A couple of years ago I wrote an article on cabbage production which received rave reviews on this website. My inbox was inundated with emails from many would be fresh produce farmers most who shared some very spectacular ideas on how to run such a project viably. I was fortunate enough to be invited by one of the farmers who took the free advice from that article and utilised it fruitfully. However, todays article is not about this farmer but is about a certain aspect of this farmer which I think every would be or current farmer needs to adopt in order to be successful in farming.
Most of us have turned to agriculture as a way of getting that side hustle extra dollar which I must say does come in handy in this harsh economy. This bracket includes bankers, cooperate executives, etc. the list is inexhaustible. Yes, one may be an expert banker but lack farming expertise. To quote one of my Lectures back at University decades ago, “owning a farm does not make you a farmer”. I am sure most of you will agree with me that you have seen some well-resourced entities running a farming operation into the ground. The major reason being lack of expertise, it is very important for every farming enterprise to have highly skilled employees. Most of you will agree with me that highly skilled labour does not come cheap, this is true even in the field of agriculture. A good point to take on is that as the farm owner make sure that you pay your most valued employees more than you pay yourself. I know some may not agree with this notion but believe me it’s a tried and tested one, “IT WORKS SIMPLE”. A highly skilled and happy (well remunerated) farm manager will be loyal and will put in the extra hours in order to achieve set yield targets which translate to enterprise profits. If you can throw in some bonus extras at the end of the season. Back to our main subject, most of us probably think farming is a simple exercise, of which it is if you know what you are doing coupled with the right skills. Although it may be a good idea for those would be farmers without any farming back ground to take on some short courses in farming as it will give them a good appreciation of the industry, it is still advisable to hire the right highly skilled individual to take on the task of running the business.
Recently I had the opportunity of having this discussion with one of the leading agricultural consultancy organisations in South Africa. They were hired by one farmer here in Zimbabwe to consult periodically on their blue berry project at a very huge cost running into thousands of Rands. The point to take on here is that the farmer has invested in the skills of a consultant despite more than 30 years in the business. This investment in skill has seen the farmer growing this high value crop profitably. I know probably the small-scale farmer reading this article is saying where do I get the money to hire consultants from South Africa. Well you do not need to hire one from South Africa if you cannot afford to. The AREX department is always willing to help with advice, they do have some good apples left in their basket who can assist. Another avenue is to hire a local consultant for advice which is way cheaper or simply hire a qualified and highly skilled person to run your enterprise, remember to pay them well. Farming is an art and a science at the same time requiring skill and expertise which is often acquired over a period of many years. Next time we will look at growing for export and the requirements for exporting agricultural produce from Zimbabwe.
- Emmanuel is a qualified Agronomist with more than a decade’s experience working in the agricultural industry and development sector. You can contact him on edndsep@gmail.com
Article by Emmanuel D.N Dube
ZIBN Agronomy correspondent
