How Immaculate Built An All-Round, Thriving Poultry Empire At 23

Matatus, boda boda riders and heavy trucks are competing for the little space left by earth movers constructing the Kisumu-Busia highway. We manage negotiate our way to Tiengre Shopping Centre, a 20-minute drive from Kisumu Town.

From here, one can see Kit Mikayi rock, a famous tourist attraction to the north and to the east, you can see aeroplanes landing and taking off from the Kisumu International Airport. We are looking for a young farmer who has set up a poultry empire here. He name is Immaculate Ochieng and her farm is called Green Farm.

We find her busy tending to her birds when we arrive. Her little child tucked firmly on her back, Immaculate, 23, goes about her business in her poultry farm with a lot of ease. She puts more layers mash in the feeding troughs, collects eggs and cleans the water cans.

She has 700 kuroiler chicken, 200 which are cockerels and the rest hens. “I sell eggs and birds for meat and hatch chicks. I have been doing this for over three years now,” she says.

Immaculate started chicken rearing as a hobby in 2012. She bought a 60 capacity egg incubator using her ‘chama’ savings. She also bought two crates of eggs at Sh1,800. Through the support of her husband and the youth group in which she is a member, her business has expanded.

Poultry Empire

Immaculate is an all-round farmer who is carving a niche in the business as she works on her dream of building a poultry empire. She also makes poultry feeds using a machine called drum mixer that she owns. She feeds her chicken with some and sells the rest to other farmers. Immaculate further has a 3,000 egg capacity incubator that she uses to hatch eggs for sale. Also, she offers brooding services to farmers.

“I started this business after getting tired of being a stay-at-home mum. I talked to my husband and he agreed to support me. He bought the birds and built the poultry houses. I later bought the incubator at Sh44,000 and the feed mixer.”

The farmer collects 860 eggs after every two days. From this, she keeps 350 for hatching. She sells unfertilized ones at Sh330 per crate while the fertilised Sh900. “I put the fertilised eggs into the incubator after every seven days to ensure I have chicks all the time.”

For brooding services, which involves vaccinating chicks, keeping them in the brooder for several days and feeding them, the charges differ depending on the age of the birds. The cost ranges from Sh130 to Sh240 per chick per week, with brooding a month old birds attracting the highest fees.

She says many farmers buy three- week old birds because they are easy to manage as they have been vaccinated. She sells between 300 and 500 chicks each week.

She sells mature cocks at Sh1,200 and hens at Sh1,000. She disposes the cocks at four months at Sh500 to avoid inbreeding. If she does not get ready market, she separates them from the rest and waits for them to mature so that she can sell at Sh1,200.

“I market my products through Seeds of Gold and free online classified websites,” says Immaculate, who is studying an online computer science programme at the University of the People, California, US.

To make feeds, she buys the ingredients that include maize germ, sunflower and cotton seed cake, pollard, grounded shells and salt (iodine) from dealers in Kisumu. She says salt is important during the formulation of feeds because lack of it in feeds or diet may result to diseases.

A 50kg bag of maize germ retails at Sh860 while the same amount of pollard goes for Sh1,050. “It is advisable to have one reliable supplier to buy the ingredients from for accountability. Besides, some of the ingredients sold in the market are contaminated and may affect the chicken,” says Immaculate, who researches heavily on poultry farming on the internet, and sells 50kg at Sh2,000.

Balancing

For shells picked from the shores of Lake Victoria, she gets a kilo at Sh25 from a supplier in Ahero market. “I have no problem balancing between studies, my family and rearing poultry. I submit my assignments every week which gives me time to concentrate on poultry and family.”

“As a married woman, I would get visitors, and I preferred cooking for them chicken. This prompted me to start rearing the birds,” says Immaculate, who is a member of Mazingira Youth Group, which gives her loans whenever she is in distress.

