Focusing on agriculture investment should be the top priority for every nation these days. Almost everything we consume comes from agriculture, so if a country's situation goes south, turning to ag investment can be a lifesaver.
In places where seed multiplication centers and similar initiatives are still active, agricultural investment seems to be thriving. It helps tackle stress, poverty, and fosters economic growth in communities.
By the end of this discussion, I bet someone will be inspired to jump into agricultural investments. Countries and local areas that prioritize agriculture tend to be much happier and healthier since hunger and starvation rates drop significantly.
Here are some agricultural investment areas to consider:
1. Pig farming
2. Goat farming
3. Poultry
4. Fish farming
5. Snail farming
6. Mushroom farming
When a country has strong agricultural practices, especially in local areas, you often see a decline in crime, hunger, and poverty. This not only boosts the economy but also enhances productivity. If you need more advice on how to get started, feel free to reach out!
All our food and all that we drink on a daily basis all goes back to the soil. Investing in Agriculture is not only about food security but also a unification of a backbone of a nation. I believe that most nations overlook this area yet in those nations where the agricultural sector is robust, the poverty levels are lower, citizens are usually employed and they have a positive mindset towards their future. Even crime and drug addiction is limited since people then concentrate on bettering their real lives.
I think that investing in agriculture is not only a good choice to make as a country but also the path of securing its future in the long term. When the people and the government put the emphasis together, the economy of the country can get a different face.
Agriculture is more than what you listed in the Oap because we have various produce from agriculture. Forestry is one of them for the production of wood that we use in construction of bridges and houses. Agriculture provides man with the basic needs of life which is food, clothing and shelter.
Any government that fails to take agriculture serious will suffer from economy downturn. It's also good that we the citizens go into agriculture in order to limit excessive spending on food items. If you have a little space at your backyard, you can plant vegetables, pepper, okro plantain. You can also go into poultry too.
It is not as easy as that. There are a lot of factors to consider before going into agriculture. If it is large scale (commercial) farming, then it is capital-intensive, which reduces the number of people who can get into it. Many people talk about agriculture in the same way they talk about real estate, they say "it is profitable and one should get into it", forgetting how many people can actually afford to do that.
That said, based on where you live, you can grow few of the things you eat (subsistence farming), which only requires human labor and is cost effective. But what you produce is small and has little to no impact on the economy.
This has always been my thoughts, especially for the African countries they should invest back to the agricultural sectors and we sure knows what it means to do so. If it isn't done earlier in the future there would be much regrets later to any government of a country that failed to invest in agriculture. This particular sector is versatile cutting across different categories and imagine having invested in such, do you know how what whooping profits the country would achieve and in turn it'll reduce unemployment cause numerous individuals would be employed to carry on the task.
Everyone wants their country to be successful in their agriculture but no individual wants to be a farmer and get their hands dirty, all they look for is white collar jobs?
Is it helping the economy is secondary, the primary question is that it can be profitable for the one who does it? Because the primary reason for someone to farm is to make life from the yields and if they are in situation that their farming is just end up in loss after loss they simply got no motivation to do it which is why we always see government is kind of providing help to agriculture sector, if it fails it not just bad for the economy it can bring difference in the existing food supply chain that can often get much worse.
Food sufficiency is key to economic growth, since everything revolve around the hunger we qesh on daily, our bills and all the Money run back to that food needs, so if African can get this right with Agricultural development, expansion and growth, in no time from now, the African continent will at least have one freedom to back home with which is in food productions instead of relying on importation we become producers of our basic food commodity.
On practice it's harsh to invest in agriculture and livestock, because profit margin is low, due to the costs of the supplements and machinery, like fertilizers, rations, seeds, potions, tractors, trucks, greenhouses and so on... After all, a lot of money is invested, without any assurance profit is going be made (in many cases, the small farmer is able to only achieve a draw between expenses and return from sales).
Therefore, the big farmers and land lords have the advantage on this matter, because they have access to credit lines with the government which isn't available for the other famers. Moreover, the government gives subsidies to those land lords, so they are in profit, anyway.
Another difficult faced by farmers is the lack of labor force on the countryside nowadays. People don't want to work anymore, and as said previously, to turn the production into automatic mode is just too expensive and unfeasible for most farmers and entrepreneurs.
I definitely agree with you that Africans with fertile soil or land for farming or other agricultural uses are definitely not utilizing it well because if they should be it would have generated more revenue for the nation and also help curb away the job scarcity problem. But sadly the Africans have taken the life of the west and things like white collar jobs are all what they seek. In my opinion it is even the government that has not made the work at least enticing for the youths with mechanized tools to aid the farming.
Agriculture is one of the sector which is product will be needed by others, to me if Africans can take agriculture as their own oil then it will be great for their economy and they could be far having a better economy than they do now
I agree with you Agriculture investment in Nigeria is a big deal for our economy, it is too because this is the sector which is supposed to be driving the economy of the country at this pivotal time. It is even our carelessness which the government of the day do not take the welfare and well being of his people serious is what is causing us the hardships today. I think why these politicians care less about these things is because they are already living large with government money considering the economy being micromanage to favour only a small potion of the people who are themselves then leaving me and you in the condition which we find ourselves today. I need this message to get to our politicians if possible. I need them to know or to remind them of what they know already about the future of this country which is largely based on this agriculture sector, I want them to know, all these opportunities we have made available to them to help us harness our great mineral and natural resources and they are using it for granted because they feel they have gotten opportunity to gather public funds for their private pockets, when all these things bounce back, we cannot survive the heat including them because the economy of the country which is supposed to be built on the different resources we have but only focused on oil can collapse one day and once it does, we cannot switch hands then because the precedence was not set when they had the opportunity to do so.
