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Introduction
People that want to start an agribusiness tend to get it wrong by choosing the wrong location to set up their farm. This happens because they’re ignorant of what to do and don’t want to seek professional advice.
This happens a lot and in less than 2 years they are forced to move their farm.
My goal with this site is to ensure everybody gets it right from the beginning until they decide not to continue farming again. Choosing the right location to set up your farm is one criterion for success in this agribusiness.
In this article, I will be discussing how to choose the best location for your farm regardless of the type of agribusiness you want to venture into.
What Is A Farm Location?
When people reach out to me talking about how they want to start a particular agribusiness, one of the questions I ask them is WHERE IS THE LOCATION of your proposed farm? When they tell me, I make them see reasons why it is a good choice or not depending on the preferred business.
What is a farm location? Let me explain, a farm location is where you want to set up your preferred farm. Just like where you are living, choosing the best location to set up your farm will make things easy and comfortable for you and your chosen livestock.
I always tell clients during my consultation session that whenever they’re choosing a location for their farm, think futuristic, say 20, or 30 years from now.
You don’t want something that will affect you in the next 5 years when you’ve not even reaped the return on your investment.
How To Choose The Best Location For Your Farm
When choosing a location for your farm, the following are the things to look out for:
Accessibility
The first factor to consider when choosing a location is how accessible it is to potential customers. For example, if you want to set up a poultry farm, as much as you want your farm to be far from the people, it should also be accessible and motorable if you want to bring things into the farm and/or want to sell to customers.
You don’t want a situation where your customers will be afraid to patronize you due to bad/unfriendly roads. Make sure this is a priority when looking out for your preferred location to set up a farm.
Free From Government Acquisition
Another factor to consider when you want to choose a farm location is the authenticity of the land you want to purchase. While it is good to buy land at a cheaper price, you should also be careful about what might be at stake if things don’t go right.
Before making a down payment, you need to ask these questions:
i. Why are you selling the said land?
ii. Are all family members involved aware of the sale of the land?
iii. Are there any disputes on the said land you need to be aware of?
iv. Is the land free of government acquisition? – This is very important because you don’t want to buy land that in the nearest future government will say they have marked the land for a particular purpose. Ask questions (not from the selling family alone) from the government office of your local whether or not it is under the government’s watch.
Is the land under a pipeline/powerline? is it closer to water works? Will the land be affected in the future if there is road expansion? All these questions should be answered according so you don’t regret your purchase.
Environmental Factor/Community
The third factor when choosing a farm location is the community you wish to establish your farm.
Why is this important? Once the community is against your farm, forget it you can’t make it in that environment. The community you are in will be the first people that will buy your farm produce before they’re been transported into the cities.
Don’t forget in actuality, bigger farms cannot be established in the city because of environmental factors.
For instance, if you want to start a poultry or pig farm in large quantities, you cannot have your farm in a residential environment. You must look for a place far away from the community where there won’t be complaints of waste smells affecting them.
As I mentioned above, you should be looking for a place where in the next 10 – 20 years there won’t be development in the community.
You don’t want to pack up and start looking for a new place after spending thousands of dollars on structures.
If you plan on venturing into fish farming, you don’t necessarily have to be far from the community BUT you’ll have to put something into consideration; DRAINAGE SYSTEM.
A good drainage system is very crucial to the success of a fish farm even if you’re in the city. You don’t want your neighbors complaining about how your wastewater is affecting the neighborhood.
So, as you’re looking at getting a comfortable environment for your poultry/pig farm, look ahead for a good drainage system for your fish farm.
Security
Another factor to consider when choosing a location for your farm is security.
Security is important for success on your farm. Why have a farm where it is not secure? I know you are not starting this agribusiness with looted funds and even if you’re, you must put into consideration the security of both your livestock and your workers.
There are various ways you can secure your farm, but one thing to have at the back of your mind is, even if your farm is secured and the community/environment is not secure, you are shooting yourself in the leg.
Farm security should be taken very seriously and this should come in very handy. Before making any payment, take a stroll to the community where the farm is proposed to be located, and ask locals about how secure it is for investment.
Personal Advise: Do this in anonymity. Disguise like you are looking to come live with them in the community. You have to be smart with all your dealings.
Resale Value
I know you’re wondering what is happening, why is resale value on the list? Do I need to consider how much I will sell something if I’m to buy to do business? Well, it is a crucial factor to consider when choosing a farm location.
When you think of the positive, you also have to think otherwise. What if things didn’t go according to plan? What happens after 1 year and things are not looking good from your end?
You have to consider the resale value if at all to sell what you bought. Any area you choose to have your farm in must be somewhere people will likely want to have an investment in even if it is not a farm business.
So, whenever you decide to buy farmland, think of the sales value and also its usefulness for other purposes.
Conclusion
I know it might be difficult to digest all this information, but I assure you it is honorable to do the difficult task at the beginning rather than regretting why you didn’t do that after getting yourself into trouble.
Having a desire and the fund is one thing, choosing the right location for your farm project is another thing. Don’t make the same mistakes that others have made. Look out for these factors when choosing a farm location:
- Accessibility
- Free from government acquisition
- Environmental Factor
- Security
- Resale Value
Even if it is a difficult task, I have a team that can take that headache off your shoulder and does the required background checks for a fee.
You can Contact Us if you want to help.