Are you about starting a banana farm? If YES, here’s a complete sample banana farming business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE to raise money. As an aspiring entrepreneur who is interested in starting a business in the agricultural sector of the economy, you can be rest assured that there are loads of business opportunities in the industry and commercial banana farming is one of them.
Banana is very nutritious and it is known to be one of the healthiest snacks around. Bananas contain loads of essential nutrients and are beneficial for digestion, heart health and weight loss. Banana farming is known to be a profitable business and over the years, it has evolved from small scale to a global industry in most countries where it is carried out. Countries in the Caribbean, South America, North America and Africa are known to be in the forefront when it comes to cultivating bananas.
It is important to state that starting a banana farming business comes with its own fair share of challenges, but that does not rule out the fact that it is indeed a profitable business venture. An aspiring entrepreneur can either choose to start a banana farm on a small scale or on a large scale depending on their financial status.
Below is a sample banana farming business plan template that can help you to successfully write your own with little or no difficulty.
The agricultural industry of which commercial banana farming is a subset of, is no doubt among the leading industries in most countries of the world; it is the industry that produces food for the populace and of course raw materials for industries.
Because of the significant role the agriculture sector plays, the government of most countries ensure that they go all the way to subsidize seedlings, fertilizer, farm implements and machinery for farmers and also encourage entrepreneurs to go into commercial farming. Bananas are rich in potassium, which is said to help treat warts, bruises, cuts and scrapes. Potassium also helps with the healing process for cuts, scrapes and bruises.
Banana farming is indeed one of many businesses that an entrepreneur who is interested in going into commercial farming can major in. As a matter of fact, there are several banana plantations scattered all around South America and coastal states in the united states of America. This is so because bananas easily grow and thrive in water – logged areas.
Statistics has it that farming (most especially commercial farming) of which banana farming is a part of, employs more than 24 million American workers (which is roughly17 percent of the total workforce in the United States). For example, in 2006, the average American commercial farmer grew enough food for about 144 other people and also in 1940, the average farmer grew food for about 19 other people (which was close to enough food).
Record has it that in 2007, just 187,816 of the 2.2 million farms in the United States of America accounted for 63% of sales of agricultural products, marking a trend of concentration in agricultural production. Agricultural efficiency has increased over the past century from 27.5 acres/worker in 1890 to 740 acres/worker in 1990.
As a matter of fact, with the recent advancement in technology, farmers can now comfortably grow crops such as banana in a country where such crops can hardly survive and in places where there are few farm land; people can make use of the rooftop (basement) of their houses to cultivate banana even for commercial purposes.
One thing is certain when it comes to commercial banana farming, if you are able to conduct your market research and feasibility studies before choosing a location to cultivate your banana, you are not going to struggle to grow and sell your banana because there are always food processing companies and consumers out there who are ready to buy from you.
Lastly, it will pay you not to only cultivate banana and sell them for consumption in farm markets; you can as well start a complimentary business like banana processing plant to process and package the banana. The bottom line is that if you have enough farm land (space) and you are interested in maximizing commercial banana farming, you are sure going to make huge profits from the business.
Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. is a world class and registered commercial farm that will be based in the outskirt of Tallahassee, Florida – United States. We have done our detailed market research and feasibility studies and we were able to secure a suitable farm land to start our commercial banana farming.
Our commercial banana farm is a going to be a standard commercial banana farm that will be involved in both commercial banana cultivation and banana processing and packaging. We will be involved in both organic commercial banana farming and non – organic commercial banana farming.
We have put plans in place that will help us launch a standard and world – class banana processing plant within the first three years of officially running Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. We will process and package banana and ensure that they flood the market both in the United States and in other countries of the world.
Asides from the fact that we have secured the required farm land and most of the farm equipment and machines, we have also hired some key employees who are currently undergoing training to be able to fit into the ideal picture of the 21 st century commercial banana farm workforce that we want to build.
We are in the commercial banana farming business because we want to leverage on the vast opportunities available in the commercial farming industry to contribute our quota in growing the U.S. economy as well as contribute to national food production. We would equally produce raw materials for industries, export agriculture produce from the United States to other countries, and also make profit.
Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. is well positioned to become one of the leading commercial banana farms in the United States of America, which is why we have been able to source for the best hands and farm machineries to run the farm with.
We have put process and strategies in place that will help us employ best practices when it comes to commercial banana farming, processing and packaging as required by the regulating bodies in the United States of America.
Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. is a family business that is owned by Mr. Hankins Jordan and his immediate family members. The farm cum business will be fully and single-handedly financed by Hankins Jordan and his immediate family members.
Before starting Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc., Hankins Jordan has worked with some of the leading commercial farms and food processing plants in the United States of America; he has a degree (B.Sc.) in Agriculture Science from the University of Florida.
Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. is a world class commercial farm that is committed to cultivating organic and non – organic banana for both the United States’ market and the global market. We are in business to produce food and raw materials for people and industries in commercial quantities. We will also ensure that we operate a standard banana processing and packaging plant as part of our complimentary business.
We are in this line of business to make profits, and we will ensure that we do all that is allowed by the law of the United States of America to achieve our business goals and objectives. These are the areas we will concentrate on in our commercial banana farm. If need arises we will definitely cultivate related crops;
Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. is a commercial banana farm that intends starting small in Tallahassee – Florida, but hope to grow big in order to compete favorably with leading commercial banana farms in the commercial farming industry both in the United States and on a global stage.
We are aware of the importance of building a solid business structure that can support the picture of the kind of world class business we want to own. This is why we are committed to only hire the best hands in and around Florida.
At Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc., we will ensure that we hire people that are qualified, hardworking, dedicated, customer centric and are ready to work to help us build a prosperous business that will benefit all the stakeholders (the owners, workforce, and customers).
As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our senior management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of five years or more as agreed by the management of the farm. In view of the above, Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. have decided to hire qualified and competent hands to occupy the following positions;
Chief Operating Officer:
General Farm Manager
Administrator/Accountant
Banana Cultivation Manager/Supervisor
Banana Processing and Packaging Manager/Supervisor
Sales and Marketing Officer
Field Workers/Contract Staff
Client Service Executive/Front Desk Officer
Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. do not intend to launch out with trial and error hence the need to conduct a proper SWOT analysis. We know that if we get it right from the onset, we would have succeeded in creating the foundation that will help us build a standard banana farm that will favorably compete with leading commercial banana farms in the United States of America and in the rest of the world.
We are quite aware that there are several large, medium and small scale banana farms all over Tallahassee – Florida and even in the same location where we intend locating ours, which is why we are following the due process of establishing a business.
We know that if proper SWOT analysis is conducted for our business, we will be able to position our business to maximize our strength, leverage on the opportunities that will be available to us, mitigate our risks and be welled equipped to confront our threats.
Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. employed the services of an expert HR and Business Analyst with bias in the commercial farming industry to help us conduct a thorough SWOT analysis and to help us create a Business model that will help us achieve our business goals and objectives.
Here is a summary from the result of the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc.;
Our strength as a commercial banana farm is the fact that we have healthy relationships with loads of major players (agriculture merchants who deal in bananas) in the commercial farms industry; both suppliers and buyers within and outside of the United States.
We have some of the latest commercial farming machines, tools and banana processing equipment that will help us cultivate banana in commercial quantities with less stress. Aside from our relationship (network) and equipment, we can confidently boast that we have some the most experienced hands in Tallahassee – Florida in our payroll.
Our weakness could be that we are a new commercial banana farm in the United States, and perhaps the fact that we decided to diversify our farming activities could count against us too. We are aware of this and from our projection, we will overcome this weakness with time and turn it to a major advantage for the business.
The opportunities that are available to us cannot be quantified, we know that there are loads of individuals who consume both organic and non – organic bananas in different forms both in the United States of America and other parts of the world. We will ensure that we maximize the opportunities available to commercial banana farmers.
Some of the threats and challenges that we are likely going to face when we start our own commercial banana farm are global economic downturn that can impact negatively on household spending, bad weather cum natural disasters (draughts, epidemics), unfavorable government policies and the arrival of a competitor (a commercial farm that cultivates same crops) within same location.
There is hardly anything we can do as regards these threats and challenges other than to be optimistic that things will continue to work for our good.
