5 Reasons You Should Own a Farm in Ghana
It is popular to hear it being said that the best or favorite days of owning a boat are buying it and selling it. If only owning a farm was that easy too…
Observers typically agree agriculture is hard but immensely fulfilling and profitable.
Agriculture is the main driving force behind Ghana’s economy although not currently the leading contributor to the country’s GDP. It is expected to record an average growth rate of 3.3% in the medium term as from the 2017 Budget but see a decline to 3.0% in 2018 possibly due to the constant growth of other sectors as well.
Despite the risky nature due to its dependence on weather and yield factors, availability to experienced persons in the field, credible information and other resources, individuals and firms still thrive in the space because:
1. Income potential
Unless the farm is for personal gratification or produce for charity, immense revenue is made when your crops start yielding or in the case of animals reach market size. Gone were the days when the actual farmer was cheated out of his gains. In today’s world where the consumer is inundated with the importance of what they eat, farmers are massively cashing in on all the marketing options to reach target customers. In 2015 the GDP growth of the service sector accrued GHs17,470.0 million and agriculture once the backbone and mainstay of Ghana’s economy made GHs 7,365.o million. Let’s see the rise in world’s population as a “good-harm” because increased population means more mouths to feed which means the farmer has an assured market.
2. Be your own boss
Career change has never been an easy decision or path to take. However waking up each day, understanding the economic potential of the sector and future prospects is enough incentives for entrepreneurs to own an agribusiness or farm. Yes, it’s a sector known for being risky but very worth the risk cause of the fulfilment.
3. Promote health through healthy foods
With the sudden and massive rise of food/diet related illnesses, and life expectancies in Ghana having fallen from 63years and 68years for males and females respectively to 54 years and 62 years according to a WHO report, health has become a major reason why people critically watch what they eat. Less of overly processed foods in this era and more of the naturals. And that serves as a revenue opportunity right there.
4. Right policy formulation and implementation
In an era experiencing a buzz over the potential of the industry, what better time than now, to take advantage. Currently, policies are being formulated with attempts at their implementations across the whole value chain being put in place. These policies include and are not limited to the planting for food and jobs which seeks to encourage all citizens (both urban and rural) to take up farming as a full or part-time activity. Working along the lines of the one-time “Operation Feed Yourself”(OFY) programme in the 1970s under Acheampong’s administration, the program is visualised to provide jobs to about 750,000 people while ensuring all year food production and security, jobs, improve family income and livelihoods, as well as ensuring judicious use of land resources, etc. Food from the OFY programme can and will serve as a base to be processed under the one district-one factory serving as raw materials.
5. You’re making a difference in the world
With the uproar in food security issues that has influenced the selected millennium development goals, caring for crops and livestock is your own little way of contributing to sustainable global food supply. Irrespective of location and size, it’s a plus to the total quantum of produce derived in a season.
This allows you make money while causing a positive effect in the world.