Why you should invest in agriculture

By Sodiq Lawal

It has been written severally about where to invest money. You can put them on a term deposit or place them in a mutual fund. Besides, you can buy real estate or gold. In short, there are many options on how to invest in Nigeria. Today, a growing number of companies and individuals prefer to consider such a way of money investing as agriculture. One of the essential human needs is food. Every person needs to eat, and only agriculture can provide a human being with food. Nigeria and its rapidly-growing population are increasingly in need of agricultural products year after year. Foods will always be in great demand and have a high value.According to reports, experts say agriculture is a low-risk investment that keeps pace with inflation and increases in value on the long-term. They describe investment in agriculture as a tangible asset that provides benefit to the community, adding that it can diversify the investor’s portfolio. Experts say investments in agriculture can guarantee significant revenue for the investor. They noted that depending on the investment and the type of farm, investors can profit through many different ways. However, FarmingFarmersFarms has brought to you five reasons why you can invest in agriculture:

1. Be your own boss

Food business is big business in Nigeria and Africa as whole. In Nigeria alone, we have more than 200 million mouths to feed, three times daily. The food supply is not even enough. You can be your own boss, employ people and live that amazing lifestyle you’ve dreamed of with agriculture. There are so many areas of agribusiness you can venture in. Vegetable farming, poultry farming, fish farming, food processing, agro-distribution, agro-marketing, and animal husbandry, just to mention a few.

2. Start with what you have

Whether you own one plot of land or 10,000 hectares, agribusiness is one of few business opportunities that allows one to start on any scale, with whatever that is available. The opportunity to start small means that people with little capital can become part of Africa’s multi-billion dollar agribusiness industry. Because of the guaranteed demand for agricultural produce, the small vegetable or poultry farm in your backyard could just become a huge business.

3. Government support

One of the reasons to invest in the Nigerian agricultural business, as a farmer and an agropreneur, is the support available for the sector through loans and customised farmer-focused programmes. In 2016, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in conjunction with the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), earmarked N200 billion in loans to support the input of farmers in Nigeria.

4. Land appreciation

When you buy a plot, two plots, or several acres of land for agricultural business, years later, the value of your farm lands would be several times the original value. In the end, it is not only an avenue to raise revenue, but it is also an avenue to become rich by increasing one’s worth, as the years pass by.

5. Africa’s abundant and cheap land

According to the World Bank, sub Saharan Africa is home to nearly 50 per cent of the world’s fertile, usable and uncultivated agricultural land of the size of over 200 million hectares. This is why the continent is now widely-considered to be the future ‘breadbasket’ of the world. It is this huge abundance of land resources that gives Africa the strategic potential to feed the world. Most of Africa’s agricultural land lies in the savannah and tropical rain forest belts, which receive a favourable amount of rainfall and sunlight all-year-round. As a direct consequence, more than 80 per cent of food crops consumed across the world can be produced here. Interestingly, a large proportion of Africa’s agricultural land is located in the rural areas. That’s why they’re often cheap to buy or lease. On the average, one hectare of land (10,000sqm) can be leased for as low as $100 per year, depending on the location. This makes it one of the best land bargains anyone can find anywhere in the world!