One of the common trends in the commercial banana farming line of business is that most players in the industry are no longer concentrating only on non – organic banana farming. They now find it easier to run both organic banana cultivation and non – organic banana cultivation. It is a fact that despite that organic food are expensive, the demand for organic food is on the increase and it is indeed profitable.
The fact that commercial banana farming has been in existence since time immemorial does not in any way make the industry to be over saturated; commercial banana farmers are exploring new technology to continue to improve the cultivation, preservation and processing processes. The fact that there is always a ready market for bananas makes the business highly profitable.
Lastly, it is a common trend to find standard commercial banana farmers running a banana processing plant alongside their farm. It is a means of maximizing profits in the business. Besides, bananas have short-shelve lifespan hence it is ideal to process, package and ship it to other countries of the world as soon as possible.
It is a known fact that the target market of commercial banana farming is all encompassing; it is far – reaching. Almost every household consumes bananas. In essence a commercial banana farmer should be able to sell his or her farm produce to as many people as possible including hotels, grocery stores, restaurants and dormitories et al.
We will ensure that we position our business to attract consumers of banana not just in the United States of America alone but also other parts of the world which is why we will be exporting some of our farm produce either in raw form or processed form to other countries of the world.
The truth is that it is easier to find entrepreneurs flocking towards an industry that is known to generate consistent income which is why there are more commercial farmers in the United States of America and of course in most parts of the world.
Statistics has it that there were 2.2 million farms in the United States of America covering an area of 922 million acres. This goes to show that there are an appreciable number of farmers in the United States of America but that does not mean that there is stiff competition in the industry.
As a matter of fact, entrepreneurs are encouraged by the government to embrace commercial farming. This is so because part of the success of any nation is her ability to cultivate her own food and also export foods to other nations of the world.
Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. is fully aware that there are competitions when it comes to selling commercial farm produce including bananas all over the globe, which is why we decided to carry out thorough research so as to know how to take advantage of the available market in the United States and in other parts of the world.
We have done our homework and we have been able to highlight some factors that will give us competitive advantage in the marketplace; some of the factors are effective and reliable banana farming processes that can help us sell our produce at competitive prices, good network and excellent relationship management.
Another competitive advantage that we are bringing to the industry is the fact that we designed our business in such a way that we will operate an all – round standard commercial banana farm that will also include a banana processing plant. With this, we will be able to take advantage of all the available opportunities within the industry.
Lastly, our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category (start-ups commercial banana farms) in the industry meaning that they will be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our aims and objectives.
Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. is in the commercial farming business for the purpose of maximizing profits hence we have decided to explore all the available opportunities within the industry to achieve our corporate goals and objectives.
In essence we are not going to rely only on the sale of our farm produce to generate income for the business. Below are the sources we intend exploring to generate income for Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc.;
We conducted a thorough market survey and feasibility studies and we were able to discover that the sales generated by a commercial farm depends on the size of the farm and the nature of the commercial farm (whether cattle rearing, poultry farming, fish farming and crops cultivation et al).
We have perfected our sales and marketing strategies and we are quite optimistic that we will meet or even surpass our set sales target of generating enough income/profits from the year of operations and build the business from survival to sustainability.
We have been able to critically examine the agriculture industry cum commercial banana farm line of business, we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast.
N.B: This projection is done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown that can impact negatively on household spending, bad weather cum natural disasters (draughts, epidemics), and unfavorable government policies. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.
Our sales and marketing team will be recruited based on their vast experience in the industry and they will be trained on a regular basis so as to be well equipped to meet their targets and the overall goal of the organization. We want to build a standard and world – class banana farm that will leverage on word of mouth advertisement from satisfied clients (both individuals and businesses).
Over and above, we have perfected our sale and marketing strategies first by networking with agriculture merchants and companies that rely on bananas as their major raw materials. In summary, Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. will adopt the following strategies in marketing our commercial banana farm produce;
Any business that wants to grow beyond the corner of the street or the city they are operating from must be ready and willing to utilize every available means (conventional and non – conventional means) to advertise and promote the business.
