The economy stinks right now. The unemployment rate in Kenya is very high especially for the youth. If you are one of them, should you start your own business? What kind of business would you start? If you are on this page then it seems you have made your mind on getting into farming.
From all the newspaper and TV features farming has been highlighted as one of the ways youth in Kenya can generate an honest income for themselves. Farming is profitable and can offer good returns over a short period of time especially with short-term crops like onions, watermelons, capsicums etc. However farming is not that easy as it seems. It needs preparation and skills before you invest. Below are a 5 tips to help you make a good decision for your agribusiness investment in Kenya.
1. RESEARCH, RESEARCH, AND MORE RESEARCH.
Before you jump off the deep end, make sure you know how deep it is. Farming requires extensive research. Do not follow the hype, sit down and carefully look at the facts before starting your agribusiness venture.
2. FINANCES
Better have some up-to-date financial statements. A budget and net worth statement will help you get a good idea of where you are starting from.
3. KEEP RECORDS
Make record-keeping a habit. You’ll need them for savings, taxes and other financial decisions. Most people tend to overlook this part claiming that they are not earning enough money to do record keeping. This is a bad mentality. As a farmer record keeping is very important from growing period to finances, make sure you have everything on paper.
4. FIND NECESSARY RESOURCES
Financing? Employees? Equipment? Training? Suppliers? Where are you going to get the necessary resources?
5. WRITE DOWN WHY YOU DECIDED TO BECOME A FARMER BEFORE YOU START
This the investment policy statement that you should refer back to when times are tough. Writing down why you are doing what you are doing will help you get through the hard times and help you stay focused during the good times.
Comments (4)
I appreciate your informative articles in this blog about farming. Whereas your articles have been quite resourceful in guiding farmers on best practices to produce high quality yields, you have not done much to address the issue of markets which is equally essential in agribusiness. From personal experience, poor prices at the market are the major put off for many upcoming farmers. Farmers are making losses or very minimal returns on investments and as such agribusiness is not attractive to the young generation.It would be orudent therefore to look in detail the issue of markets as production is really not as difficult as securing profitable markets.
Thank you
lovely
Quite informative. Getting a mentor is also an important tip.