However, it has not been all rosy. Only 28 eggs out of the two crates she started with hatched. “By then, I had no idea that there was something like a candler to determine whether the eggs are capable of hatching.”

Poultry farming has made her sit with the high and mighty in the farming business. She recently travelled to Israel to learn from farmers there. The trip was sponsored by the UN Women, which seeks to equip them with leadership skills.

Jackson Achila, a poultry consultant based in Homa Bay at Blue Bound Farm, says the common poultry diseases are Newcastle, infectious bronchitis and gumboro, foul pox, foul typhoid and salmonella. “When birds are confined in one place, a farmer should be careful because one of these diseases may break out. However, these diseases can be managed through vaccination.”

He says it’s important to keep records of all birds especially the history of the parent birds so that the farmer is able to keep track of the diseases that have at one time affected them.

He advises farmers not rely on internet because they can be misled. “Unless it’s a site that gives the opinion of a well-known poultry consultant, then be cautious to use the information.”

By Everline Okewo, Nation Media.

More by this Author

How To Become a Successful Small-scale Poultry Farmer in Kenya

The road to becoming a successful poultry farmer is littered with obstacles, but success is not beyond the reach of small-scale farmers, if only they came together in well organised associations.

Small-scale farmers put a lot of effort and successfully raise a significant number of chicken. However, many of these small-scale poultry farmers have no choice but to sell a batch of fully-grown chickens one at a time. This is not conducive to running an efficient poultry farming business. This is why I am encouraging the formation of cluster groups to overcome these and other challenges, such as access to feed, vaccines and funds for expansion.

“People must stop working in silos and stop with the jealousy,” Ajallon Zondi, South African poultry expert once said. “Ajallon is a hatchery owner and observes that, “Farmers living in the same area are growing 500 chicks at the same time and then fighting for a market where each manages to sell just a few chickens at one at the lowest imaginable prices. Yet if they operate as a cluster, and co-ordinate and stagger production, they could go to a local market with a steady supply of 500 chickens a week. Transport and abattoir clusters can also be formed. Clusters working together can become a business unit.”

Secure a market first

I will borrow a leaf from another South African expert, Dr Shelley Johnston, a director and consultant facilitator at the KwaZulu-Natal Poultry Institute (KZNPI), who says, “Too often, we see farmers producing chickens and eggs and then trying to find a market for their goods. That’s the wrong way to go about things,” she says.

“If you don’t have customers, you don’t have a business. Ask your neighbours and local shops where they source eggs and chickens from. Find out what they pay, what quantity they buy, and whether or not they’re happy with their current supplier.”

The next step is to scout for a suitable area to farm.

Dr Shelley Johnston observes that the common business dynamics of supply vs price perfectly applies in the poultry business. She says, “If there are too many poultry farmers in an area, the price of poultry products drops. But if there’s a shortage in the area, the price goes up. So find an area where there’s a broad range of farming activities on the go.”

Another reason to find land far from other poultry farms is to prevent the spread of airborne diseases. “You also need to find a site with clean water, electricity, good roads, a moderate climate and close proximity to markets,” explains Johnston.

Start small

“Find yourself a niche market and go through the process of learning and expanding. Don’t expect overnight success,” she advises. While large agribusinesses benefit from economies of scale, small farmers can make more money per unit because they often sell directly to customers. “They may sell small volumes, but margins will be higher,” Johnston says.

She adds, however, that marketing is an active process. “Go and look for customers. Don’t wait for them to find you.”

Manage the money carefully

Once income starts coming in from selling eggs and broilers, it is crucial to manage the finances well. “Always have cash in the bank,” says Johnston. “The income you earn is not your profit. Don’t blow it. Put it in the bank and draw a small salary.” Now that is a point most of us miss.

The profit from the first and subsequent ventures should be banked and used to expand the business. “In this way, your business will grow, you will employ people to help, and your salary can increase,” says Johnston.

“The golden rule for new businesses is simple. The first aim is to stay in business. The second aim is to make profits!” The ultimate one is to grow!

