By Albert Makendenge
Even for those who have achieved high success on the agricultural scene, it is a well-known fact that game of agriculture is deeply submerged in oceans of risk and uncertainty. Each day comes with its own troubles and one never knows quite what to expect. It would be very rare for a farmer to go the whole agricultural season or the whole year without ever encountering one or two of the following risks.
For one reason or the other, the quantity and quality of the final and expected yield may come up short. Production and productivity is a function of a complex set of factors that are encountered through various stages of growth and development and one or two things are bound to go wrong (prominent among these being changes in rainfall and temperature patterns).
For those who are into farming for the final package it provides or in it for the money, it is not just about the production side but the marketing side as well. At the end of the day it may be more about the factors of demand and supply of the commodity in question more than the quality and quantity of it.
Economic or financial challenges in the form of inflation, changes in exchange and interest rates are also of major concern and a constant headache to farmers. One can simply go from very bright prospects of profitability to the brink of huge losses in a single day.
With mere luck and no experience whatsoever, one may simply take a leap of faith into this world of risks and just about make it out the other end but it takes well calculated risk taking to instill a certain level of assurance and confidence.