To be competitive, seek out and take advantage of arising opportunities, farmers have to be more entrepreneurial and develop new skills and functional capabilities through a process of learning and practice. Farm business management skills are important for farmers to effectively respond to present day farming challenges and be able to make to meet set goals and objectives. Farm management and entrepreneurial skills help farmers to make the right choice between enterprises according to individual levels of resources and at their level of risk adversity. Building farmers’ capacity in entrepreneurial and management skills will enable farmers to improve their knowledge, change their attitudes, and be creative and innovative as they strive to earn a meaningful living from farming. It is in line with this, that KADIFO seeks technical assistance from CRS to equip members with skills in entrepreneurship and business management. KADIFO has in the past received volunteer assistance in the areas of record keeping, resource mobilization, post-harvest handling and ICT in Agriculture. The host has been keen to implement volunteer recommendations which have resulted in some positive changes within the organization. However, to meet its goal of increasing farmer incomes, KADIFO acknowledged a lack of skills among its members in entrepreneurial and business management aspects. It is for that reason that KADIFO once again sought technical assistance from CRS’s Farmer-to-Farmer program in order to ultimately achieve its goal. OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT The objective of this volunteer assignment is to provide a road map for KADIFO to enable the members acquire skills on small scale business identification and management, in addition to acquiring skills on agroi-business and resource mobilization to support the projects which will be established as result of the training. The volunteer will provide technical support through: Training selected members in farm business management (business planning, enterprise selection, SWOT analysis, review of cost-benefit analysis concepts, and business skills). Increasing participants’ understanding of entrepreneurship as it relates to smallholder agricultural production and marketing. Training on the process of identification of business - where to look and how to develop business ideas - and distinction between business ideas and business opportunities The volunteer will work towards attaining the aforementioned objectives at two levels: at the grassroots level, directly working with four farmers groups, s/he will train the farmers in basic business management skills focusing on 1-3 above. At the level of the organization, the volunteer will train the management and board members on strategic business skills and management, in view of the fact that the organization is in the new business of maize milling.
To be competitive, seek out and take advantage of arising opportunities, farmers have to be more entrepreneurial and develop new skills and functional capabilities through a process of learning and practice. Farm business management skills are important for farmers to effectively respond to present day farming challenges and be able to make to meet set goals and objectives. Farm management and entrepreneurial skills help farmers to make the right choice between enterprises according to individual levels of resources and at their level of risk adversity. Building farmers’ capacity in entrepreneurial and management skills will enable farmers to improve their knowledge, change their attitudes, and be creative and innovative as they strive to earn a meaningful living from farming. It is in line with this, that KADIFO seeks technical assistance from CRS to equip members with skills in entrepreneurship and business management. KADIFO has in the past received volunteer assistance in the areas of record keeping, resource mobilization, post-harvest handling and ICT in Agriculture. The host has been keen to implement volunteer recommendations which have resulted in some positive changes within the organization. However, to meet its goal of increasing farmer incomes, KADIFO acknowledged a lack of skills among its members in entrepreneurial and business management aspects. It is for that reason that KADIFO once again sought technical assistance from CRS’s Farmer-to-Farmer program in order to ultimately achieve its goal. OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT The objective of this volunteer assignment is to provide a road map for KADIFO to enable the members acquire skills on small scale business identification and management, in addition to acquiring skills on agroi-business and resource mobilization to support the projects which will be established as result of the training. The volunteer will provide technical support through: Training selected members in farm business management (business planning, enterprise selection, SWOT analysis, review of cost-benefit analysis concepts, and business skills). Increasing participants’ understanding of entrepreneurship as it relates to smallholder agricultural production and marketing. Training on the process of identification of business - where to look and how to develop business ideas - and distinction between business ideas and business opportunities The volunteer will work towards attaining the aforementioned objectives at two levels: at the grassroots level, directly working with four farmers groups, s/he will train the farmers in basic business management skills focusing on 1-3 above. At the level of the organization, the volunteer will train the management and board members on strategic business skills and management, in view of the fact that the organization is in the new business of maize milling.
UG92-Agrientreprenuership-and-business-management-training.docx