Introduction
Farms are land units that can be utilized to produce desired farm products, which sustain and profitably benefit a farmer and their family. Farms are mainly regarded as land that can be utilized for farming activity, livestock rearing and crop production. This is common in most countries with an economy that is heavily dependent on livestock. In this kind of setup, a farmer must have knowledge on how to carry out rearing livestock and crop production successfully. However, a farm can be used in many ways that can be beneficial for farmers.
There are several existing and potential initiative activities that farm owners can embark on to earn and make a living.
Let’s take a look at them here:
- Livestock farming Farm lands are mainly used for rearing livestock, which are commonly defined as domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, wool and many more. In this kind of setup, a farmer must have knowledge on viable breeds, maintaining grazing land and managing livestock in general to achieve livestock production successfully.
- Crop production This type of agriculture focuses on the production of crops to be used as food for the family and forage for animals. Well known types of crops are grains, cotton, tobacco, fruits, vegetables, melons, Lucerne and nuts.
- Sale of venison from game animals Commercial farms are mainly larger than 1000 ha, this kind of farms contain game animals. Game animals are culled on farms to reduce overstocking, the meat can be sold on the market for a profitable amount. The fur can also be sold on the market to tailors for clothing products, the skull can be sold to local lodges for decoration.
- Tourism Tourism is a form of making money without harming the environment. Tourists come from all over the world to see game animals, some tourists also prefer doing trophy hunting. Another form of tourism that a farmer can practice is cultural tourism, where a farmer talks about the history, the tradition of farming and designing the farm in a cultural manner that attracts tourists.
- Supply of Biofuel (firewood, Charcoal production) Farms comprise of various forms of flora such as grass, herbs, shrubs and trees. All this flora can be used to create fuelwood and charcoal that can be used on the farm or sold on the market. Reducing the number of shrubs and trees is crucial aspect for a proper rangeland management, as it motivates a healthy and functional ecosystem, by reducing competition amongst flora species. Farmers with large quantity of trees and shrubs can be able to venture into charcoal production, which is done by partly burning chops of wood in kilns.
- Biogas Animal dung can used as a source of energy, either in a form of gas or as electricity. This kind of production is eco-friendly, because it alleviates two major environmental problems such as reduction of global waste and it is renewable. Biogas technology production on farms also reduce the odors, insects, and pathogens associated with traditional manure stockpiles.
- Bush feed
- Apart from using flora to produce fuelwood and charcoal, it can be used also to make bush based feed, which can serve as feed on the farm during dry season, and a farmer can also sell these products to other farmers. Bush based feed is containing 50 to 80 percent of crushed and milled bush, which is then mixed with other available and nutritional additives to create a complete feed. This is a profitable market and it is rising in most countries.
- Lending land When land is private property, an owner has right of decision and access of farm. Lenting is one of the rising initiatives created to ensure land remains desirable and well managed. Lenting also allows upcoming farmers to use land at a reasonable cost, the farm owner benefits through compensation and development of their farm by user. For example, an interested farmer can use my farm to grow crops and rear livestock, provided the compensate me a monthly fee and upgrade the infrastructure of that farm.
Conclusion
A farm can be used for multiple activities than just keeping livestock and crops, a farm is regarded as an asset because of various potential uses that are beneficial to the owner, they simply need to be explored. Discover the Suite of Apps for Livestock Management The most complete set of tools to improve productivity
