Farming is the practice of growing crops and raising livestock for consumption and income generation.
It is, however, crucial to understand oneself when embarking on a farming journey. The most important attributes that will ensure successful farming are passion, patience, time, and doing all the basic things right amongst others. Moreover, the farming journey needs to have a direction, not heading anywhere, but somewhere to a desired state.
There are vital questions that one needs to ask and answer at the beginning to steer the farming business in a clear path and direction.
The first guiding question is, why do you want to farm? The purpose of farming is to produce food for consumption and income. This is practiced under different production scales, namely small- and large-scale.
Small-scale production is associated with low input costs and management, whereas large scale production is associated with higher inputs costs and management. Furthermore, small-scale production includes subsistence farmers whose priority is to produce for own consumption whereas large-scale production is undertaken for commercial purposes.
Therefore, it is very important and advisable that a beginner farmer starts small, learns, and grows with his/her farming business.
The second question is, what do you want to produce? Farming is a business like any other, and thus, the general business principles apply. One needs to identify a product or productsfor the establishment of a business.
For example, a livestock farmer may choose products such as, meat and dairy products, a chicken farmer on the other hand has the choice of producing eggs and meat, or a crop farmer may choose a variety of vegetables to produce (e.g., tomato, onion etc). Choosing a product is not driven by personal choice but by market demand and supply patterns.
The third question is, whom are you producing for? The availability market demand and supply factors will influence your product of choice. It is therefore important to conduct market research and test the market before embarking on mass production.
Determine the attributes that are driving demand (e.g., quality, quantity) and harmonize them with your production plan. To gain a satisfactory income and remain in business, your product should attract and satisfy the market consistently.
The fourth question is, what are your expectations? The expectation is for your product to be absorbed in the market and receiving your return-on-investment. As a business farmer, you must strive to make a profit even though it may not be realized instantly, but with time and growth within your business.
Lastly, is your farming a business? You must operate as a business because you have made investments to develop a product, and you are exchanging or participating in the market for an income.
In conclusion, as the saying goes, “at least once in your life you may need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, and a preacher, but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.”
To this end, agriculture is fundamental in sustaining livelihoods and now is the best time to engage in and make a living from agriculture
*Erastus Ngaruka is Technical Advisor: Livestock & Rangeland at Agribank