How To Make Your Own Poultry Feed And Realize More Profit

With the rising cost of poultry feeds, farmers rearing chickens are increasingly finding it difficult to make profit from poultry keeping. While it is difficult for farmers to formulate feeds for hybrid chickens such as broilers and layers, they can do so for their indigenous chickens or dual-purpose breeds such as Kenbro under intensive management system. The biggest challenge on how to make one owns chicken feeds has been the formula on mixing the individual components.

This can be done using the Pearson Square method.However, this is only possible if farmers have the right quality of ingredients or raw material for formulating feeds.The Pearson Square method relies on the Digestible Crude Protein (DCP) as the basic nutritional requirement for feed. The most common ingredients used are whole maize, maize germ, cotton seed cake, soya beans, sunflower or omena (fishmeal).

Example 1: Feed for LayersAssuming that the farmer wantsto make feed for their chickens using the Pearson Square method, they have to know the crude protein content of each of the ingredients used in feed making. The farmer may use whole maize (8.23 % DCP) Soya (45 % DCP) Omena (55 % DCP) and maize bran (7 % DCP) Sunflower (35 % DCP). To make a 70 kg bag of feed for layers, a farmer would require the following ingredients:34 kg of whole maize12 kg of Soya8 kg of omena10 kg of maize bran6 kg of Lime (as a calcium source)Each category of chickens has its own requirements in terms of nutrition. For example, feed for layers should have at least 18 per cent crude protein.

If one were to formulate feed for layers, then they would have to calculate the percentage of digestible crude protein in each of the ingredients to ensure that the total crude protein content is at least 18 per cent to meet this nutritional requirement. To find out if the feed meets this standard, a farmer can do a simple calculation as follows:Whole maize = 34 kg x 8.23 ÷100 = 2.80 kgSoya bean = 12 kg x 45 ÷ 100 = 5.40 kgOmena = 8 kg x 55 ÷ 100 = 4.40 kgMaize bran = 10 kg x 7 ÷ 100 = 0.70 kgLime = 6 kg x 0 ÷ 100 = 0.00 kg(Total crude protein 13.30 kg)To get the total crude protein content of all these ingredients in a 70 kg bag, you take the total crude protein content of the combined ingredients, divide by 70 and multiply by 100 thus, (13.30÷70) x 100 = 19.0 %. This shows that the crude protein percentage in the above feed formulation is 19.0 % which is suitable for layers.

Before mixing the feed, whole maize including the other ingredients has to be broken into the right sizes through crushing or milling to make it palatable for the chickens. Add 250 g of table salt on every 70 kg bag of feed.Feed for chicken meant for meatChickens meant for meat production require feed with a higher content of DCP. From the first to the fourth week, thechicks require feed with a DCP content of between 22 to 24per cent. From the fourth to the eighth week, the chicks require feed with a protein content of 21 to 22 per cent crude protein.

To attain this requirement, farmers can formulate feed using the same method given above. To make a 70 kg bags of feed, they will need to have all the right the ingredients in the proportions given below:Whole maize = 40 kg x 8.23 ÷ 100 = 3.20 kgOmena = 12 kg x 55 ÷ 100 = 6.60 kgSoya beans = 14 kg x 45 ÷ 100 = 6.30 kgLime = 4 kg x 0 ÷ 100 = 0.00 kg(Total crude protein 16.10 kg)

To determine if a 70 kg bag of feed has adequate crude protein content for birds meant for meat production, the same methods is used: (16. 10 ÷ 70) x 100 = 23 %. The feed given in this example has a total crude protein contentof 23 % which is adequate to feed chicken in this category. In every 70 kg bag of feed, add 250g of table salt.

