Before you say I do…… to Farming

 New Year 2014 greetings

It is mid-January and the hullabaloo of New Year greetings has died down. So has the depression of unmet New Year resolutions. The beauty of resolutions in my view, is that out of ten resolutions an average person will follow through with two or three. If you are disciplined enough you will be lucky to succeed in four or five. Nonetheless, I see resolution making as more of a ritual to uplift yourself and drive you to new limits. Making resolutions makes you prioritize on your goals. It gives you a sense of direction and that is what is important. Well, that is my long and winding way of saying Happy 2014, with the obvious omission of New Year. And perhaps telling you that it is okay to make resolutions on January 1^st and break plenty of them by January 10^th.

Sweet tales of agribusiness

Back to agribusiness, the focus of this blog, there are several young people getting lured into agriculture as a source of stable income. A substantial number of graduates are now finding agribusiness to be an exciting career choice. Agribusiness is currently a hot venture, no dispute.  Bloggers, myself included, have taken to the internet to make agriculture sound even sexier. The truth is that agribusiness has an attractive bottom line that is hard to resist.

To prove this, try sit with young people who are already making a killing from agriculture. Their gusto for the trade will make you want to quit your job and get your hands dirty too. These digital farmers will give you the figures they make and you will want to pack your bags and head back to the village to farm. However, you will make sure you have access to the internet so that you can keep up with the latest research and trends.

This happened to me last year as I interviewed at least 10 young farmers and attended a few conferences. I so badly wanted to forfeit my career and become a farmer. I could not resist the sweet tales and tidy returns that were coming from Mother Nature. I mean, how hard would it be to pick up a jembe to make three hundred thousand a month?

Luckily, I didn’t have the required money to invest and that held me back. I was so determined that without land nor prior experience I was ready to get started. I say I was lucky because I was not prepared for the dirty side of agriculture. I only had three months experience of writing and colouring other people’s success in agribusiness. That does not in any way make me an agribusiness pundit.

This situation got me thinking that perhaps before investing your hard earned cash in agribusiness, you should take a breather and ask yourself whether you are cut out for agriculture. Talk to someone who is in agribusiness. Ask them how they got there. Find out what time they get up and what time they get to sleep. Find out how many times they got disappointed by a failing crop or dying animals before hitting the jack pot. Find out what keeps them going despite their produce being a glut on the market, or a drug on the market.

10 things to consider

Here are ten things that you need to think about before ditching that job to get into agribusiness:

1.       Passion for agriculture

Before entertaining the thought of diving into agriculture, ask yourself if you have any interest whatsoever in agriculture? The returns might sound enticing but are you the kind of person who likes plants or animals and taking care of them? Have you previously done anything to do with agriculture? Do you even have a kitchen garden? If you hate the thought of dirt on your hands, then agribusiness is not for you.

2.       Identify your area of interest

After assuring yourself that indeed agriculture is one of your passions, then start analyzing what area to focus on. You cannot excel in agribusiness if you are a jack of all trades. Pick one area and focus on it. If chicken farming is your thing then pursue it entirely.

3.       Do your research

After clearly defining your area of interest, get information about it. You will require technical knowledge about that crop or livestock you have narrowed down to. You need to know the best practice(s) that will yield best results. Identify the opportunities available in your chosen field. Find out how you can strategically add value to what exists to gain an advantage over your competitors.

4.       Planning

Getting into agribusiness without a business plan is like shooting your foot and later wondering why you cannot walk. Have a clear business plan and assess the risks of your business. Agribusiness has money making in it. You therefore have to treat it like any other business. Dry run planning will reduce the possibility of your venture failing.

In addition, consider all the requirements necessary to start off your business. Do you have land? If you don’t, how do you intend to acquire one? How much will it cost? How far is the land from your nearest selling point? What will be your means of transport and how much does it cost?

5.       Start with the end in mind

Market is the end in business. The primary goal of getting into agribusiness is to make profit. Before you get into any form of agribusiness, find out if there is a market for your product and seek a thorough understanding of that market. This saves you the hassle of having a product and no market for it in the long run.

6.       Have some savings

To set up a business you need money. To get into agribusiness will also require you to invest generously before you start reaping anything. My advice is that you stay clear of loans if you can and invest your savings instead. Agribusiness is risky for a starter. You are safer investing your savings than investing money that you do not have, a.k.a loans.

7.       Do not invest all your life savings

Since you are taking a risk by investing in agribusiness, you should have some money put aside in case things do not work out as planned.

8.       Network

Get to know people. Make friends in the agribusiness sector both online and offline; this way you will have people to share your experience with and to learn from. Join farmer groups on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. Contribute to agricultural discussions online. 

Most importantly, cultivate healthy relationships with your suppliers and customers.

9.       Commitment

Agribusiness is just like any other business; it has its fair share of risks. In fact, I would rate it as a high risk business. You need a neat mix of tough skin and passion to survive. Numerous challenges will come your way and you have to be committed to the venture to get back on your feet every so often. Your entire crop might dry up due to a strange disease and there will be little that you can do. Your commitment to that business will drive you to continue despite such painful disappointments.

10.   Have options

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity. This is one of my favourite aphorisms because it’s true! If after three years you realize that you have not made any profit in your agribusiness venture, then perhaps it’s time to pitch tent elsewhere. Keep an open mind and be ready to exit when the time comes.

Happy 2014 people! I wish you the best in your agribusiness venture.

