Agribusiness

The Income Statement—A Summary of the Farm operations When to Use • For the business owner: to understand the profitability of your business, as well as the nuances of your different product lines and revenue streams (historical) • For potential financiers, entrepreneurs and partners: to project the profitability of a new venture (projections) • For the government: to file your taxes (historical). Key Features • The income statement is a detail of the business activity over a period of time, usually a month, quarter or year. • The income statement details the activities directly related to the operation of your business (selling produce, paying employees), as well as indirect activities (money earned from renting land or interest income). • The income statement shows your total revenue, total expenses and net profit. • The income statement does not track cash flow. The income statement presents a summary of everything you earn through the...

The agribusiness sector Agribusiness is the sector involved in the production, processing and distribution of agricultural goods and services, and it includes all related activities. Defining agribusiness more narrowly ignores the industry sector that has responded to market forces and has moved away from traditional primary production into manufacturing and distribution activities. For example, the broiler chicken industry has responded to consumer demands by providing lean,  tender, disease-free and chemical-free chicken pieces. This industry has moved positively towards meeting consumer demands by controlling the production and manufacturing processes. Producers have little or no direct involvement with the final consumer; however, each producer is focused on the physical and financial demands placed on each subset within their industry. Some operators, for example, the day-old chick producers, would only deal with growers and are therefore only involved in business-to-busine...

Agribusiness: The paradigm shift The Agricultural industry in Zimbabwe need to go through substantial changes. The changes press to shift from the traditional static commodity based business of pushing homogenous products to a more of consumer driven market requiring differentiated products, continuous process innovation, and highly specialized product delivery, and customer support systems.

Farm enterprise and its components A farm enterprise is an enterprise like any other enterprise. It is run on management principles like any other enterprise except that it has very important distinguishing features. Thus, conversional management principles are modified to suit the farm enterprise environment. Successful farm enterprise management requires that farming be treated as a business rather than a way of life such as gathering. A farm enterprise is generally a biological enterprise. It relies on natural processes such as photosynthesis, respiration, assimilation it borrows heavily from plant and animal anatomy and physiology, soil science, climatology. A farm enterprise is generated from skills developed from the understanding of these natural processes and elements. It is an enterprise that produces biological products such as crops and crops products, livestock and their products, forest and their products, fish and their products, mushroom, and other products. The pri...

image source: wikipedia Making Hay for Profit Hay making is one of the areas without many players but very profitable. See how to make hay http://agriconsultzw.blogspot.com/2018/04/how-to-make-hay-for-your-rabbits.html . Poor quality hay has found its way into the market as many cut grass from roadsides for selling as hay. It is another opportunity agricultural entrepreneurs may need to consider.  Uses of Hay Animal fodder (Feed for horses, cattle, rabbits and other livestock) Used as bedding for chickens and other livestock How profitable One acre will produce 250 bales (18 to 20 kg) of Rhodes grass per harvest. The grass can be harvest up to three times in a good season. Selling prices range from $2 to $5.00. We will work with the minimum selling price for the purpose of this budget which is $2.00. Sales revenue per harvest from 30 acres is $15.000. This is against $6000 cost of revenue making a Gross Profit of $9000 per harvest multiplied by th...

AN OREXIA in Rabbits Anorexic rabbit poses a huge diagnostic challenge to the veterinary clinician and an economical threat to a farmer. Anorexia in rabbits may be associated with pain of any sort or stress. A full clinical examination is required to determine the cause. The following treatment protocol can be instigated whilst investigations are underway. The aim of treatment is to provide enough calories to prevent hepatic lipidosis, to rehydrate the gastrointestinal contents, and to provide indigestible fibre to help promote peristalsis. Treatment: ·          Do all you can to prevent Anorexia and gut hypomotility. A source of indigestible fibre in the form of hay is essential. Always ensure good quality hay is available at all times. ·          Keep the rabbit in an environmental temperature of less than 24 o C. ·          Fluid replaceme...

