Business plan for an agriculture business

The reality is that within a market economy it’s very risky to start or run a business in an agricultural sphere without sufficient self-certification, activity projection and planning: to set up contracts, to take on credits, to mortgage, etc.

Agricultural businesses start projection and planning of their activity from working-out of a business plan – a document which is standard for the majority of market-economy countries.

A business development plan is a complete plan of an organization’s development and along with financial reporting documents acts as the main document of business activities. The most important feature of the business development plan is the accuracy of quantitative indexes and substantial, proficient validity of every item of the plan. The main purpose of making up the business development plan is to reflect to the fullest extent possible the socioeconomic situation of a business and possibilities of its development.

The “LICC Minagriculprod” UE through the request of the Ministry of agriculture and food products of the Republic of Belarus produced a software package, which is meant for automating of a business development plan’s working-out for an agricultural business, known as “NIVA: Business plan”.

The software package “NIVA: Business plan” is meant for:

Automating of the process of working out of a Business development plan for an agricultural business.
Mutual agreement of production programs: Plant production, Livestock breeding and Production.
Quantitative and qualitative validity of every item of the plan.
The agricultural organization’s performance evaluation.

The main functions of the software package “NIVA: Business plan”:

Provision of feasibility studies where the business ideas are spelled out, the need in resources and their appropriate placement are determined, weak pockets are specified in order to cut possible risks and uncertainties.
It is a management tool and an instruction how to put intentions into action, as well as a criterion which is used to value work on its fulfilment.
It is a tool for financing implementation of the given development project of the agricultural business.

The advantages of the software package “NIVA: Business plan”:

Automatic calculation of the Business plan. For this purpose it’s enough to enter primary data and once only to fill in reference books of measurement date, formed and approved in the given business, to enter or to change the reference data which is updated occasionally, once in a year (a few years). What is more, it doesn’t mean you will have to add a new schedule, a process card, etc. all over again. It’s enough to make a copy of the document and to change some outdated information in it, if it’s necessary.
Existence of the Process card with a list of work, which should be done for cultivation of crops as soon as is practicable. Automatic calculation of expenditure on POL and salary upon every job according to the standards of labor forces and POL consumption, approved in the given business. The software package is supplied with a generic list of work and standards, which are stated for power machines and mechanisms of the “Standard output quotas and fuel consumption for mechanized fieldwork in an agricultural business” catalog, prepared by members of the “Republic's regulations research center” institution of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Belarus.

A capability to make up a Business plan for every year thereafter not from scratch but already having data of the previous period (thus, the expired year’s work in progress is the current year’s start of production), it’s enough to choose a number of the previous production program. What is more, it should be noted that the given program product doesn’t set a limit on the amount of Business plan’s variants for one and the same time period. That provides a good scope of work for drawing up of different variants of the business work planning.
Existence of the full set of all documents’ print forms, that significantly lightens the document flow of a business and reporting information delivery to higher-level authorities.

A possibility not only to plan business activities but also to set up the state of things. It is brought into action by making up a counteract of the approved Business plan and information updating on the ground of already known actual data. Thereby, it’s possible to fully assess work of the business having two Business plans for one and the same time period, a planned and a factual one. It provides a framework for further planning and functioning of the business.
A user-friendly interface allows users to master the software package as soon as possible.

Thus, automation of Business planning in agricultural businesses is an important moment that helps not only to plan all expenses and incomings of the upcoming period but also to reflect the general picture of the business work efficiency. This gives a nice basis for further development of the business.

As of today, the software package “NIVA: Business plan” is the only replicated industry solution for automation of the Business plan making-up for agricultural organizations in the Republic of Belarus.