At the mention of the word “farmers”, a lot of people tend to think in the line of menial dirty jobs that do not pay much. It is this kind of single thinking of theirs that largely prevent such people from enjoying in the numerous goodies that the kind of fertile soil we have in Nigeria has provided us and if they do not get their orientation changed, would not reach that stage where they see the light and the kind of income they are missing out in agricultural investments alone.
Today, we are here to give you five reasons why farmers, no matter how big the farm is, can never be poor and how you as a person too can benefit from the riches of farming and agriculture.
1. Basic Needs of Life
What makes life worth living is not the millions of dollars in your account or the thousands, it is what we all strive to have – the basic necessities of life – and on this, farmers are to be considered as very rich. They have their own shelter (which can even be a farmhouse, barnyard and the likes), they have access to food materials at all time so hunger wouldn’t be an issue and from the proceeds, a farmer can get clothing for himself and his family. Hasn’t he solved all of the most basic life problems with that one profession now?
2. Consistency
Agriculture is one of the most consistent tradesthat you can put your money in. a lot offarmers on large lands use the rent/ lease featuresto keep hold of the land and they run other paid liabilities also such as the machinery and labour used. However, they’re not bothered because they know that if done the right way, their crops/produce or livestock would also come out the right way and cover those costs for them and in the end, they would have more than enough to be at east, a middle class. Such peace of mind is the greatest wealth
3. Investments
Many people think that farmers cannot go beyond the scope of their own hands because they invest little in their business and even the little, is via loans. I say that is an unfounded accusation because the thing with agriculture is that most times, it gives you a return on investment of even more than 100% and starting small with continued investment would keep increasing this profit margin. How many businesses can boast such return on investment today?
4. Dignity of Labour
Farmers may not hold the key to a garage of fast cars or have a lock to close down their expensive mansions when going on holidays in the Caribbean, but the richest value you can learn in business is the dignity in labour and farmers recognise this hugely. They work hard and consistently to make sure that the ever exploding population is always well fed and kept alive. For someone that invests so much of themselves into dignity and other people’s lives, how can you say they would go poor?
5. Accounting
If you are trying to determine the wealth in the farming business by just one data sheet or yearly report that you have seen, you couldn’t have been more wrong. After all, farming is also a business and a huge boom this year doesn’t mean the same next year.