The Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Agrocenta, Francis Obirikorang is urging people interested in venturing into agriculture to conduct enough research and consult widely before venturing into the space.
According to him, many people fail in agribusiness because they fail to do due diligence before investing in farming.
Mr. Obirikorang, speaking on the topic, ‘Opportunities in the agricultural value chain’ as part of the on-air series of the Citi Business Festival, said people will have to refrain from arrow eye projections and on-paper outlooks of high returns on investments.
“I’ve seen a lot of people do calculations based on returns on investments and say if they do maybe 50 acres, and pegs the cost of production at GH¢40,000, they expect to earn a profit margin of about GH¢100,000. They do all these fancy, gimmicky spreadsheets, and when they go on the ground, they find out that things are different. Spreadsheets do not work on the ground because you are confronted with a lot of elements even from the human and natural limits,” he said.
He explained that although the agricultural value chain includes a tall list of business prospects that present viable opportunities for anyone willing to make an investment in the sector, however, adequate research must be conducted and experienced people consulted to learn about the activities that work.
“When you are interested [in venturing into the space] and [you realise that] there is less risk…you need to know where you want to do the production. Selecting the area to plant is crucial because you might select an area where either it rains too much or too little,” Mr. Obirikorang remarked.
His sentiments were also expressed by Professor Edmund Sottie, a Principal Research Scientist at the Animal Research Institute of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) who earlier this week cautioned against investors being absentee farmers.
“Before you venture into some of these things, talk to people who have the knowledge to guide you through the process to help you. I would want to caution that when people hear some of these things, they are motivated and want to go into it, and sometimes they want to become absentee farmers. We have heard many stories about absentee farmers that sometimes it breaks my heart,” Prof. Sottie said.
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