Fellow Farmerpreneurs and aspiring farmerpreneurs, I guess I have finally gotten round to writing my nuggets on my agribusiness experiences which I hope will help aspiring young farmers to avoid the pitfalls I fell into while starting out. While I agree that there is a lot of money to be made on the business, there are a lot of mistakes that can be made as well.

In my little experience in advocacy to encourage young people to go into agric business....and leave the subsistence farming a lot of us are wont to do, I have heard many people give a myriad of reasons for wanting to do Agric .

I have received tons of emails and phone calls from young and middle aged Nigerians who received the "call" out of the blues to do agribusiness. Let me share some with you.
I want to do Agribusiness because my father of grandpa was a farmer. Whose father or grandpa wasn't ?
I want to do Agric business because others are doing it.....that's bandwagon calling
I want to do Agric because Govt said we should do it.....hmnnnn
I want to do Agric because I have passion for Agric....maybe borne out of failure in other ventures.....?
I have no job so I want to do agribusiness
I want to do Agric but i don't know which area to go into.... That's the beginning of movement without motion.
I could go on and on....some just want to to be counted among the numbers since Agribusiness seems to be the new fad....well some reasons are valid while some are just plain ludicrous.

Point of fact....agribusiness is not for the faint hearted....you must have a combination of strength, ruggedity, foresight,shock absorbers, sheer will, stubborn optimism and sometimes plain stupidity to succeed in the business.

One common denominator that most beginners fail to have in mind while taking the plunge into the business is THE MARKET.
THE MARKET can make or mar you in the business. It will determine how long and how well you will last in the business. It can throw you up and hit you hard on the ground before you say Obama. It determines what , when and how to produce and for whom to produce. It also determines the volume of investment that will make sense for you....THE MARKET is not a means to an end, it is the end itself. I dare say, marketing is 90% of the business while production accounts for 10% or less. There's no point producing when you don't know whom to sell to ...where to sell and when to sell to ensure optimum returns on your investment.

In my undergraduate days, I was taught to produce to meet a need or demand. Yes that's true, but in Agric there is always a need or demand to be met ....but how do you profitably do that? I guess that's why we are here.

So I tell people , before you produce, find a market, know your customers and the market. A lot of big time farmers still have issues dealing with market to sustain profitable operations. I don't claim to have the solutions but I try to also get along....its not been easy...but we'll keep learning....and i know one day we will get there. Many of the farmers will tell you that Agribusiness is good...profitable but will not disclose the challenges and pitfalls, I will try to tell you my own experience, no holds barred..my failures
..my successes...and the lessons learnt.

On my next write up I will share some real life experience with you. Please promise not to laugh at me . We learn every day.

If you have questions , please hit me up at corporatefarmer9ja@gmail.com or www.Facebook.com/FarmerPreneur

So if asked , why do you want to do Agric, what would be your response?


Sola
Chief Executive Farmer

This is a very impressive writeup, Sir.. I am a bit surprised that there's no flood of comments. I will really be privileged to learn from your experiences, so I will be patiently waiting your stories..

Great Job. I totally agree about the 90% farming is resident in marketing one's produce.

I will hit you up a mail, and hoping to learn from you.


Regards

@akanbi2k, nice flow of thought. I have always referred many to your farm 'cos your farm is a part of what l should have on ground if l were in Nigeria. Do update us with current pictures of the farm. Vegetables and spices tickles my heart!

Nice write up my mentor

I totally agree with the aspect of looking for your market before planting (as you explained to me).

I am almost through with theinstallation of the borehole and overhead tank. I have also been to the markets to identify where to sell my produce(i still have more trips to make).

I believe I am on the right part. We will meet at ihunbo.

God bless

Boss

We await the next writeup.

akanbi2k:
Fellow Farmerpreneurs and aspiring farmerpreneurs, I guess I have finally gotten round to writing my nuggets on my agribusiness experiences which I hope will help aspiring young farmers to avoid the pitfalls I fell into while starting out. While I agree that there is a lot of money to be made on the business, there are a lot of mistakes that can be made as well.

In my little experience in advocacy to encourage young people to go into agric business....and leave the subsistence farming a lot of us are wont to do, I have heard many people give a myriad of reasons for wanting to do Agric .

I have received tons of emails and phone calls from young and middle aged Nigerians who received the "call" out of the blues to do agribusiness. Let me share some with you.
I want to do Agribusiness because my father of grandpa was a farmer. Whose father or grandpa wasn't ?
I want to do Agric business because others are doing it.....that's bandwagon calling
I want to do Agric because Govt said we should do it.....hmnnnn
I want to do Agric because I have passion for Agric....maybe borne out of failure in other ventures.....?
I have no job so I want to do agribusiness
I want to do Agric but i don't know which area to go into.... That's the beginning of movement without motion.
I could go on and on....some just want to to be counted among the numbers since Agribusiness seems to be the new fad....well some reasons are valid while some are just plain ludicrous.