Ration for kienyeji chickenIndigenous chickens are less productive in terms of egg and meat increase. They may not require intensive feeding and management. For this category of chickens, farmers can constitute feeds with a DCP of between 15 - 16 %. Theycan use the following formulation to make feeds for the indigenous chickens:Whole maize = 33 kg x 8.23 ÷ 100 = 2.70 kgMaize or Wheat bra = 14 kg x 7 ÷ 100 = 0.98 kgOmena = 7 kg x 55 ÷ 100 = 3.85 kgSoya = 7 kg x 45 ÷ 100 = 3.15 kgLime = 5 kg x 0 ÷ 100 = 0.00 kg(Total crude protein 10.68 kg)Percentage of total crude Protein in the ingredients = (10.68 ÷70) x 100 = 15.25 %

For farmers rearing hybrid layers and broilers, it is advisable to buy already constituted feeds from reputable companies that sell quality feed. The main reason is that it is very difficult for farmers to constitute micronutrients such as amino-acids, trace minerals, fat and water soluble vitamins that these breeds of chicken require for proper growth.

To be sure that their feed is of the right quality, farmers cansend a sample of the constituted feeds for testing and advice to KARI Naivasha, which has modern equipment for testing feed quality. A sample costs Ksh 1,000 to test. Send samples by courier to the following address: KARI Naivasha P.O. Box 25, 20117 Naivasha, Tel. 0726 264 032. Results are ready within a day.

Some tips on how to feed chickenAn egg-laying chicken requires 130 g of feed per day (provide clean water at all times).

• 1 chick requires 2.2 kg of feed for 8 weeks (thus 100 chicks = 2.2 kg x 100=220 kg. Chicks should be allowed to feed continuously and given adequate clean water at all times). If they finish their daily rations, give them fruit and vegetables cuttings to feed on.

• 1 pullet (young chicken about to start laying) should be fed 4.5 kg of feed for two and a half months until the first egg is seen. It should then be put on layer diet. Supplementwith vegetables, edible plant leaves or fruits peelings in addition to the daily feed rations.

• All ingredients used must be of high quality and palatable. Never use rotten maize (Maozo). Chickens are very susceptible to aflatoxins poisoning.

• When using omena as an ingredient, ensure it is free of sand and seashells. Ifyou use maize germ, it should be completely dry.

• Feed should be thoroughly mixed to ensure the ingredients are uniformly distributed. It is preferable to use a drum mixer instead of a spade for mixing.

• Note that even after giving them the formulated feeds, chickens should be put on free range to scavenge for other micronutrients not provided for in the feeds.

All You Need Is A Well Formed Agribusiness Idea to Get Funding

Joseph Mungai left his hotel job in Dubai and returned to Kenya to help farmers with great agribusiness ideas achieve their dreams.

His mission started in Kirinyaga County, where he has helped several farmers groups to present documents that have attracted funding from both local and international financiers.

Mr Mungai set up Mkulima Empowerment Foundation (MeF) which links farmers with innovative ideas to non-refundable funds.

He talked to Seeds of Gold:

What were you doing before venturing into agribusiness?

I used to work Dubai as a reception manager at the Sheraton Hotel. I met many Kenyans who kept asking me what I was doing in a foreign country yet there were so many opportunities back home.

Though I was not seeing the opportunities, I came back anyway in 2007 and got a job with Plan International as a community appraisal manager. I had earlier earned a diploma in business administration from Kabete Technical Institute.

So how did you find yourself in agriculture?

Back home in Kirinyaga I could see women holding gallons of milk at 6am waiting for middlemen to come and take the milk at the price determined by the brokers. I felt sorry for the fleecing that was going on. I thought of doing something that would impact on their lives in a bigger way.

That was when I looked around, and attended workshops on accessing finance. I realised financing was one of the farmers’ biggest challenges.

I mobilised other farmers into a group which is today putting up a cooling plant under the Inoi Milk Cooling and Value Addition Project with the help of the European Union.

What is your day-to-day job?

We connect our registered members to organisations that give non-refundable capital and capacity building for free. We help farmers to have their innovative ideas funded through training.

