You probably have heard that Billionaire Bill Gates is now running a campaign aimed at alleviating poverty in Africa by helping poor families to rear chicken. He intends to give 100,000 chicken to starter farmers in Africa.
Without going to the details of his project, the fact that Bill Gates has chosen to do this says much more about the prospects of chicken farming as a business than it does about his philanthropic kind. I caught a video of him explaining why he believes that chicken farming in Africa can be big business. Allow me to share some of his thoughts that I completely agree with.
1. Extremely high returns
Bill Gates says that there is no investment that has a high return percentage like the business of breeding chicken. Let us take an example of a farmer starting off with five hens and a rooster of improved quality: the farmer would have an initial investment of about Sh. 3500 taking an average of Sh. 500 for each hen and 1000 for the rooster. With a good breed of chicken, the farmer would be able to have a flock of about 40 chicken in just about 4 months. Selling them at Sh.500 each, the farmer would make a cool Sh.20,000. So that is more than 450% profit!
2. Low running costs
Well I know the calculations above have overlooked many practical costs of the chicken farming business. Essentially, you would need to provide feeds, vaccines, treatments and maybe labour. However, these costs are significantly reduced of you choose to keep the Kienyeji breed of chicken. This breed is hardy to start with. So the cost of vaccines and treatments is kept at the lowest. The Kienyeji chicken also scavenge for food from the ground, digging up insects and browsing on green grass. Feeding them just once in a day to supplement their findings is enough. Since they range freely, you also need minimal labour in feeding them.
3. Huge potential to grow
I am yet to find out a farming business that has a greater potential to grow into a million shilling project within a short time than does the chicken farming business. Chicken multiply exponentially and with that the business of keeping them grows at a similar rate. I remember while in high school we started a chicken rearing project with 40 Kienyeji hens and in one year, we sold a flock of over 500 chicken even though some were just 2 months chicks. All those were just from the parent stock.
While most of the farming businesses bring great satisfaction, I think and believe chicken farming is the most rewarding. I hope this inspires and challenges you into chicken farming especially the kienyeji breed. God bless.
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