Agriculture industry is the future now that the age of real estate dominates the world. Here in PH, Agricultural lands is now being converted to housing projects since many Filipino always becomes a victim that housing is a good investment while the market for housing here is already saturated.
Agricultural sector rarely received support from the government and main problem is the logistics of the goods to distribute to the market.
Theres a lot of challenges for agricultural sector nowadays but I still believe on this sector that should be boost.
There's a famous saying that you can't go wrong with areas that were and always will be something that we can't do without. For instance knowing how to do basic technical jobs like electrical or plumbing. You will never be poor as long as you're willing to work in these areas. Food is of course one of them because it's something we all need and will need, no matter how much AI and mechanization we have in our lives.
The best is organic food because people are waking up that eating meat that's filled with drugs is going to kill you and what do we have to save for if not health. It's better to eat healthy than spend money on medicine later.
Not as if correcting you. @po you said "Agriculture investment should be number one priority of every country today because no country do without agricultural products"
But I say no country can do without agricultural products. whether you do it yourself or you get it from others as a matter of must (from other nations of the world).
You need need energy to live and agricultural products or what humans eat supplies this energy.
I've always feel that the idea of self dependency, should be the goal of all countries. Even if it's not 100%, but being dependent to some extent is very important. Focusing and channeling all attention on security, weapons and wars, won't feed a nation. What feeds a nation is productivity, and that's exactly what majority of the countries, especially those third world countries lacks today. Whether we all like it or not, Agriculture is a very essential industry/sector in every country. A country whose agricultural sector isn't doing great is definitely at risk, especially when it comes to the cost of some of these agricultural produce.
We don't have to talk the government into these things because they already know what's best. They most prefer not to do them for their own selfish reasons.
I live in a region where agribusiness is very strong and very present, and I also lived in a region where agribusiness wasn't present... and it's really visible how much agriculture brings prosperity to a region. Today, where I live, everything is prosperous and the place breathes agriculture, local commerce is very active, and everyone manages to have countless opportunities in all branches of activity, unlike that other place where I lived, where it was always more complicated to prosper.
Going in to farming may look so simple to you but there are more to it than you think. First of all we have two types of farming which are subsistence and commercial agriculture or farming which talks about small and large scale. In this small scale, a farmer should be able to start with the little amount they can but in large scale it involves alot of money. Even in both of them there are many factors to consider.
1. space: you need space which is land to do such business to make profit
2. Location: you need location or environment that will be conducive to start that business
3. Capital: you need Capital to maintain the business for as long as it will last.
4. Skill and orientation: you need a proper training and orientation before starting if not you may lose a lot of money because livestock is vise versa, which means it may turn against you.
Obviously, no man is an island and we depend on each other for goods and services we can't produce ourselves. While every nation would seek to feed itself without external help or aid, it's important to note that we need each other for what we can't produce or manufacture.
Investments into agriculture can be of help to the local economy and like any other investment, it takes lots of capital, time and effort regularly being put into it to make it work.
Small scale farming could help as you could grow crops to feed yourself and also sell some to make some money to buy other things that wpuld be needed. Not forgetting that there are some certain crops that thrive and also fail in certain environments.
Farmers have always been important and they seemingly would remain so.
I wish there is a political leader on this forum to probably read this, I will personally like if that political leader was my president because then I know it will just be a reminder to him of what he already knows just as it will to other political leaders whose problem is just corruption. They know what to do but are failing in that action. Some of these countries that should be prioritizing agriculture are no longer focused there, and are turning more to the importation of industry food product leaving the agricutural own they have behind them. That is why you can see them buying any product well marketed with the word "ease" as keyword on the promotion, for example, they now sell onions that is already sliced and packed when we can still see the onion bulb to buy in the market, the big job now is slicing it, and instead of that much work, buy the already sliced and preserved industry onions packed, and you choose that. Or veggies for fried rice now have the one packed for you that you can easily see in any top super market when you can still buy the fresh veggies from the side of your house, but people still buy those already industry sliced and mixed preserved veggies packed. It is somehow when you think how far we are going.
The list of livestock choices makes me think that you are considering this in reverse. Agriculture investment isn't failing because countries don't prioritise it. This is because smallholder farming cannot compete with industrial scale operations in terms of price. I was raised around individuals who experimented with just what you are describing. Most of them failed not due to absence of effort but to a combination of input prices, veterinary costs and market price volatility destroying margins
What actually works? Vertical integration or cooperative models to pool risk and resources. Individual "piggery investments" sound accessible until you calculate feed costs against market prices and realize you're working for below minimum wage. Interesting is the MDG reference. Do you live in an area where there is institutional support? That makes everything different. In the absence of access to credit, technical training and guaranteed purchase arrangements, asking people to begin to invest in agriculture is only asking them to roll dice with their capital on commodities they cannot even price. I would want to know what kind of infrastructure is in place before I would recommend anyone DM you to guide them on this
Agricultural practices not only brings prosperity but it also feeds the nation better. I am sure that the other part where you lived having no agricultural exposure will be selling all kinds of preservative foods to the citizens. Which might taste better but will compromise on health. Agricultural exposure from our nation will also mean that we can get fresh food anytime we want which will be rich in nutrients and will make us live longer as compared to the preservatives.
I feel this is one of the most important part. I would personally prefer going to farmer's market to get some fresh vegetables without any pesticides or chemicals instead of going to a mall to buy vegetables which are exposed to some preservatives to keep them fresh longer.