VIABLE IDEAS

Many people have very viable ideas that can work if financed but most of the available financiers demand conditions which many people cannot afford. From banks to micro-finance institutions, loans are prohibitive and inaccessible because many people do not have collateral.

Donor organisations should have come to their aid, but writing proposals that can secure funding is the impediment. We bridge that gap.

You secured funding of more than Sh6 million. How did you do it?

I didn’t get the money as an individual. But my group was awarded Sh6.7 million by the European Union for the proposal I did last year. I was rated the best community mobiliser out of the 11,000 applicants who did proposals. Only 124 proposals were funded, eventually.

In these workshops I realised there is a lot of money out there, but many needy people don’t know how to access it. But a warning to those who might think you can do anything with the money: If you do anything other than that intended, the donors will force you to refund every coin.

You charge individuals Sh50 and Sh100 for membership. Yet that is hardly enough to sustain a business. How else do you earn a living?

Mkulima Empowerment Foundation, as the name suggests, is not exactly a business. But, we officials and members, are business people.

We are farmers. I am a dairy farmer. The membership fee payable by phone as you can see in our website is just to facilitate our operations.

Being a member qualifies you to get our funded proposal as well as training on viable activities. Once you apply for funds using by filling in the form in our website, we visit you on the ground to access your farm. We have mainly been working with groups in the dairy industry, the most successful being the Inoi Farmers Processing Plant, which was funded by the European Union to a tune of Sh6.7 million.

There is also Kifaice Women Group and several home industry projects available in our website. Now we are opening it up because the more we are the more we can do.

What would you say the government does not do in agriculture that it ought to do?

Countries that are food secure have a keen interest in private enterprises that are doing commercial farming. We do not have enough incentives from the government.

We are yet to fully encourage young people that agri-business is a rich area to earn a living. The government should mobilise young people to engage in profitable agriculture because this will create very many jobs.

Other firms that advance start-up credit facilities to funds well documented farm ideas include the KCB foundation mifugo ni mali project and the Youth Enterprise Fund. 

How to Keep Thousands of Chicken in Your Small Backyard

A few days ago I shared a story of the Most Ambitious Poultry Project by a Teenage Girl. Her's is an inspirational story of humble beginnings. Today, I came across a seasoned cage system poultry farmer with over 8000 chicken is a small farm. Here's his story.

The rows upon rows of red-to-tan birds furiously peck their marsh dishes, creating a symphony which is only disrupted, now and again, by a cacophony of clucking.

The birds occasionally tilt a small metallic knob above the feeding trough using their reddish-brown beaks and water trickles from the pipes into a small dish.  Water only trickles when the knob is touched and the birds have learnt so.

It is a hot afternoon and workers are seen collecting eggs with minimal disturbance to the hens. The floor of the cages is slightly inclined, with narrow vertical opening at the front side such that when the hens lay eggs on the floor of the cages, they roll out and only stop at a raised end.

Welcome to Reuben Chirchir’s poultry empire, which he has been building for the last three and-a-half years.

He is now uprooting a section of tea bushes at his Chebang’ang, Bomet County home to create way for a lorry that will be collecting eggs at his chicken farm gate.

“Egg production from my 8,600 chickens has doubled since I moved them from deep litter to the caging system,” Chirchir, an accountant at a government institution, says.

The birds are kept in twos inside each cube of long running cages arranged in rows. Each of the ladder-like cages holds a total of 120 chickens in lower, middle and upper storeys.

Eggs are collected after feeding in the morning and in the evening.

Chirchir and his three workers collect 128 trays that carry 30 eggs each daily, which amounts to an average of 3,500 in total, which are supplied to hotels in various destinations using a family pick-up.

Every Friday, about 800 trays are transported to Nairobi, 200 trays to Litein on Wednesdays while 350 trays are sent to Narok on Mondays.

Though the operations at the farm may now seem perfect, Chirchir says it was not always easy.