We intend growing our business which is why we have perfected plans to build our brand via every available means. Below are the platforms we will leverage on to boost our commercial banana farm brand and to promote and advertise our business;
Some of the factors that will help you sell your bananas at the right price that will guarantee that you make profit are dependent on your strategy while some of the factors are beyond your control.
For example, if the climatic condition is unfavorable and if there are natural disasters in the location where you have your commercial banana farm, then it will directly affect the harvest of banana and also the prices of your farm produce.
Over and above, if you want to get the right pricing for your farm produce, you should ensure that you choose a good location for your commercial farm, choose a good breed/seeds that will guarantee bountiful harvest, cut the cost of running your farm to the barest minimum and of course try as much as possible to attract buyers to your farm as against taking your farm produce to the market to source for buyers; with this, you would have successfully eliminate the cost of transporting your harvest to the market and other logistics.
We are quite aware that one of the easiest means of penetrating the market and acquiring loads of customers for all our bananas is to sell them at competitive prices hence we will do all we can to ensure that the prices of our bananas are going to be what other commercial banana farmers would look towards beating.
One thing is certain, the nature of commercial farming makes it possible for farmers to place prices for their farm produces based on their discretion without following the benchmark in the industry. The truth is that it is one of the means of avoiding running into loss. The easier you sell off your harvested banana the better for your business.
The payment policy adopted by Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. is all inclusive because we are aware that different customers prefer different payment options as it suits them but at the same time, we will ensure that we abide by the financial rules and regulation of the United States of America.
Here are the payment options that Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. will make available to her clients;
In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will enable our clients make payments for farm produce purchased without any stress on their part. Our bank account numbers will be made available on our website to clients who may want to deposit cash or make online transfers.
When it comes to calculating the cost of starting a commercial banana farm with a banana processing plant, there are some key factors that should serve as a guide. Factors such as the capacity of banana processing plant you want to own and the size of the commercial banana farm.
Besides, in setting up any business, the amount or cost will depend on the approach and scale you want to undertake. If you intend to start a world – class commercial farm, then you would need good capital as you would need to ensure that your employees are well taken care of, and that your farm is conducive enough for workers to be creative and productive.
This means that the start-up can either be low or high depending on your goals, vision and aspirations for your business. The tools and equipment that will be used are nearly the same cost everywhere, and any difference in prices would be minimal and can be overlooked.
Below are some of the basic areas we will spend our start – up capital in setting up our commercial banana farm;
Going by the report from detailed research and feasibility studies conducted, we will need an average of $500,000 to start a standard commercial banana farm with a banana processing plant in the United States of America. These are some of the equipment that we would need to fully launch our commercial banana farm,
Basically, the nature of commercial banana farms does not require an office space, most people that run commercial farms operate directly from their farms. But we have decided to open a small liaison office; a place where administrative jobs will be carried out on behalf of the business.
Generating Funds/Startup Capital for Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc.
Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. is a family business that will be owned and managed by Hankins Jordan and his immediate family members. They are the sole financiers of the firm, but may likely welcome other partners later which is why they decided to restrict the sourcing of the start – up capital for the business to just three major sources.
These are the areas where we intend sourcing for fund for Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc.;
N.B: We have been able to generate about $100,000 (Personal savings $80,000 and soft loan from family members $20,000) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of $400,000 from our bank. All the papers and documents have been duly signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited.
The future of a business lies in the number of loyal customers that they have, the capacity and competence of the employees, their investment strategy and the business structure. If all of these factors are missing from a business (company), then it won’t be long before the business closes shop.
One of our major goals of starting Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. is to build a business that will survive off its own cash flow without the need of injecting finance from external sources once the business is officially running. We know that one of the ways of gaining approval and winning customers over is to sell our farm produce a little bit cheaper than what is obtainable in the market and we are well prepared to survive on lower profit margin for a while.
Hankins Jordan® Banana Farms, Inc. will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that our staff welfare are well taken of. Our organization’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and re – training of our workforce is at the top burner of our business strategy.
As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of five years or more as determined by the management of the organization. We know that if that is put in place, we will be able to successfully hire and retain the best hands we can get in the industry, and they will be more committed to help us build the business of our dreams.
Check List/Milestone
