#AgriProjectAfrica – Agri Project Africa

BUDGET 2024!

December 26, 2023 Johann Thorgeirsson 0

Last week I asked if you had set your goals for 2024. Now you have had a week to complete the goals, but my next question is, have you set a budget for 2024? Even if you have not set a budget for the whole year, did you set a budget for January 2024? This was originally posted a year ago, and I hope some actually did their budget then and followed this process. Now, we are going to review this budgeting process and create a budget for 2024. Just as setting goals, creating a budget is a process. In fact, there [...]

Value Addition on your farm! – 3

December 24, 2023 Johann Thorgeirsson 0

In our last post with Ellinace Mwale, on her farm in Lumbadzi, Dowa, in the center region of Malawi, we were talking about her farm in general. Now we will be focusing on the main reason for our conversation with her, the Birds Eye Chili. As mentioned previously Birds Eye Chilies occupy an acre of her farm, and depending on the hot sauce production, this area might be enlarged in the future. But what exactly is Birds Eye Chili and how is it grown? The Birds Eye Chili has many names, including Pili-Pili or Peri-Peri and Thai Chili, is a small, thin, [...]

Small-scale crops can add value!

December 22, 2023 Johann Thorgeirsson 0

Do you work over 12 hours per day on your farm? If you don’t and you have spare time, there are endless options to diversify and add something small to your portfolio of crops. It may be for your own consumption, or something special you can use as gifts, or you can even earn extra income. Recently, I came across one such crop, and frankly speaking, I paid attention only through my ignorance. I had the perception that sponges only grow in the sea. And I was wrong. It’s okay not to know everything, as long as you try to learn [...]

CHALLENGE – 6 – How do I stay flexible?

December 20, 2023 Johann Thorgeirsson 0

Once again, we turn to the challenges facing farmers. We have already discussed: How to increase yield per acre? How do I reduce waste and take quality to the next level? What choices do we make in terms of mechanization? How do I keep my costs as low as possible? How do I cope with weather extremes? This is the last post in this series, and we will be discussing a challenge that depends on everything we have discussed in the previous 5 installments. The last challenge Hope mentioned is; How do I stay flexible? This is a very important question, and one many ignore. It is [...]

Value addition in agriculture – 2

December 18, 2023 Johann Thorgeirsson 0

We already met Ellinace Mwale, on her farm in Lumbadzi, Dowa, in the center region of Malawi. Before we go into Birds Eye Chili and her value-adding activity, I wanted to know more about her farm, and why she chose agriculture as her career. Ellinace Mwale tells me, “I decided on agriculture for two reasons. For the food security and for the business. You see, agriculture plays a dual role for small farmers, first, it provides food and reduces our dependencies on others. We grow our own food, but the second part is business since we can sell any excess crops [...]

Value addition in agriculture – 1

December 16, 2023 Johann Thorgeirsson 0

Value addition should be a priority in any business. Value-adding activity has a higher gross margin than the product prior to the value-adding process, in most cases. In terms of agriculture, value-adding activity can take many forms. It can be as simple as dividing vegetables into consumer-size packaging, instead of 25 – 50 kg sacks, or it can be as complicated as creating a production line of finished goods, say, frozen vegetables, or French fries ready for the frying pot. Up to now, I have not been lucky enough to find a farmer who processes her harvest into a finished product. [...]

SETTING GOALS FOR 2024!

December 14, 2023 Johann Thorgeirsson 0

By the beginning of this year, I wrote about how to set goals. I do not know how many people actually did take that to heart, wrote down their goals for 2023, and then followed the process, but I can assure you, that those who did, on average, are over 80% more likely to have achieved their goals than those who did not. This is a proven statistic for the business world. Those who set goals and follow the process are over 80% more likely to achieve what they want than those who do not. Now we are approaching mid-November, and [...]

Post – 1 – Save Life Initiative, Sierra Leone – Introduction

December 12, 2023 Johann Thorgeirsson 0

A few weeks back we reported on Isatu’s Hope from Lungi City, Pewulay Village in the northern province of Sierra Leone, and her agricultural projects and her work with Global Children Humanitarian Organization (Orphanage). We are still in Sierra Leone, and now we are with Issa Conteh, the Founder/Chief Executive Officer of Save Life Initiative, a community development program. Save Life Initiative was founded on 12th July 1989, in Fadugu, Koinadugu District, Northeastern Region in Sierra Leone. The Program and its founder have won the West Africa Leadership Award in 2018, and Street Child Headcount winner, and IFSP Presidential Winner in 2022. The [...]

Tree of Life – 3

December 10, 2023 Johann Thorgeirsson 0

In our last discussion with Judith Liposa, the project manager at Hope Ministries International (HOMI). She was explaining about a reforestation project HOMI has in Malawi and the environmental impact it will have. In our first post, we went over five reasons why trees are important and the role they play in the ecosystem, and then in the second post we discussed the overall impact forests have on the environment at large. But what about the farmers? What kind of an impact will this kind of project have on them and their livelihood? I want to know more about how [...]

CHALLENGE – 5 – How do I cope with weather extremes?

December 8, 2023 Johann Thorgeirsson 0

Once again, we turn to the challenges facing farmers. We have already discussed: How to increase yield per acre? How do I reduce waste and take quality to the next level? What choices do we make in terms of mechanization? How do I keep my costs as low as possible? Now we will be addressing a challenge that is out of our control. The weather. How do we control something uncontrollable? Well, the short answer is; We don’t! We cannot control the weather, but while we cannot control it, we can prepare for it. Your preparation will be different depending on your location. You will [...]

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