Curriculum (PDF) - Biovision

Learning activities
Note
Facilitator-led introduction: importance
of keeping farm records
Facilitator-led discussion on types of
farm records and their preparation
• If you keep records properly, they will provide you
with answers that lead to better farm management
decisions
• Record keeping should be simple to make it easy
for you to use and to avoid making mistakes
• For you to get maximum value out of your records
make sure you update them regularly and timely
Topic 4: Enterprise budgets
A budget provides the answer to the question:
what will be the profit or loss of doing
a certain enterprise? Budgeting relates to
the future. It tells us what the profitability
of an enterprise or activity will be if we
decide to use a certain production technology.
Budgeting is a planning tool used by
several kinds of people including farmers,
managers, extension specialists, and
policy makers.
Learning objectives
On completion of this topic participants will
be able to:
Understand the importance of budgets
as a tool in management of farm
business
Develop budgets to compare the
inputs used in various enterprises and
eventually their net profits
Learning activities
Facilitator-led introduction on meaning
of enterprise budgets (What is an
enterprise budget?)
Facilitator-led discussion of format for
enterprise budgets
18 | Push-pull curriculum
Brainstorm on the uses of enterprise
budgets (Are enterprise budgets
necessary?)
Give examples for group exercise
Enterprise budgets
Single budgets are easier to use,
monitor and evaluate
Single enterprise budgeting has several
uses:
• Helps in considering the profitability
of a single enterprise – Using the
budgeting method helps one to
investigate the profitability of a
particular enterprise regardless of
other farm enterprises
• Helps in monitoring and control
– Budgeting can be used for
comparing actual implementation
with planning, in order to identify and
solve problems during the production
season
• Helps in whole farm planning – The
most important component of
any planning method is the list of
enterprise budgets and their gross
margins. The single enterprise
budget also enables the planner to
‘grade’ enterprises, and classify them
according to their characteristics
and profitability with regard to the
production factors
• Helps in preparing normative
budgets – Budgets of single
enterprises are compiled by
government agencies for planning
and policy implementation for
providing ‘know-how’ and information
to the farmers and advising them on
what to grow