Watch Out: How Business Directory for Africa Is Taking Over and What to Do About It

2023-05-26T09:49:54Z

B5wyxmw246: Нова страница: „Introduction Among other benefits, adopting the type of best practice scientific farm business management approach that we recommend on this site - called BOPMS(TM) - will equip owners to VERY competently handle the many RISKS and uncertainties that plague our socioeconomic environments in Nigeria/Africa, which can lead to the demise of ill-prepared businesses. This articles discusses specific pro-active steps you can take to minimise the impact of sudde...“

Introduction

Among other benefits, adopting the type of best practice scientific farm business management approach that we recommend on this site - called BOPMS(TM) - will equip owners to VERY competently handle the many RISKS and uncertainties that plague our socioeconomic environments in Nigeria/Africa, which can lead to the demise of ill-prepared businesses. This articles discusses specific pro-active steps you can take to minimise the impact of sudden and unexpected occurrences that frequently occur in our prevailing socioeconomic environment, so that your farm business can maintain reasonable consistency in output - and profitability.

Your Farm Is Prone To Risks & Uncertainties

A farm enterprise, like any other business is prone to risks and uncertainties occasioned by changes that may occur in the socio-economic environment it operates. Price fluctuations for example occur/affect all businesses but are more difficult to manage or accommodate in farm business planning and management.

Similarly, increases in wages "approved" via government policy/announcement cannot be easily absorbed in agricultural ventures. This is because the farmer will rarely - if ever - be able to increase his/her price to match the increase in labour so as to maintain his/her profit margin.

Some Examples Of Risks & Uncertainties That Can Affect A Farm Biz

1. Production Uncertainties: Weather changes and disease outbreaks can negatively impact on a farm's performance. The problem is that the farmer typically may not be able to directly [https://finderafrica.com/ Business Directory for Africa] control them. For instance a disease outbreak from another farm may eventually spread to his/her farm. If s/he has taken precautionary steps (e.g. vaccination etc) the damage can be minimised. Weather changes are less easy to plan for however.

2. Price Changes: Sudden or unexpected changes in farm input and output prices tend to occur often in our economy. And they are particularly difficult to manage. This make farm planning more difficult to practice. Examples are wage increases, transport fare hikes, fuel price changes etc.

3. Government Actions & Policies: The farmer may not get notified early enough of a new government regulation that directly affects his/her farm business BEFORE he enters and commences a new season's production run! Examples of such policies include guaranteed minimum prices, ban on import of certain essential inputs (e.g. feeds or feed materials) etc.

The farm owner will need to take crucial farm planning and management decisions within the framework of all these actions and policies by government - a very challenging task I dare say, especially in these parts!

4. Actions of Other People: Agriculture is practised by a growing proportion of Nigerians - even now in urban areas. Most of them however operate on small holdings - which are shared amongst a few. The challenge is that if a farmer diligently plans and manages various aspects of the farm and his/her neighbours do not, s/he would effectively be wasting his/her time.

5. Other Risks & Uncertainties: Water shortages, power failure, and other limitations especially caused by poor utilities/infrastructure as is common out here introduce another dimension of risks and uncertainties for the farm business owner to contend with.

The above listing though not exhaustive underscores the need for every farm business owner to take special care to set up SYSTEMS to deal effectively with risks and uncertainties if the farm's performance is to be profitable and sustainable.

Steps You Can Take To Deal With Risks & Uncertainties

1. Set definite objectives for your farm business. Decide what exactly you want the farm's output to be and identify any of the above mentioned "obstacles" that could prevent attainment of that goal.

2. Draw up plans to pursue the objectives. You could for instance decide to start with a hatchery and two grow out ponds and then gradually add more ponds over time till the full capacity of 10 grow out ponds is achieved. This will allow you to gradually build your material and human resources to manage the enterprise in the face of various risks and uncertainties.

3. Implement your plans. There is no point setting objectives and drawing up plans if you do not decisively IMPLEMENT and follow them up to achieve the intended results. A farm business owner needs to make up his/her mind to follow through with whatever plan is decided upon - making needed changes/adjustments as the need arises.

4. Introduce Checks & balances. In our environment, pilfering and deaths resulting from disease outbreaks or accidents occur with some regularity if no checks and balances are put in place. That's why you will need to entrench diligent record keeping of mortalities (deaths), wastes and losses that occur DAILY and analyse/trend those records to get a 'feel" for what is "normal",so that you can promptly detect unusual signs that could point to naughty practices by farm hands or even outsiders who break in.

5. Forecast likely price and output for the future. You will find it useful to periodically do "what if" analyses to determine how price or output changes you anticipate in the future will IMPACT your farm's performance. This activity is often enhanced when an automated forecasting software tool is available. Click here to learn how I can build a custom software to do something like this for you.

Summary

You as the farm business owner must ensure your mind is finely tuned to market trends. You need to stay alert to price changes in the market - know when they are lowest and when they are highest and use this knowledge to guide your farm planning and decision making. For instance it makes sense to plan for your broilers to be ready for sale towards a festive occasion when people usually buy such birds in large numbers, otherwise you may find yourself left with unsold stocks which keep getting fed - very expensively!

That's why it is said that the EDUCATED farmer is the one who knows the DIFFERENCE between January and July as it pertains to earning income.

There are a whole range of reasons why all South Africans should support proudly South African products but the main spin off of the Nedlac initiative is to create more jobs within our country's borders.

The vast majority of South Africans want to make a positive difference in our infant democracy and buying products or services emblazoned with the Proudly South African logo is one simple way of making our economic clout count.

To be part of the Proudly South African campaign, manufacturers and service providers have to follow strict criteria that include

o All goods and services having a minimum of 50% local content, including labour

o All member companies embracing fair labour and employment practices

o All member companies imbuing sound environmental standards

These criteria form the building blocks for responsible and sustainable business practices that can only lead to an improved life for all South Africans and will most certainly enhance South Africa's image abroad, particularly in the business sector.

It has been estimated that between five and twenty-two new jobs are created for each 1 million spent on locally produced products and when we take a quick look at unemployment statistics in SA and the impact it has on crime, then each and every one of us should make a concerted effort to buy Proudly South African.

The battle against unemployment

Whether the Proudly South African campaign had any impact on the latest unemployment statistics is unknown, although the positive newsflash is that unemployment levels sank to 23% in September 2007, a record low since the 2001 inception of the Labour Force Survey.

According to Statistics South Africa, a total of approximately 13.2 million people were employed, a net gain of over 430 000 jobs. The nation's unprecedented growth has been tagged as the driving force behind job creation - in the past six years South Africa's burgeoning economy has added over 2.1 million jobs and counting.

Crime busting

There is an indisputable link between unemployment, poverty and crime and if we are serious about making this dynamic and potentially great country one of the leaders in the global village, then these three disaster areas have to be curbed, and quickly.

South Africans have been held hostage by the electrifying crime wave that has engulfed the country for quite some time now and each and every one of us is aware of the damage it has caused to investor confidence. Quite simply, without substantial investment, South Africa is in danger of becoming just another average African state. The good news is that crime is on the decline, with a 6.4% drop overall.

In a nutshell then, the Proudly South African campaign is really a loyalty programme with the entire population of South Africa, all 48 million of us, as members. There is no doubt that if we continue to support South African goods and services, the lives of all South Africans will improve immeasurably.

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Watch Out: How Business Directory for Africa Is Taking Over and What to Do About It