7 Investment-Friendly Branches of the Agribusiness Industry

There are so many agents involved either directly or indirectly in the agricultural value chain that it is rather a taking exercise to try to box them into distinct categories. It is not uncommon to find one individual or firm making money from two or more arms at the same time. 

Any man or venture or institution present in the thick of the food and fibre value chain and those that influence from outside are all a part of the beautiful system of agribusiness.

1.       Agrichemicals

There is a large body of manufacturers and marketers involved in the sourcing and supplying of fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and such other chemicals that boost crop yield. It does not end there, though. Animals kept for food and as pets need drugs and vaccines to survive infections and battle diseases. 

Agrochemicals are thus an indispensable part of the whole farming venture. 

They help reduce the risks and maximize the profits of farmers.

2.       Animal breeding

Every day, cows continue to bless farmers with milk, sheep give him wool, bees offer him honey, goats provide him with hide, rams give him leather, pigs provide him pork and fish supplements his meal.

The meat of chicken and turkey are some of our favourites and all thanks to the breeders whose efforts keep the supply constant to our markets.

In providing us with meat, milk, eggs, honey, leather and clothing, animal keepers don’t just feed and sustain us, they also make good money doing it.

3.       Crop production

 Coffee beans don’t just grow wildly, they actually need to be planted, cultivated and packaged. The same goes for cocoa beans, rice, yam, plantain and such other food and cash crops.

The produce from these big and small farms support your favourite restaurants, eateries and supermarkets.

Crop farmers tend to these crops, plant them, nurture them, harvest them and make them ready for our consumption.

4.       Distribution

After a hard day’s work by the farmers, there are usually loads of eggs, milk, live chicken, food crops, cotton, rubber, wool, etc. gathered and stocked up in the barns ready to be taken to the market. 

Usually, there are supermarkets which have customers waiting to purchase fresh milk. Hotels with clients who love fish pepper soup and snail stew are waiting for their deliveries.

Clothe makers need cotton to stay in business. Paste processing plants need tomatoes delivered as at when needed. The people and firms involved in distribution are the ones who ensure that products are loaded off the farms and delivered in perfect condition to the consumers and customers.

The distribution system however doesn’t just take away from the farms; it also involves units which supplies the farms with major needs. They deliver animal feeds, fertilizers and consumables that are necessary for the day to day running of the farms.

5.       Farm machinery provider

The tractors, ploughs, harvesters, ridgers and planters are not just colourful diagrams that fit nicely in an agricultural science course book. They are important machinery that make the work of the farmer much easier and lets him get a lot done in less time.

From the companies who manufacture these machines commercially for sale to large farms, to the organizations which are set up to rent the machinery out to smaller farmers, the farm machinery providers are an active part of the agribusiness.

6.       Processing

I could pick an orange off the tree and be sucking away the next minute. Or I could rush to the mall and shell a few naira notes to but a 5 litre orange juice for the family. Well, an individual or business concern actually thought out the idea of converting the orange fruit to the orange juice. 

That individual or enterprise is said to be a player in the processing arm of the agribusiness industry. Agro-processing plants are countless and profitably so.

They help process our flours into cakes, cocoa beans into beverages, cotton into clothing, leather into belts and shoes, timber into sofas, milk into cheese and a lot of other things into practically everything else.

7.       Seed supply

Well, my grandfather had this practice of keeping part of his harvest in store as seeds for the next planting season. Most of his friends did the same. It was exactly the way they were trained by their own fathers.

While it is still a good source of acquiring seeds for the next planting season, it is not guaranteed to produce for you better harvest than last year. In fact, all things being equal, you might experience a lower yield than the previous year should you farm over the same piece of land.

A lot of research work as gone into improving yield and harvest by providing farmers with far better seed than they have ever seen. There are Agric Institutes whose responsibilities it is to come up with this fast-growing, high-yield seeds which are every farmer’s delight.