Ebook: Business management for tropical dairy farmers

Most countries in South-East Asia have established smallholder dairy farming industries through social welfare and rural development programs to provide a regular cash flow for poorly resourced farmers. These farms are now being treated as accepted rural industries and require a more business-minded approach based on changes to farm profitability.Business Management for Tropical Dairy Farmers gives smallholder dairy farmers the business management skills they will need to remain sustainable. It shows how to budget cash inputs to match cash outflows during different seasons of the year, and how to invest wisely in improving cattle housing and feeding systems.It will require farmers to make greater use of formats and structures for farm costs and returns allowing them to be aware of the relative importance of all their financial inputs in terms of cost of production per kilogram of milk produced on the farm. It will also allow them to make more meaningful and timely decisions by correctly costing planned changes to their routine farming practices.The book will also be of use to support organizations to more clearly define the key drivers of profit on smallholder farms, and to government departments and national dairy organizations to routinely evaluate and update their industry policies.This book will draw on detailed financial analyses of small holders in many south and east Asian countries, such as Pakistan, Thailand and Malaysia, and will be a companion volume to Tropical Dairy Farming.Features· Demonstrates how small scale dairy farms can make profits· Presents various methods to determine cost of production and takes all the costs of dairy farming into account including imputed costs such as family labor or depreciation· Gives concise summaries of various key aspects of production technology, such as feed and herd management· Introduces concepts such as marginal responses and partial budgets· Discusses methods to recognize and diagnose poor farm profitability