He began rearing chickens in August 2012. “As an entrepreneur, I dared to buy 2,000 chicks, despite having no experience in the industry,” Chirchir told us.

The high cost of feeds, getting committed and trained personnel are some of the challenges he has braved.

LACK EXPERTISE

“Many people lack expertise to manage large numbers of delicate chicks. I engaged an expert from Parksons Agrovet in Kericho, who gave me the basics of caring for the chicks and was very supportive in the subsequent journey,” he says.

Then his chicken fell victim to diarrhoea and loss of feathers, making them less productive. He spent a lot of money on treatment.

After an extensive reading of books and research on the internet, the beleaguered farmer learnt of the caging system which is preferred because it is hygienic, comfortable and safe to birds. It is also efficient as it is cheaper and takes a high number of birds in a little space.

Armed with a bank loan and savings, he made an initial order of 42 cages from China last October, which were delivered two months later.

“When I saw the prices, I knew it was not easy but I was passionate to adopt the system. It cost me Sh40,000 to buy and ship each cage,” says the 41-year-old farmer.

Another problem arose when the cages arrived with manuals written in Chinese, making it difficult to assemble the parts.

“We did a lot of trial and error with a local fundi but the design would not come together well. I called in different people, all in vain,” he said.

It was only when they followed the pictorials that they managed to install them.

In March this year, another 84 cages were brought in, bringing the total to 126.

He says the management of cages was much easier than the deep litter system, which he says exposes chicken to disease.

Instead of using water troughs that can be unhygienic, water is supplied by automatic pumps that only allow water to trickle down when pecked by chickens.

“I can easily account for every chicken and know which one is laying eggs so that those that have stopped laying are sold off,” he said.

High standards of hygiene are maintained at the farm. The gates are locked and visitors have to disinfect their feet before entering the poultry grounds while the houses are disinfected every month.

DEEP LITTER UNSUITABLE

Chicken are vaccinated from when they are young and therefore are free from many diseases.

According to David Rotich, an animal health technician and artificial insemination expert for Parksons Agrovet in Kericho, the deep litter system is unsuitable because it exposes birds to itchiness that de-feathers them and coccidiosis that causes diarhoea.

De-feathering, he explained, is as a result of small mites that hide in the dusty floors of the deep litter systems and feed on chicken at night.

“The chicken will scratch and end up losing feathers. But the worst is coccidiosis, where waste comes out with blood stains. It affects the feeding system of chicken and lowers the production of eggs,” Rotich said.

He said cages also reduce cannibalism and increase productivity.

Chirchir said he chose to keep Rhode Island breed because they lay eggs longer and do not grow old early.

To ensure continuity, the farm brings in 1,000 chicks every month.

“I am targeting 21,000 chickens by the end of the year. That is why I am making way for the lorry because after the increase, the eggs will no longer fit into the pick-up,” he said.

Currently, his chickens feed on 14 bags of 50kg marsh every day, with each going for Sh2,300.

An attempt by Chirchir to use mixers to prepare his own feed and cut costs proved disastrous when workers failed to produce the right ratio of feeds for the chickens which led to reduced production of eggs by 30 per cent.

They were to strictly measure various amounts of a total of 14 ingredients, among them lysine (6kgs) and lime cement (20.8 kgs) both for egg-shell hardening, bone meal (6kgs), cotton cake (3.8 kgs) maize meal (78 kgs) and wheat pollard (28.6kgs).

“With the kind of set up in cages, we don’t need a lot of staff. However, two interns from Egerton University will report to the farm next week for two months,” said Chirchir.

The cage system has helped Mr Chirchir take up more birds than would have been possible under the deep litter system.

“With my half-acre, I would have kept a maximum of 2,000 chicken. Now I have four times that in the same space.

Sophie Miyumo, a poultry scientist with a smallholder indigenous chicken improvement programme, says the cage system is economical because some cubes extend upwards, allowing more room for birds.

