Compare real net profit in your pocket across farm-gate buyers, local open markets, city wholesale markets, and contract buyers. Check if storing for off-season prices will make you money.
A high market price in the city does not always mean more money in your pocket if transport, trader commissions, and transit spoilage eat away your profits.
Two farmers with the exact same 10-ton harvest can end up with completely different incomes. One sells into a harvest glut at low prices, while the other stores or targets direct buyers and earns double. This tool calculates your true net profit after all hidden costs.
Growing a great crop is only 50% of farming. The other 50% is marketing smart. Master these principles to earn more money from every harvest.
Middlemen provide a valuable transport service, but dishonest brokers exploit uncoordinated farmers. Always use your own spring balance or platform scale to weigh sacks. Never accept "heaped crates" (sandak) where buyers take 40kg of tomatoes while paying for 30kg. Group together with 4-5 neighbors to fill a whole truck and bypass local brokers.
When everyone plants with the first rain in November, everyone harvests maize and tomatoes in March. Supply surges, and prices collapse by 60%. Beat the glut by staggered planting (planting small batches every 2 weeks), planting off-season with drip irrigation, or using early/late maturing hybrid seed varieties.
Mixing small, blemished fruit with large, clean, premium fruit drags your entire crate down to Grade 2 prices. Sorting your harvest into Grade 1 (flawless, uniform) and Grade 2 (smaller or cosmetic marks) allows you to sell Grade 1 to supermarkets and hotels at a 40% premium, while selling Grade 2 to local food processors and open markets.
PICS (Purdue Improved Crop Storage) bags use three airtight plastic layers. When grain is sealed inside at safe moisture (< 13%), live weevils use up the remaining oxygen within 24 hours and suffocate. You can store clean maize and beans for up to 2 years with zero chemical poison dust, saving you chemical costs and allowing you to sell at peak off-season prices.
It depends on your harvest volume and the price gap. If the city price is $10 and the farm-gate price is $5, but truck transport, crates, offloading, and 5% transit loss cost $3.50 per crate, your net city income is $6.50. You make $1.50 more per crate in the city. However, if your volume is very small (less than 30 crates), the hassle and time spent may not be worth it compared to instant cash at your gate.
Grain naturally loses between 2% and 5% of its total weight over 3 to 6 months of storage due to natural evaporation of moisture and respiration. When calculating storage profit, always factor in a 3-5% weight shrinkage so you are not surprised when a 50kg bag weighs 48kg at selling time.
A forward contract is a formal or informal written agreement between a farmer and a buyer (like a school, hotel, or food processor) before harvest. It specifies the volume, quality grade, delivery date, and guaranteed fixed price. This protects the farmer against price crashes at harvest time.