Farming input business venture, by Agbaji Chinedu
Today’s Agribusiness
Agriculture should be seen more as a business venture that has a lot of opportunities. Agriculture is widespread and many people might take to this sector with a modern business mind. We have to see how to invest and make more money in agriculture. Agriculture is not for poor people, not for uneducated people, it is for the new generation of educated people with interests in villages, and rural areas and in exploiting the full potential of the land resources, deploying new business techniques, to identify markets and produce things that have assured market.
Farming input shop makes it possible for availability, accessibility and affordability of agricultural inputs such as fertilizer, agro-chemicals, quality seeds, livestock feeds, veterinary drugs, tractor hire, primary processing and extension services. They are available for farmers to purchase both in rural areas and in cities. It is a growing business opportunity that the federal government and international agencies are interested in by establishing and commissioning of One-Stop-Shop Farming-inputs Centre to promote food security programs, Feed the Future Nigeria Agro-Inputs Project aimed to attain a private sector-led agricultural input market supporting farmers to access quality and affordable agricultural inputs. The project is funded by Feed the Future Initiative/USAID. Project partners include ECOWAS, FMARD, AGTHO, FEPSAN, Interproducts Link, Maslaha Seeds, MBS Fertilizers, NAIDA, NABG, Notore and The Stallion Group which is the major focus of the federal government in pursuance of the Agricultural transformation agenda of Mr President.
Profitablities of Farming Input Shop
It is a profitable business venture to venture because of the high demand for agro-input by farmers. Without farm input, there will be no output. This is a business one can start with a little capital base but it will turn out to be a big venture in a short while. This is because of the demand for high yield agro-inputs and services etc. Most agro-input company prefers middlemen (shops) to deal with rather than farmers who are the direct consumers of their products.
Opportunities
Agrochemical (or agrichemical), is a term for the various chemical products used in agriculture. In most cases, agrichemical refers to the broad range of pesticides, such as herbicides (weed killers), animal food additives, veterinary drugs, and related compounds, which have become absolutely integral to the production of large-scale agriculture. There are wild reneges of them one can deal on and make good retune on investment on.
Seed: Seeds are one of the least expensive but most important factors influencing yield potential. Crop seeds contain all the genetic information to determine yield potential, adaptation to environmental conditions, these days we have hybrid seeds that are resistant to insect pests and diseases such as maize, soya bean, cucumber seeds, Tomato seed, lettuce, cabbage seeds, onion seed, hot pepper seeds, okro seeds, ewedu seeds, efo seeds, watermelon seeds, pepper seeds etc. The good news is that you can grow any type of crop anywhere in Nigeria because of the level of improvement that seeds have undergone.
Seedlings: A seedling is a young plant sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with the germination of the seed. Some plants are better planted with hybrid high yield seedlings such as cashew seedlings, cocoa seedlings, coconut seedlings, oil palm seedlings (dwarf tenera), suckers like plantain and banana suckers that will start fruiting from 10 months, pineapple sucker (smooth cayenne) that will start producing from 18 months.
Fertilizer: Plant nutrients exist naturally in the soil, atmosphere, and in animal manure. However, naturally occurring nutrients are not always available in the quantities needed. So, we add to them by applying fertilizer, to make plants grow to their maximum potential. Fertilizers can be classified into two categories: organic and inorganic. Liquid and Powder. With the high cost of inorganic fertilizer now, people are formulating organic compost fertilizer with the use of animal dungs and neem, this is a very healthy fertilizer to use on the farm because it is cheap, available; it also controls insects, antifungal, antibacterial properties and nutritional rich such as:
Calcium (0.5% to 3.0%)
Copper (4 ppm to 20 ppm)
Iron (500 ppm to 1200 ppm)
Magnesium (0.3% to 1.0%)
Manganese (20 ppm to 60 ppm)
Nitrogen (2.0% to 5.0%)
Phosphorus (0.5% to 1.0%)
Potassium (1.0% to 2.0%)
Sulphur (0.2% to 3.0%)
Zinc (15 ppm to 60 ppm)
Equipment Hiring: Such as tractors, harvesters, spraying drone planters, and other agro related equipment. In today’s agro-business, equipment hiring has become a good business to venture into as many people cannot afford farming equipment but are going into large scale farming.
Farm Extension Services: Agricultural extension officers are intermediaries between research and farmers. They operate as facilitators and communicators, helping farmers in their decision-making and ensuring that appropriate knowledge is implemented to obtain the best results i.e., Agribusiness consultants. For example, on natural resources, animals, crops, how best to utilize the farmland, how to construct proper irrigation schemes, economic use and storage of water, how to combat animal disease, compost organic fertilizer formulation and save on the cost of farming equipment and procedures, marketing.
Animal Feeds and Additives: Animal feed is food given to domestic animals in the course of animal husbandry. There are two basic types, fodder and forage. And additives are used to promote and improve livestock.
Finally, we have to do things without government help; we have to organise our agricultural activity as a business activity for profitability and food security. With today’s reforms and information communication technology, we can do a whole lot in the agricultural business and make a profit. There is now the latest information; the latest agribusiness activities are available through business consultancy services.
Agbaji Chinedu can be reached via <learnder@gmail.com>