“It is recommended that the deep litter system takes up four to six birds per metre square whereas in caging, each cube takes up a maximum of four birds, providing floor area of 450 to 525 square centimetres per bird.  This makes it ideal for urban areas where land is scarce. “ says Sophie.

The Egerton University lecturers, however, advise that caging is more suitable for layers, and not broilers or indigenous chicken which tend to grow too big for the cubicles in the cages.

Story by Anita Chepkoech: Nation Media.

Gated Farms: New Frontier In Commercial Farming

Along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, near Emali Town, a curious sign post arrests the eye. It reads; “Esidai Farms, 4-acre gated serviced farms,” in bold green letters against a white board.

Everyone know about gated real estate communities and the name might persuade one to think it should read; ‘Esidai Gated Homes’. The gated farm lies some 14km off the Mombasa Road in the direction of Amboseli National Park. It is 100 acres.

Peter Njagi, the manager of the project at HassConsult Real Estate is at the farm to check on the progress of electricity connection. Njagi is a professional borehole driller and says the land is sub-divided into 25 plots, each measuring four acres and was sold for Sh5 million.

Some of the owners have fenced their parcels and are waiting for electricity connection before they start tilling. There are three boreholes that can produce 500,000 litres of water daily. Each farm therefore has about 20,000 litres of water for irrigation daily.

“We have analysed the soil on each parcel and received recommendation of the suitable crops to grow,” explains Njagi, adding that he plans to grow mangoes on his land.

Herbs For Export To India

“The owner of this piece wants to specialise in Indian indigenous herbs for export,” Njagi says as he walks me from one piece to another.

“This other one is owned by three brothers,” he adds while pointing at a fenced parcel. “They will construct a farmhouse and each of them will be travelling here on a weekend as they alternate to check on their greenhouses where they will grow tomatoes and capsicum.”

So far, two farmers have expressed interest in commercial livestock keeping. One of them, according to Njagi, plans to keep dairy cows while the other rabbits and poultry.

Gated farming is a new concept billed as a response to rapid urbanisation, which has seen real estate developments kill agriculture. It will also address the worry about future access to, and affordability of, food in the cities.

Many of the owners know exactly what to grow, but none has expressed plans to settle there permanently. Says Njagi, “We will have a total of 2,700 assorted trees all around the farm. We have started planting them even as one farmer plans to establish a commercial tree nursery.”

Currently, the vast farm has one worker who takes care of security. The farmers are expected to start tilling and planting next month and will jointly contract a firm that will provide workers including a general manager, an agronomist, a plumber and security staff.

“By having a general manager, no worker would release any produce from any farm without his knowledge as well as informing security,” says Njagi. This will minimise theft. Each farmer will sell their produce independently. However, the contracted company will monitor demand for produce and help in getting the best prices in markets.

So, how did the idea of gated farms come about?

“I conceived the idea over a year ago,” says Njagi. “My friends and I owned land in different areas outside Nairobi, and each one of us wished to farm.” Born and bred in Nairobi, Njagi says he has always had a passion to have a taste of village farming life.

“After talking to my friends, who had land in Kajiado, Naivasha and Machakos, I realised we shared a similar problem. Getting power connection, drilling boreholes, making roads and high cost of labour was a big challenge.”

However, while his friends liked the idea of farming together, trust remained a big setback considering the many technicalities that surround land buying and joint management.

“That was when I approached HassConsult, who introduced the gated concept.”

The project sold out in two months, creating more demand. “We introduced the concept to potential clients during a home’s expo in Nairobi in November last year. We sold out all the 25 pieces,” he says, adding that plans are underway to put up similar farms in Kajiado, Nyahururu, Naivasha and Nanyuki, where they have identified land. Residents are happy since they will get jobs.

Cuts Costs

Stanley Karimi, a senior technical officer at Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organisation, says community farming only helps to cut costs by sharing resources like water and farm workers. Farmers also learn from each other.

