives only.

Only, because, where the machinery serves individual farmers, there is possibility of collusion between farmers and your operators. But with farmers group, the tendency of collusion is reduced. Though, you have to track and monitor your machineries closely. Else, your employees can outsmart you and run you under financially.

You can beat them to there game by installing ICT tracker/vehicle tracking devices.

3. Farm produce harvesting and processing service provider

Rice/wheat reaper: This machine is used for harvesting rice/wheat from the field. Labour to do some of these labourous task is a great challenge across the country.

As a Smart investor, if you invest in this machine and hire it out to small holder farmers during harvesting period. Within a very short time, you will reap back your invested capital with interest.

You will equally be empowering lives in the rural community while smiling to the bank.

Provide a Solution today and earn Big..

4. Be an Exporter of Agro Produce

You can be exporter of agro produce. It's easier in that plain. You only buy from aggregators, process if need be or subcontract the processing out and make money without running around.

As a Senior Executive; You are leveraging on your experience in other sectors to create value and enrich lives of the rural populace.

Cashew, cocoa, sesame, cotton

5. Be an agro processing machinery Fabricator

You are an Engineer in your field or in fact you are an Agricultural Engineering graduate and you are busy looking for white collar jobs.

Why go and till the land and be frustrated?
Why go and start a farm and be tossed around endlessly by labourers that you will still pay at end of the day?

Why not use your skill to solve problems in your immediate surrounding and make good money for yourself ??

Simple tools for peeling cassava,

For weeding on ridges,

For land preparation,

For weeding in paddies,

For transplanting vegetables or rice seedlings??

Nice

[quote author=saliubello post=59860554]5. Be an agro processing machinery Fabricator

You are an Engineer in your field or in fact you are an Agricultural Engineering graduate and you are busy looking for white collar jobs.

Why go and till the land and be frustrated?
Why go and start a farm and be tossed around endlessly by labourers that you will still pay at end of the day?

Why not use your skill to solve problems in your immediate surrounding and make good money for yourself ??

Simple tools for peeling cassava,

For weeding on ridges,

For land preparation,

For weeding in paddies,

Nice thread.

6. Agro Produce Cluster Coordinator

Cluster Coordinators are people who masterminds, promotes , register and take charge of running of the cluster. A cluster is a group of practising farmers who have common interest of profit taking while reducing their cost using the economics of scale.

I.e they jointly procure their farm inputs, distributes amongst themselves while bypassing the middlemen.

Only middle level Managers can coordinate such activities rightly without short changing members yet deriving maximum benefits for members.

The managers of such schemes or clusters represents the overall interest of members while cashing some profit as financiers.

This could just be the impetus your community people need to spur them to be more pro active about food security and food sustainability.

Such groupings have better access to market, credit and machinery at fairly discounted rates.

Others are:

7. Contract Farming

8. Off taker Schemes Operator

9. Processors

10. Seed/Grain Cleaner Service

11. Feed miller/Feed propounded

12. Warehouse Receipt Operator

13. Grain Storage Bank

14. Planting gang operator

15. Herbicides Application gang

16. Fertiliser rebag scheme ( small bags)

17. Seeds/stem distribution scheme

18. Suckers multiplication

19. Marketing

20. Real Estate

21. Farm coordinate marker

Even Dbang chooses processing instead of direct production

Agribusiness Training institute

Do you know you can start an Agribusiness Training Institute where you teach young minds on various agribusiness courses.

HABDEC- a private agribusiness training institute based in Abeokuta is leading this Virgin industry

Firmvine:
@ Saliubello thanks a million for this post. You just inspired me more for am already doing agribusiness by God's grace. Can you please drop your contacts here. I would love to connect with you. Thanks

Here are my contact details : 08050323434, 08028873809, 08099066646 or saliubello2003@yahoo.com

thanks a million times for this post sire, I already had in mind to search for contacts in need of agro products like maize, soya beens etc or who are too afraid to travel down north to get these items. and supply to them

Agro Tourism

Here is another money spinner you can think about rather than wasting your hard earned money by doing direct production.

You could be facilitators, travel guide, logistics and haulage service provider

Your choice

Check yourself. What makes you tickle?? Why waste your cash ??


Check yourself. Find your happiness and invest rightly

Agricultural Mechanisation machinery hiring enterprise operator.

Combined harvester
Planter
Roman Harrow
Roman disc
Cassava planter, weeder and harvester

Happy new year 2018. We wish you All the very best.

Thanks Dear Saliu Bello, I have Learnt a Lot from you. I have an Idea and would appreciate your Kind and Expert Advise. Seeing that your Investment Tips are so similar to mine, I shall Communicate you by E-mail. Meanwhile Have a Happy New Year Cellebration!

Akanistic:
Thanks Dear Saliu Bello, I have Learnt a Lot from you. I have an Idea and would appreciate your Kind and Expert Advise. Seeing that your Investment Tips are so similar to mine, I shall Communicate you by E-mail. Meanwhile Have a Happy New Year Cellebration!

more to come in the new year

I have chinease potatoes seeds for sale... Call 08060115253

Let's think this together

Are you still undecided?

Why not be a processor instead??

Mrs Iranloye- Owner and Chief executive officer of Psaltry International Ltd, Alayinde in Iseyin was once a Chief Operating Officer of Ekha Agro- the first indigenous large scale cassava processor in Nigeria.

She is doing fantastically in her chosen agribusiness.


Locate yours too!