Table of Contents
Heard of commercial farming? In fact, it is actually what we need now as a nation. This is because its little brother, called subsistence farming, is no longer enough.
Commercial farming is all about growing crops and raising animals for food, export, or raw materials are all aspects of commercial farming, especially when done for financially advantageous reasons.
Because the aim of commercial farming is to maximize profit margins, it must be extremely efficient and carried out on a huge scale in order to achieve the economy of scale.
As a result, modern commercial farming only concentrates on adopting the most latest, effective, and cutting-edge technologies to produce crops and farm animals for sale.
As more and more people engage in it as a successful commercial enterprise, the technique, also known as agribusiness, is being adopted and practiced by a growing number of people.
Elated about the farming practice already? Here are more fascinating facts about commercial farming to note:
1. Large-scale Production
Commercial farming sees livestock and crops produced in large numbers. For this reason, it requires a lot of land, advanced technology, and expertise to meet the expected production targets or goals.
2. The Use of High Yielding Varieties (HYV)
Commercial agricultural practices involve the use of heavy amounts of contemporary inputs, high-yielding seed varieties, chemical fertilizers, herbicides, weed killers, and insecticides. This is done to increase production, however it has a negative impact on the sustainability of the environment.
3. For-Sale production
As opposed to other forms of agriculture where people farm for their use, commercial farming is done for sale only.
Under commercial agriculture, thousands of acres of products such as millet, cocoa, bananas, rice, sugarcane, tea, and other products are harvested and sold, mainly as exports to other countries.
4. Traditionally done all Year Round
Because commercial farmers may water their land or run their farm systems year-round, commercial agriculture is unusual.
Since they use cutting-edge technologies, machinery, and artificial growth promoters to keep their crops or animals alive throughout the year, they are not as dependent on rainfall or natural resources as other farmers are.
Honestly, there is everything to go into commercial farming if only for the sole reason of enough food. These crops and livestock are produced on a large scale, and grown in huge farms, using machinery, irrigation methods, chemical fertilizers, and other technologies.
Don’t forget the big advantage that since they use cutting-edge technologies, machinery, and artificial growth promoters to keep their crops or animals alive throughout the year, they are not as dependent on rainfall or natural resources as other farmers are.
To conclude, commercial farming is what Nigeria and Africa need now that food insecurity now bites deeper.
