THE UNDERRATED GOLDMINE
“Agripreneureship” is coined from agriculture and entrepreneurship. I bet you probably haven’t heard of the word before. And yes, just as you would guess, it means an entrepreneur in agriculture.
Agriculture is one of the sectors in the country that employs most people in the world and is the main source of food and income for many people. Thus, investing in agriculture is one of the most effective strategies to improve food security and promote sustainability hence, it is essential for the country’s economic development.
Agriculture is also a major wealth contributor to the economy. In Africa, Agriculture was previously seen as a low-income occupation for people who dwelled in rural areas and although it still largely remains the same, industrialization has mechanized a little bit of agriculture but a lot of profitable potentials remain unexplored.
What is Entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is all about innovation and one of the major keys to economic development. For some time, entrepreneurship has been linked to increased wealth, improved quality of life, and also growth. Being an entrepreneur makes you less dependent on your monthly salary. This serves as another stream of income that comes in handy in emergencies. Entrepreneurship gives room for the development of new ideas that can revolutionize the world. Factors like innovation, ability to take the risk, and accepting change are needed and they are all necessary for creating a sustainable enterprise that is all covered in entrepreneurship.
Who is an entrepreneur?
An entrepreneur is someone who produces for the market, a person who is determined, creative, and always looking for opportunities to improve and expand their business. Entrepreneurs are also known as innovators. Being innovative is an important quality of an entrepreneur but in this sense, it’s important for an agripreneur.
Agripreneurship allows for the merging of agriculture and entrepreneurship. It opens up and bridges the gap between the cultivation of crops, rearing of animals, solving problems, and taking calculated risks. Merging agriculture with entrepreneurship “agripreneur” paves way for new methods of farming. This will be more effective and cost less rather than following the crude methods through which it had been done in the past.
To become an agripreneur, you must be open to new things. Cultivating a higher breed of animals and crops and alternative technologies to increase productivity, diversify production, reduce risks, and increase profit. Agripreneurs are also required to be business-oriented because they are also entrepreneurs.
In the country today there are not enough white-collar jobs for most of the youths due to the increasing population. It is therefore necessary to have another means of income to survive. Most people who have regular jobs accrue debts over time because of the high cost of living versus the low level of income. The wealthiest people in the nation and the world were not fully dependent on salaries. They were entrepreneurs.
How to explore the underrated goldmine?
An entrepreneur makes money by looking for a problem, providing a solution, and exchanging such solutions for the money. How does this relate to Agriculture and why is this path of an agricpreneur underrated?
- The world’s biggest need is food. You could survive without everything else but the food is the most essential commodity of life.
- Food is scarce around the world due to the increasing global population. Some even say we are tending towards world hunger as a larger percentage of the world finds it difficult to feed its citizens. Note that scarcity leads to increasing value.
- This means that after all is said and done, agriculture will always tend uphill. This is because is something we cannot do without and the products are scarce. It is only wise for us to see agriculture as the underrated and unlimited goldmine of the world.
- Also, agriculture is considered to be one of the least risky ventures to go into as even common practices can prevent most potential losses.
CONCLUSION
Being an agripreneur is the key to ending poverty once and for all for most Nigerian youths. If you explore these deep truths, you could become the next Elon Musk or Tony Elumelu, whichever you prefer; after all, they all started with an E.