Agribusiness, is by the simplest definition a combination of two words “Agriculture” and “Business”. Agriculture being the practice and science of cultivating plants and livestock, from its production, manufacturing, distribution and marketing of agricultural products lies the core values of business activities. Agribusiness is by far the most essential aspect in any economy in the world that will and has the capacity to eradicate challenges of food security and unemployment. Most people have rushed to white collar jobs failing to realize the full potential of investing in agribusiness projects which will in turn help them to be self-employed. The youth need to be educated about the opportunities that lie in this sector that will be the pivotal point in their lives once embraced.
If the speed of progress is to be increased, the current gaps in youth engagement must be addressed. First, governments must be held responsible for investing in youth through a commitment to providing financial support, including increased spending on youth initiatives along agricultural value chains. In Ethiopia, Save the Children, in partnership with Mastercard Foundation, has established a five-month learning cycle with the aim of improving young people’s socio economic status through the establishment of agri-focused individual enterprises, including input production, production, processing and retailing. A number of Ethiopian youth (both girls and boys) have started businesses selling spices, poultry, camels and bread in the Save the Children program. Second, youth must be empowered through opportunities to engage in agribusiness enterprises and linkages to private sector and development agencies. For example, in Kenya, USAID-supported East Africa Trade and Investment Hub, Syngenta, the Inter Region Economic Network (IREN) and the Toyota Kenya Academy launched the Young Innovators in Agribusiness Competition to provide young people with the chance to market their products to potential investors. Interested investors then scale-up these products to a wider audience across the globe. Through this program, Catherine Mbondo, a 35-year-old woman, established Proactive Merit, a business that trades in raw honey and clay facial scrub masks which incorporate neem (Azadirachta indica), a fast growing medicinal and vegetable tree native to India, but now widely grown in Kenya. Mbondo adds value to agricultural products, marketing them as a natural cosmetics product. She intends to sell her products across East Africa.
This is just but a few examples to show one how wide and diverse agribusiness can change the lives of the ones who engage in it. Instead of diving in it blindly it is wise for one to look at the market for them to know where they can put their focus on. There is a lot of ventures such as poultry, dairy and beef farming, cereal production, vegetables and other crops that have sustained nations enough to be their staple foods such as maize, rice, cassava etc.
Agricultural products have shown for decades since the beginning of time that human beings have been dependent on it for survival in terms nutrients and its medicinal value. In terms of approaching this sector one needs to be very keen just like any other business in order to succeed in it.
People need to eat in order to live, I cannot emphasize enough this symbiotic relationship yet the supply is always significantly low year in year out without factoring in challenges such as drought and famine which results to deaths caused by hunger. Towns built as result of agricultural practices are always so rich in terms of development. There is a strong demand for people mostly the youth to learn and practice agribusiness who are the future leaders that need to shape nations that will eradicate unemployment and tackle food security.
The current technological advancements have made it possible to face agribusiness in a wider angle from the innovative means of production and processing of agricultural products. These innovative methods have proven that one can utilise a small piece of land while having an increase in yield hence minimising costs. These are methods one must make the effort to learn and put into practice. Agribusiness is promising to all those who have the patience to venture into it.
“When I think first and foremost is to recognize that agriculture isn’t a way of life, agriculture is a business, a wealth creating sector. You take a look at Africa today, in total it spends $35Billion a year importing food that it should be producing. If we do nothing about that by 2025 Africa will be spending another $110Billion importing food. So the things that have to change is how we take agriculture. We must take agriculture as a business that can create wealth and revive our rural communities. The second thing that has to change is that for all the things Africa produces whether it is rice, cassava, coffee, cocoa, tea or cotton Africa has to absolutely add value to everything.”
“It makes no sense today that Africa accounts for 75% of the global production of cocoa but Africa only gets 2% of a $100Billion market for chocolate. The price of cocoa will fall but the price of chocolate never goes down, the price of cotton will fall but the price of textiles and apparels will never go down. Also the price of coffee beans will fall down but never the price of brewed coffee that people are making money smiling all the way to the bank. We’ve got to make sure we make agriculture value chains that allows Africa to add value to everything it produces. That’s why within the African Development Bank we’ve taken this very seriously that we are going to invest $24Billion of our own money into agriculture over the next 10 Years so that Africa can be totally food self-sufficient and secondly Africa can participate in global value chains for the things it produces, it should be able to make a lot of money. Agriculture isn’t a way of life, it is a wealth sector and must be treated exactly like that.” – President African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina.
Africa indeed has a lot of potential, for this task to be accomplished every country within Africa has to play their part in tackling this sector with the seriousness it deserves as it can create wealth and change lives. This is one of the main reasons as JAORELIEF we believe in implementing Agribusiness projects that will instil skills starting with Kenyan citizens that will go through our system and help them become self-sustainable as individuals and in the long run self-sufficient as a nation.
These projects will empower them with skills from production, processing, value addition, branding and marketing of agricultural products. Our goal is to help change the lives of generations to come through Agribusiness Sustainable Solutions. As an organization, this will be our greatest leap of action into the future of transforming the approach of agriculture in Africa.
-Yasin Mohamed.