How To Start Your Own Farm

                    

How To Start Your Own Farm

If you must do anything in line with farming and Agriculture, practically dealing with plants and animal
then starting a farm becomes a necessity, if you must do well in real agricultural investment in the modern day farming
then there is a cogent need to start a farm.

Most of people reading this article are already interested in starting their own farm so i won't  tarry here to
list the reasons why you should start a farm.

I will rather go straight into how you can actually start a farm, i understand there are so many things you would want
to use the farm for, so i will just share out of my own experience and how you can start yours.



Steps To Starting a Farm



1. Get a Land : This is not negotiable; you need to get a land, for every livestock breeding and plantation
aspects of agriculture, everything requires a land, so get a land.
However the kind of land you will get will be determined by you and what you want to use the farm land for.

 For instance; You might want to get land to start a fish pond, if its for natural earthen pond, then you must 
get a land that is swampy and a little water logged, to fulfill the purpose of fish farming.

 Also you might not have to check if it is a water logged land or its a fertilize land, 
if the purpose was to build a poultry house building,
 When getting land for Farm Buildings; you  don't have to worry on criteria you would consider when getting for plantation and fishery,
The major factor here is just the atmosphere; livestock don't survive an atmosphere of noise, they need
  a cool calm place and also you have to secure a farm building in a place where is not residential for humans
 most people will complain and probably affect and alter the success of your business if you have your farm
like the pig and poultry ventures where the smell of this ventures can naturally affect the the living of people there.

So try and get a land based on purpose of the farming and secure it in a peaceful, and calm place and also 
where predators won't affect them.

2. Farm Business Feasibility : AFter you might have gotten the land, the next thing to do is to carry out
your feasibility studies, this is very important, because finance is one of the major and most important
aspect of farming business success and it also determines whether the venture will fail eventually.

So to know how you can effectively position and structure your farm land, and the other investment to be settled on the farmland,
 you need to carry out feasibility study for the business you are about to start on the farm.

Some part of Nigeria have proven to us; that getting land is so cheap and since they are yet to be so
developed place industrial-wise and community-wise but it doesn't matter how cheap the land is;
the business investment will still cost you as a farmer, a lot, you are going to buy a lot of things and
farming equipment so, carrying out feasibility studies will help you know how much you are going to spend 
on your farm establishment and the entire investments.

Feasibility studies will also help you determine how many farm workers you want to employ, and how much
it will take you to pay your workers.

3. Visit Bigger Farms Around You : This can also be on some kind of farm researches and farm trips,
      when you go around to visit bigger farms that are already running,  you will learn a practical
aspect of setting up a farm, and you will also be able to behold things that are necessary, i have encounter 
so many things as a product of visiting farms and it as helped me to grow so much in knowledge,
which i might never experience if i commit only to reading books and experimenting what i have known
The more you reach out to commercial bigger farms, the more knowledge you become,

I have heard the chancellor of (Landmark University) - "Bishop David Oyedepo"a TOP 
Institute of learning in Omu-aran Kwara State Nigeria,
that as been so committed to effective studies and training of 
agricultural students and advancement in agriculture inline with
 technological advancement, he said he and a number of 11 visited Israel to study how agriculture 
goes on there and of a truth, israel is one strong part of the world where agriculture goes on at its best!

If you are privileged, i suggest you take sometime and visit israel to see 
the concept of modern agriculture going on there.

Its one of the ways to advance your exposure, knowledge and the quality of how best to handle our agricultural and farming ventures in the world of this generation.




4. Start Small : Well, as much as i understand that not everyone will want or need to start small, i 
    still want to agree to the fact that majority of starters need to start small.
      Starting a FARM venture is no small business, its more than enough a venture on it own, making reference
 to Kent Farm for instance will show you that farm is more than just a city or a town, it can be as a big or perhaps bigger than a country, based on the investment,

but if you desire to have such a massive farm establishment, then you will need to start small and expand your business with time.
 Starting small, helps you gain access to experiential knowledge and mentor you through the processes of growing it bigger.
 There is no knowledge compare to the one you have experience as a product of starting small, i have seen a farmer, grow from a number of 2 pigs to 3005 pigs and this can 
 only possible because he walked the process, it is even disastrous when you went and buy such a large
 number of animals and you don't have the knowledge, and the needed amenities to handle them.  
      

5.  Stock Your Farm : At this stage, i want to believe you have built your farm already and feasibility
studies as been carried out already so the next time is to stock your live assets, - i mean maybe you are 
venturing into livestock farming get your animals, - Poultry, fish, snail, sheep and goat, or any kind of
 venture you are going into, get your farm ready to be stocked, before ou bring the animals, this can be in full of
providing the needed light, electricity, anti-septics, disinfectants, transportation, among others, get all of those available.
 Most of these things are always needed before you start, actually there are some farm equipment you can get after
 you might have started.

6. Sector Your Farms : This is for those who have  a bigger farm establishment, what i mean by "sector your farm";
 is that you have to segment your farm into categories; - FARM HOUSE, WORKERS LODGE, FEED STORES,
 MARKETING DEPARTMENT, MEDICATION CENTER, ABBATOIRS, PROCESSING UNITS, FEED MILL, PLANTATION FARM, LIVESTOCK FARMS,
  and as many you would love to have them, 100 to 500 acre of farm land will help you achieve this,
 I really want to give you a push and an encouragement to venture into big time modern farming
 because obviously we have too many small hold farms in town today and it is just because people are
 short of quality knowledge, if only you can know more than you know then you can do even more.  


 7. Register Your Farm : This is very important and its non-negotiable, you must register your farm, i have written here reason why you must register your farm business.
It is very important, because the bigger your farm becomes, there are amenities that the government might want to give unto farmers in that country, state or local government
 If your farm is not registered with the minsitry of agriculture, then you might miss out from the offer and this can be a lose, ignorant is a very dangerous in any business venture, the quality of your 
exploit is a roduct of how much you know, and information is the greatest access to knowledge.

When your FARM is registered, you will be informed when there are offers from the government or the ministry of agriculture for farmers.


I believe with this 7 points i have mentioned, you will be able to have success in your farming endeavors.

If you have questions, contributions and addition, kindly make sure of the comment box below.