Point of fact....agribusiness is not for the faint hearted....you must have a combination of strength, ruggedity, foresight,shock absorbers, sheer will, stubborn optimism and sometimes plain stupidity to succeed in the business.

One common denominator that most beginners fail to have in mind while taking the plunge into the business is THE MARKET.
THE MARKET can make or mar you in the business. It will determine how long and how well you will last in the business. It can throw you up and hit you hard on the ground before you say Obama. It determines what , when and how to produce and for whom to produce. It also determines the volume of investment that will make sense for you....THE MARKET is not a means to an end, it is the end itself. I dare say, marketing is 90% of the business while production accounts for 10% or less. There's no point producing when you don't know whom to sell to ...where to sell and when to sell to ensure optimum returns on your investment.

In my undergraduate days, I was taught to produce to meet a need or demand. Yes that's true, but in Agric there is always a need or demand to be met ....but how do you profitably do that? I guess that's why we are here.

So I tell people , before you produce, find a market, know your customers and the market. A lot of big time farmers still have issues dealing with market to sustain profitable operations. I don't claim to have the solutions but I try to also get along....its not been easy...but we'll keep learning....and i know one day we will get there. Many of the farmers will tell you that Agribusiness is good...profitable but will not disclose the challenges and pitfalls, I will try to tell you my own experience, no holds barred..my failures
..my successes...and the lessons learnt.

On my next write up I will share some real life experience with you. Please promise not to laugh at me . We learn every day.

If you have questions , please hit me up at corporatefarmer9ja@gmail.com or www.Facebook.com/FarmerPreneur

So if asked , why do you want to do Agric, what would be your response?


Sola
Chief Executive Farmer

Patiently waiting sir.

I am following you keenly boss... You are making a lot of sense here...

Where are you sir? We are eagerly awaiting your update please.

Now that you identified your market...for whatever you have decided to cultivate ....in the case of crops....or rear ...in the case of animal husbandry....you need to find an area of strength....or rather comparative advantage . By this I mean advantage in terms of closeness to market, soil quality to support your crops, technicalities etc. You need to be able to grow what you think will be more cost effective for you in the long run. Remember you are in business for profit . Unless of course you plan to consume you crops .

I had this challenge while starting out too...i just wanted to grow everything....from vegetables....to herbs ....to cash crops....and then food crops...and flowers....but then I realized that I could not do everything . Even if I wanted to, the financial muscle is not there to carry out all these activities on a commercial scale . I had to do a bit of many things to know if it will work out eventually. I grew vegetables...tried out some things that I felt could only grow in Europe or some other temperate climates. I was shocked at my results. God has indeed blessed this country Nigeria. But then I had to backtrack , and concentrate on a number of items that I could grow without too much issues/stress. At a point I was only growing two items .

You can sell everything, but you cannot grow everything. That is the basis of my discussion with two of my female acquaintances who are just stepping into the sometimes murky, treacherous and at times late rewarding waters of agriculture. Two very brilliant minds , they had good heads on their shoulders , very smart ideas ....but we had to agree that you can sell anything and everything but you can't grow everything.

The general idea is that people who intend to practice at both ends of the business, I.e production and marketing...you may not be able to satisfy your customers with all they need . Therefore, identify your strength, work at it and be the best for it. What you can't grow, you buy from other farmers or the market and make your clients happy .

The idea of doing few items is that as a new entrant in the business you will have the unique opportunity to learn the business and become a master of one and not jack of all trades . You can easily monitor your crops and give them needed attention and from there you can slowly expand . This is another mistake a lot of newbies make. They want to start big...say cultivate 10ha of a crop at the same time . NO. There is an adage that says you don't test the depth of a river with two legs. Once you put the first leg and its going too deep, you quickly backtrack to avoid stories that touch. Agriculture is not a get rich quick venture. Even the masters make mistakes too.

Don't get me wrong . It is a good idea to have ambition, but you can cut your coat according to your cloth. But you will need to be methodical in your approach and flow with the rhythm of the seasons and the market .

On my next snippet, I will continue with " Get and flow with the rhythm ".

Thanks everybody for the Likes and please do recommend this page to your friends .


Ciao

SA
Chief Executive Farmer

Pavore9:
@akanbi2k, nice flow of thought. I have always referred many to your farm 'cos your farm is a part of what l should have on ground if l were in Nigeria. Do update us with current pictures of the farm. Vegetables and spices tickles my heart!

Now that you identified your market...for whatever you have decided to cultivate ....in the case of crops....or rear ...in the case of animal husbandry....you need to find an area of strength....or rather comparative advantage . By this I mean advantage in terms of closeness to market, soil quality to support your crops, technicalities etc. You need to be able to grow what you think will be more cost effective for you in the long run. Remember you are in business for profit . Unless of course you plan to consume you crops .

