.THIS IS THE BEST TIME TO INVEST IN AGRICULTURE.

There is no better time to start your agric business than now.
The removal of the fuel subsidy is an indicator to the fact that we must look in the direction of agriculture. For the past days we have been staying at home eating!. That is to tell you that food or foodstuff is a commodity that will always sell. Here aresome tips on how to start your agric business this year.
1.Set Goals- What are your goals for your farm? What kind of farm are you planning? It might be a hobby farm, where your farm is a supplement to a full-time job, something relaxing you can do for fun inthe evenings and on the weekends. It could be that you want your farm to actually make money(a commercial farm), eventually replacing your current job. Or, your goal might be to produce all the food that you and your family need - homesteading or self-sufficiency. Your goal will determine the size of land, location and amount of money needed to start.
2. Identify and list what youwant to raise or grow: your decision on what you want to grow or raise depends on the purpose of the farm project either for business (profit) or for family consumption. A commercial farmer might be interested in setting up a plantation- oilpalm, cocoa, jatropha, moringa, cashew or pineapple plantation.
3. Draw a time table of when you want to start. Some crops have different growing periods. Animals can be raised anytime of the year .
4. Information Gathering : no knowledge is wasted, getall the necessary informationon what you want to raise. Without proper information on what you want to do, you might make some expensivemistakes that should have been avoided. You can get more informed by attending workshops, seminars, reading books on your proposed projects, asking questions from people already in the business or hiring a consultant.
5 Prepare a feasibility report/Business plan : this gives you a summary of what you want to do. This you can do for yourself or pay someone to do it for you.. The feasibility study provides an investigating function that should answer the question of "Is this a viable business venture?" The business plan provides a planning function that outlines the actions needed to take the proposal from "idea" to "reality." The feasibility study is conductedbefore the business plan. A business plan is prepared only after the business venture has been deemed tobe feasible.A business plan iscompulsory for a large scale investor especially if you need a loan from your bank.
6. Acquire land or lease.- thisapplies to people who don't have land. If you already have land you can begin to clear the land.
7. Name your Farm : Registering your business is essential. Register the name of your farm and more importantly, the name of your agricultural business. A farm that is not registered with CAC cannot access loan from any bank in Nigeria.
8. Raising Capital : Personally, I advise against borrowing by a new comer into agric business. But if youthink you must, these are ways to raise capitals either from formal or informal institutions : Informal institutions :
*Loan from spouse.
*Loan from relatives/Friends.
*Equity participation.
*Partnership
*Loan from Foundations, NGOS, Church, etc
Formal institutions :
*Cooperatives
*Micro- finance banks.
*Commercial banks.
9. Don't quit your job: if you have a job that brings you a regular income, by all means hang on to it until your farm enterprise begins to yield enough for you to take salaryout of the profits. If you are close to retirement, I strongly advise that you start you agric project while you are re still working, don'twait until you retire.
10. Get the support of your spouse , other family members or good friends: 'Support' might be what you need to reduce initial expenses. Let the people close to you understand what you are trying to do, they may find it very exciting. Sometimes, whole families pitch in and work together and share in the success of a venture
11. Get your initial stocks and start! . Some Areas of investment :
Plantation Agriculture : Teak,oil palm, cocoa, rice, millet, moringa,
jatropha, pineapple, cashew, groundnut, orchards,African mango, etc
Animals : grass cutter, goat, cow, sheep, rabbits, snails, dog breeding,Quail, etc
Some Areas of investment :
Food crops - cassava. yam. cocoyam, sweet potatoes, corn, millet, soya beans, groundnuts, etc
Horticulture : vegetables, herbs, fruits, flowers, dry season vegetable production, etc
Plantation Agriculture : Teak,oil palm, cocoa, rice, millet, moringa,
jatropha, pineapple, cashew, groundnut, orchards,etc
Livestock : poultry, hatchery business, selling of 6weeks old birds, quails, turkeys, guinea fowl, etc
Agro -allied/equipment - inputs, agricultural equipment -tractor, sprinklers, fertilizer, chemicals, etc.
Food processing/cottage agric businesses : foodstuff processing and packaging(gaari, yam flour, starch, beans, pepper, rice,etc), catfish smoking business, frozen food-chicken, snails, grasscutter, quail meat, prawns , palm oil milling business, moringa powder and oil production,cashew nuts processing and packaging, feed formulation for catfish,poultry, quails, dogs. (tribune sourced)