Dig gold in the farm

An entrepreneur is one who not only finds an opportunity in a problem or obstacle (remember FIPPO rule), but also in future needs and demands.
I can declare without dissent that food items will be the most demanded commodities in the near future (by the end of next decade).
Well, given this situation, a scientist would think of how to increase the productivity, how to produce maximum with less water etc.
A politician would think how to make the food available to all, affordable to all, who to implement ration and reservation of food to different sects etc (LoL).
An engineer would think how to improve the existing tools and machinery to help farmers to reduce the effort.
A business man thinks how to procure at less cost and sell at a higher cost, and how much would be the profit margins.
However, an entrepreneur thinks how to turn this opportunity into a business. (Please understand that there is a lot of different between business man and an entrepreneur.)

Here are a few points to ponder on:
1. What to produce
2. How to produce
3. How to market
These represent some form of direct Agriculture and Farming activities, which are nothing new.
Farmers are already aware of and to some extent following - Which crop to grow in which area in which season, crop changing from harvest to harvest, manure, machinery. Storing, procuring directly from farmers is something which is done by the retail market chains like FoodBazaar, Reliance, Heritage etc.
However, my blog is about a new kind of opportunities which I would like the term as Agri Enabled Services (AeS), similar to ITeS.
These kinds of services are something which are dependent on Agriculture, but not direct farming. These in turn affect the Agriculture either in increasing the productivity or accessibility to markets, or increase the rate benefit to farmers etc.

Wondering what they are, here are some examples. As I always say, these are some, and not limited to them.
Get the history of price fluctuations of different agricultural products in the market on a monthly basis for the past 5years. Make a trend and analyze when the prices are high and when they are low. Based on that analysis, find out when the price of a particular good would rise and accordingly advise the farmer to store their product till that time and sell it then.

Or, procure the produce from the farmers at the time when the price is low, and store them and sell when their prices rise. Though this process is being done already, no one is doing it using the statistical data. Thus, they either end up storing it for a longer time or don't store sufficient quantity.

Just think the reverse way. Say that the price of rice is going to be high in the month of May, and say growing paddy would take 3 to 4 months. Exactly....what you are thinking is right....cultivate paddy by sowing in the month of February or March. Your crop grows along with the price and your harvest will be ready when the price is at its peak.

Think of the Organic food items that are growing popularity. Well, producing organic food items is not what I am going to talk about. I am talking about the AeS, for this Organic food items sector. It needs organic manure. So, making organic manure and fertilizers is a good opportunity.
This is a double edge knife. To produce organic manure, you need organic wastes. Getting that organic waste itself is a profit making business. As an example, organic wastes from sugar factories, fruit pulp industries, disposing the leftover food in school canteens, cleaning the dried leaves inside university campuses etc. Doing these cleaning activities itself is a business. How about taking all that waste to convert into organic manure? Isn't it a double edged blade?

Well, as said earlier, these are only some examples. What more, any business related to Agriculture is going to be a sure success. Take if for granted.
That's why I always tell my friends that if we have a piece of cultivable land with enough water, then we are having gold mines. Sow seeds and harvest gold.

Time to say Jai Kissan!
Dig gold in the farm!!