I had this challenge while starting out too...i just wanted to grow everything....from vegetables....to herbs ....to cash crops....and then food crops...and flowers....but then I realized that I could not do everything . Even if I wanted to, the financial muscle is not there to carry out all these activities on a commercial scale . I had to do a bit of many things to know if it will work out eventually. I grew vegetables...tried out some things that I felt could only grow in Europe or some other temperate climates. I was shocked at my results. God has indeed blessed this country Nigeria. But then I had to backtrack , and concentrate on a number of items that I could grow without too much issues/stress. At a point I was only growing two items .

You can sell everything, but you cannot grow everything. That is the basis of my discussion with two of my female acquaintances who are just stepping into the sometimes murky, treacherous and at times late rewarding waters of agriculture. Two very brilliant minds , they had good heads on their shoulders , very smart ideas ....but we had to agree that you can sell anything and everything but you can't grow everything.

The general idea is that people who intend to practice at both ends of the business, I.e production and marketing...you may not be able to satisfy your customers with all they need . Therefore, identify your strength, work at it and be the best for it. What you can't grow, you buy from other farmers or the market and make your clients happy .

The idea of doing few items is that as a new entrant in the business you will have the unique opportunity to learn the business and become a master of one and not jack of all trades . You can easily monitor your crops and give them needed attention and from there you can slowly expand . This is another mistake a lot of newbies make. They want to start big...say cultivate 10ha of a crop at the same time . NO. There is an adage that says you don't test the depth of a river with two legs. Once you put the first leg and its going too deep, you quickly backtrack to avoid stories that touch. Agriculture is not a get rich quick venture. Even the masters make mistakes too.

Don't get me wrong . It is a good idea to have ambition, but you can cut your coat according to your cloth. But you will need to be methodical in your approach and flow with the rhythm of the seasons and the market .

On my next snippet, I will continue with " Get and flow with the rhythm ".

Thanks everybody for the Likes and please do recommend this page to your friends .


Ciao

SA
Chief Executive Farmer

ookunlola:
Patiently waiting sir.

Now that you identified your market...for whatever you have decided to cultivate ....in the case of crops....or rear ...in the case of animal husbandry....you need to find an area of strength....or rather comparative advantage . By this I mean advantage in terms of closeness to market, soil quality to support your crops, technicalities etc. You need to be able to grow what you think will be more cost effective for you in the long run. Remember you are in business for profit . Unless of course you plan to consume you crops .

I had this challenge while starting out too...i just wanted to grow everything....from vegetables....to herbs ....to cash crops....and then food crops...and flowers....but then I realized that I could not do everything . Even if I wanted to, the financial muscle is not there to carry out all these activities on a commercial scale . I had to do a bit of many things to know if it will work out eventually. I grew vegetables...tried out some things that I felt could only grow in Europe or some other temperate climates. I was shocked at my results. God has indeed blessed this country Nigeria. But then I had to backtrack , and concentrate on a number of items that I could grow without too much issues/stress. At a point I was only growing two items .

You can sell everything, but you cannot grow everything. That is the basis of my discussion with two of my female acquaintances who are just stepping into the sometimes murky, treacherous and at times late rewarding waters of agriculture. Two very brilliant minds , they had good heads on their shoulders , very smart ideas ....but we had to agree that you can sell anything and everything but you can't grow everything.

The general idea is that people who intend to practice at both ends of the business, I.e production and marketing...you may not be able to satisfy your customers with all they need . Therefore, identify your strength, work at it and be the best for it. What you can't grow, you buy from other farmers or the market and make your clients happy .

The idea of doing few items is that as a new entrant in the business you will have the unique opportunity to learn the business and become a master of one and not jack of all trades . You can easily monitor your crops and give them needed attention and from there you can slowly expand . This is another mistake a lot of newbies make. They want to start big...say cultivate 10ha of a crop at the same time . NO. There is an adage that says you don't test the depth of a river with two legs. Once you put the first leg and its going too deep, you quickly backtrack to avoid stories that touch. Agriculture is not a get rich quick venture. Even the masters make mistakes too.

Don't get me wrong . It is a good idea to have ambition, but you can cut your coat according to your cloth. But you will need to be methodical in your approach and flow with the rhythm of the seasons and the market .

On my next snippet, I will continue with " Get and flow with the rhythm ".

Thanks everybody for the Likes and please do recommend this page to your friends .


Ciao

SA
Chief Executive Farmer

My 2 kobo is that anyone that wants to start Agribusiness should not do it without adequate knowledge.Anybody interested in starting cat fish farming in Nigeria can check the link below
http://ahiabenjamin.com.ng/catfish-farming-in-nigeria/

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