“A single farmer will need the same number of security guards as 25 farmers meaning it is cheaper to join hands.”

The farmers will jointly invite experts to speak to them on farming and then share the cost. But he advises that the soil samples from each farm must be tested separately for the farmers to be advised on the suitable inputs and crops.

“The fact that you are all on the same vast farm does not necessarily mean you need similar types of fertilisers because soil in some sections vary in terms of nutritional content.”

He advises the farmers to use certified, high quality seeds to prevent diseases caused by low quality seeds. Such diseases, Karimi says, would pose risks to other farms.

“Farm owners must also control soil erosion by digging trenches at the edges of their farms to prevent spread of soil-based diseases to different farms.”

Wambugu Farm – Most Ambitious Poultry Project by 18 Year Old Girl

When she opened the gate leading to a colourfully flowered drive, one could hardly believe that the young, very clean and beautiful lady was going to be our host during this farm visit. Joy Wamahiga Wambugu, who recently finished her secondary education at Precious Blood Kagwe, is indeed the most ambitious young girl our team has ever met in the field of agribusiness. As she took us round her small farm explaining critical aspects in detail, you couldn’t fail to notice a sharp focus on and a clear vision for the project. Here’s her truly inspiring story.

 “The love to watch and care for birds runs through my veins as does my blood. Since I was in high school, I always wanted to do this.” She answers when I ask what motivated her to do this project. The project started in 2014 while she was still in school.

“I really thank my mom; she oversaw the construction of the houses and the battery cage unit when I was away. She considered my ideas and I loved the results.  She even bought the chicks for me and got someone to care for them before I came home.” She explains how the project started as her supportive mother smiled and nodded in acknowledgement.

While Joy’s project is her first, she surely isn’t fumbling around. “This is where I apply the concepts I learned from Mr. Rioba, my agriculture teacher.” She says adding that apart from what she learned in class, she has been reading wide about agribusiness ventures on the internet and other journals. She acknowledged that her passion would not have been enough to help her steer the project that far without knowledge, a fact I strongly agreed with.

The project currently has slightly over 350 layers. The initial number was 400 but 4 chicks were lost in the brooding stage. The others were lost thanks to a recent sweep of Newcastle over Kahawa Sukari Estate in Nairobi where her farm is located.

The layers are kept in two poultry houses. In one, Joy uses the battery cage system where she keeps 180 layers. The cages are tilled one above the other in four rows on either side of a pyramid-like structure. Each row has 8 cages of about 45cm by 45cm each. In each of the cages, she keeps three layers or two in some. The battery cage system which is fitted with nip drinkers cost her Sh.100,000.

The rest of the layers are kept in the other house where Joy uses the deep litter system. However she says that even though the battery cage system is expensive to install, it has a lot of advantages over deep litter system. One is that the eggs collected are clean. The risk of having the eggs broken by chicken is also low since they roll to a collection space out of the cage. Feeding is also easy and the feeds do not get contaminated by chicken droppings. Cleaning is also easy and since the chicken waste drop out of the cage, the chicken are always in a clean environment.

When I asked about her profit margins, Joy’s face became a little dull. “The recent disease made them reduce their productivity. I used to collect 9 to 10 trays a day but now I collect 5; or 6 on a good day.” She said and attributed the loss to the fact that she had skipped one immunization. It’s a lesson she learned the hard way. However she said that she was lucky to have a regular customer who buys the eggs at Sh.300 per tray. A bag of layers mash, which costs her Sh.2200 takes her for two days. With that, she still makes good profit.

She plans to expand the farm to include kienyeji chicken and broilers. She actually had an open space ready for the kienyeji chicken and preparations were underway for the broilers. She hopes to move the project to a bigger land, a firm vision that is reflected in the way she has constructed her poultry houses: they are bolted together in such a way that they can easily be detached and moved.

The cage system

Joy in the deep liter house