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Rabbit Production: Climatic requirements Q & A Question  How should I care for my rabbits in extremely cold weather? Answer You do not have to worry much because rabbits do well in the cold than in hot climates. Rabbits, especially weaners, need to be protected from wind drafts as this can lead to eye infection and hypothermia. Always ensure proper nest box bedding before kindling dates for a warm environment. When its very cold, install hessian sacks that can be adjusted up or down depending on the weather.  Question  What is the maximum temperature rabbits can withstand? Answer Around 29 to 31°C. Rabbit rely on the ears for thermoregulation. Always hang a thermometer in your rabbitry for constant update on the environment. It is highly recommended to install a ceiling on your rabbitry roofs for insulation from outside temperatures.  Question  How do I manage my rabbits in very hot weather? Answer Recommended ra...

How to make hay for your rabbits B. Tembani (Senior Animal Scientist) R. Kofi (Agribusiness Consultant)   Many farmers make hay for their livestock or for income and this has been happening for years. The process of making good quality hay is far from just cutting and baling. Efficiently processing hay results in good quality feed available for livestock-rabbits in this case. This module was developed to specifically for rabbit farmers, on how to make or purchase good quality hay for feeding their rabbits to achieve good selling weights. The objective when making hay is to capture and preserve nutrients in a storable form with minimum expenditure. This is mainly so because hay is the main feed in rabbitries, pellets being a supplement. Rabbits are fed nutritious hay to reduce; feed costs and incidence of enteritis/ diarrhoea.    What is hay?    In this module, we define hay as grass, legumes or other nutritious pl...

Bio-security in Poultry Houses Biosecurity is a set of practices put in place to limit the spread of disease or contamination from one location to another. Because poultry is housed in close confinement, disease spreads rapidly from one bird to another and outbreaks can be economically devastating. Biosecurity is teamed with disinfectation and sanitation to reduce or preferably eradicate disease-causing pathogens. Location Commercial poultry farms should be located at least 3 km from the nearest neighbour, as far as possible from main roads, with a good source of potable water and as isolated as possible. Where this is not possible, measures have to be put into place to limit the amount of traffic, vehicular, human and vector that has access to the birds. Disease is transmitted in one or more of four ways 1.    Humans – employees, visitors, veterinarians etc 2.    New poultry – eg chicks, male breeders etc 3.    Contaminated or improperl...

Economic considerations for livestock farming The functions of livestock are an integral part of the total agriculture. Livestock is well known for converting non-edible (pasture) and low quality edible feedstuffs into food for human consumption. Many farmers go for livestock production due to different reasons. To be successful, farmers need to consider financial viability before going into actual production. The article will highlight key economic areas in commercial livestock farming. Market and demand analysis Sustainable livestock production is market driven. Successful farmers invest their time and resources in market research. This is very important especially in livestock as any delays in sales come at a cost.  Farmers need to be equipped on market knowledge. Marketing involves logistics, time and form to the end market. With proper research and planning, the processes involved need to be efficient and achieved at the lowest possible cost. This means distanc...

Livestock post-mortem techniques   Post mortem (PM) is the procedure carried out after death to determine the cause of death. It is a specialised procedure, requiring a good knowledge of animal anatomy. The operator needs to know what normal healthy tissue looks like and this cannot be learnt from books, only from experience. The farmer should attend post mortems conducted by the vet and look at healthy tissue at abattoirs etc. Before beginning the PM it is important to make note of place, date, owner's name, species, number of animals affected, number of deaths, breed, sex, age, brand or tag number, hours since death and the history. The post mortem should take place as soon after death as possible. Ideally a second person should take notes as the PM progresses. Equipment required Rubber boots, protective clothing, rubber apron or lab coat, rubber gloves. Knives – large and small, with sharpening steel. Scissors (various sizes) and saws; bone cutters A number of st...

Bio-security in Livestock Production Bio-security is defined as procedures or measures designed to protect livestock against harmful biological or biochemical substances. Many livestock producers are concerned about diseases in confinement livestock operations. Under these systems, many animals are raised in close contact which increases the spread of diseases. Movement of humans from farm to farm with modernised equipment has also increased the likelihood of diseases transmission. As a result some commercial livestock producers have restricted access to visitors.  There are no vaccines for diseases like foot and mouth diseases (FMD) and avian flu, which leaves bio-security as the first line of defence. The recent outbreaks of the two diseases in the country, indicate a breach in bio-security. More than 200 000 chickens had to be destroyed last year during the outbreak with high economic losses.  Bio-security is everybody's responsibility on farm or...