Renowned strategists, Michael Tracy and Fred Wiersema, some years ago, undertook a critical overview of competitive advantage in business activities and parametres for achieving it. Their findings revealed that there are additional approaches apart from price leadership and differentiation.
The wonderful book on these findings is titled “Alternative Competitive Advantages.” It is their view that competitive advantages can also be achieved through superiority in unique expertise and process. In other words, paying deliberate attention to operational excellence will deliver unique values. Also, an organisation can “differentiate” with distinctive products that deliver exceptional beneficial values. The third approach is customer intimacy or painstaking deliberate efforts to deliver best total solutions to customers.
My emphasis today is on product performance especially in the area of distinctive beneficial values. Remember, we are focusing on our small holder farmers. Before I go deeper, let us also look at how the intrinsic values of products or services enhance salutary benefits.
Now, let us go back to farming and our focus on the small holder farming and the value chain. I own a small holder farm and also the head of a team of renowned agricultural experts. We grow food crops and are also involved in the raising of livestock. I recall with pride that small holder farms have been contributing a lot to providing access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food. We meet dietary needs and to a great extent, satisfy food preferences for a healthy and active lifestyle.
Small holder farms can be incredibly efficient in terms of food crops organic value creation as opposed to the large scale plantations (they of course have their benefits in terms of productivity and scaling). Large scale farmers “run” farms while the small holder farmers (usually) own their farms. They pay more attention to crops. Individual crops are better handled and we all know that the more you pay attention, the more the crops “reward” you.
My argument is that because these farmers produce efficiently nurtured nutritious crops and thereby, essentially boost vitamins intake, the value chain in this regard can be further enhanced and improved to radically support therapy through organic food crops that are not altered and totally free from chemicals.
A professor of Growth Finance, Aswath Damodaran, explained that enhancement of intrinsic values of products will, most reliably, deliver growth in value creation. Growth that is achieved from enhanced values not only guarantees cash flows, its uniqueness differentiates the organisation and also sustains and augments competitive advantage.
If food is indeed very basic to life and by extension, other productive ventures then, the plethora of health benefits that are derivable from the intrinsic value of food crops can surely be guaranteed and enhanced by small holder farmers who cultivate healthy and organic food. Organic food or food products, as we all know, are free from artificial agrichemicals. They are indeed, sine qua non for good health and we have them in abundance in Nigeria.
Food provides the stuff the body needs. Food with its nutrients such as catalysts, vitamins, minerals and fibres are the building blocks that determine how the body “efficiently” works. I am convinced that small holder farmers, if provided the much-needed tools and skills can be transformed for our benefits as the powerful engine that will unleash economic success in a developing country like Nigeria. They will as a matter of fact, produce internationally sought-after healthy and organic food items.
Only small holder farmers can produce highly nourished organic food by paying attention to tiny details of individual plants. For instance, this category of farmers knows even such critical things like the ideal soil temperature, among other things.
It is worthy of note that today and in spite of the highly mechanized mega farms in China, five percent (5%) of state farms is micro and it produces twenty percent (20%) of the overall food requirement. In the USSR, output value of small holder farms is thirty percent (30%).
The competitive advantage of these highly “loaded” food products is achieved when their latent attributes are fully tapped. Their health benefits for instance, will enable us “eat healthy”.
Let us look at some examples: beans, a well-known staple food in Nigeria, has remarkable health benefits. It is rich in amino acid and a great source of protein. It has cholesterol lowering benefits and very effective in handling cardiovascular ailments. Avocados have omega 3 fatty acid, vitamin K and high fibre content for bones. Ginger, that we are all used to, possesses incredible benefits. It is “rich in bioactive compounds and antioxidants that can reduce oxidative damage and provide many positive health benefits for the human body.” Do you know that it reduces nausea and vomiting? It also checks muscle discomfort and menstrual cramps. Ginger oil boosts the immune system, treat chronic indigestion, heartburn and gastric contraction. Respiratory Therapy Zone, a group of nutritionists, has discovered that ginger checkmates ageing by boosting brain cognition, chronic inflammation and oxidation stress within the body. It facilitates movement of glucose into the muscles without the aid of insulin and thereby effectively checks medical conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Apple with its soluble fibre, fights diabetes and asthma. Snacks like blue berries, are multitasking. They, for instance, have cancer and virus fighting properties. Chicken breast is also a good example of very reliable sources of essential calories, protein and vitamin B6.
Relevant tools and skill sets should be put in place to bring out and achieve the “best impact in performance” of these latent or intrinsic very useful values of these food crops.
As said earlier, only the small holder farmer, with the necessary support, can achieve phenomenal yield from their “diligently” managed farms. Our teeming unemployed graduates should be attracted to this incredibly attractive activity. We should recognize and support this activity as a fundamental foundation on which our economic prosperity as a nation can be achieved. The benefits locally and outside our shores are indeed immense.
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