Former Cashier Cashing in on Chicken

After completing her training as an accountant, Esther Mwangi landed a job as a cashier in a firm in Westlands. Like any other fresh graduate, she was proud to have landed a job right in the heart of the city. A few months on her job, Esther had too many needs and her meager salary seemed to shrink every month. With a salary of Kshs. 15,000 and commuting to Westlands from Githurai every morning, she could not make her ends meet. She had rent to pay, she had to feed, clothe and save for the future.

Esther Mwangi, a poultry farmer based at Membley Estate, along Thika Road

“Life was unrewarding to my long hours counting money for my employer every day. I lived hand to mouth waiting on my peanut earnings to get through four excruciating weeks before the next pay day” Esther recalls.

She had to boost her income to survive. She tried her hand at buying chicken from farmers in Kikuyu, Uthiru and Mwiki (Kasarani area) and selling them to start up restaurants along Thika Road. She would buy the chicken on her way from work and deliver them early in the morning before going to work the next day. She would a make a profit of Kshs. 30 for each chicken she sold. Simple economies of scale quickly translated into profit for the young mother of two. 

Selling chicken to boost income

Esther would buy 100 chickens from farmers and make Kshs. 3,000 upon delivering them to restaurants. Two orders a week would make Esther Kshs. 4,000 richer after deducting her transport expenses. In a month, Esther would make more than her salary from selling chicken. It soon made more sense to quit her job and concentrate on buying and selling chicken to the ever growing market.

Getting into chicken farming

Three months into her new business, Esther realized she had too many orders and the farmers she was buying from would not meet the demand. As an entrepreneur she saw an opportunity and grabbed it. She started rearing broiler chicken.

 “This is the wisest decision I ever made,” says Esther. Since 2009, the former cashier has been rearing broiler chicken and supplying it to restaurants along Thika road such as Comfy Inn, Upways restaurant, Eagles Restaurant and Lily restaurant.

Every three weeks Esther has 380 chicken to supply and 500 hundred others that she is rearing. Broiler chicken is only reared for meat and has a fast maturity rate of 6 weeks. Esther always has two groups of these domestic fowls with a three weeks age difference. After selling each bunch she quickly replaces it with one day old chicks and the cycle begins again.

Esther, 34 years old, makes a clean profit of Kshs. 91,450 from her business every six weeks. She has employed two people to help her run her business. She confesses that she can never get back to formal employment even for a higher pay than her the income she gets from her business.

Esther supplies 380 chicken every three weeks

“Chicken farming is simple logic,” she says. “You feed the birds in the morning, then feed them again at around 11 am and feed them one last time in the evening. So long as they are healthy and in a clean environment, you will always smile to bank.” Esther says the simple approach to her business frees up her time to look for new markets, attend chamas and bring up her children.

Entrepreneurship is not for the slothful

Esther advises young people who are wish to get into poultry farming to be hardworking (she wakes up at 5.00 a.m to feed her chicken), aggressive at searching for markets and have a clear goal. Esther is working towards opening a distribution center at Githurai where she can sell her chicken on retail in addition to her existing business. Another key pointer for success in the supplying business is to keep old contacts and treat customers with dignity. Each customer is the key to your next customer. 

As you enjoy chicken on your extended Mashujaa holiday challenge yourself to start an income generating business especially in the agricultural value chain. There is little to lose when you try.

The Infamous Green Gold

Agriculture is a term that is often frowned upon by Generation Y, the generation born in the late 1970s to the mid 1990s. I can confidently assert this because I am a yuppie, the casual term used to refer to this generation. Agriculture is a field that a good percentage of us think that it should be left for old folks and mates who were not talented enough academically.

Right from my university days some of my peers felt doomed after their college admissions came with agriculture related courses. They felt less hip compared to their friends who were admitted for Engineering (any other engineering course and not agricultural engineering), Computer Science, Actuarial Science, Law and all those highbrow courses. The agriculture students often lamented of a future so bleak save for the few who were passionately pursuing such courses.

 I studied communication and I was a peddler of this stigma associated with agriculture. Agricultural journalism was a no go zone for my dreams. I knew that upon graduation I would hit up one of the national television screens with a microphone at hand and an uptown accent to match it, reporting business news or politics, the main stay of our prime time news. Agriculture sounded one of those things that should be left to village folks. That was then. Some three years ago.

As fate would have it I now work at the department of extension in one research institution in the country. Well, I have to deal with agriculture whether by choice or by duty. I can now proudly confess my new found love to be agriculture. This turn around happened after I was frequently exposed to different sectors of the agricultural value chain. Agriculture is green gold for some young people, so I have learnt. I am yet to start farming but I am passionate about telling stories about successful young people who play a part in the agricultural value chain: farming, production and marketing.

Simply because I had a change of heart about agriculture does not mean all my buddies perceive it the same way. I have often floated ideas of venturing into agriculture to members of my chama and these ideas are politely swept under the carpet. I often get responses such as, “You mean with two degrees and a third one in the piping you expect me to do farming?”

At such times I find myself tongue tied because I have never found an appropriate answer to give these elite but severely financial unstable Gen Yians. In an effort to justify my ‘bizarre’ fascination with agriculture I have embarked on a journey to document stories of young people who have successfully shuttered the myth of farming as an old/poor man’s profession. There are dozens of success stories about young people pursuing satisfying careers in the field of agriculture. This blog is dedicated to documenting those stories.

Please share your success story on this site or you can email youngagrochampions@gmail.com