HOW TO START A POULTRY BUSINESS AND HOW TO RUN IT IN ZAMBIA

IS THE CHICKEN BUSINESS PROFITABLE IN ZAMBIA?

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Is growing and selling broilers a profitable business?

It is debatable, depending on how you run it and your money saving skills.

Poultry farming has proven to be very lucrative. Although it may be affected by its nature of being a commodity business, starting a small poultry farm could be a great source of income for your family. If you have the required space and the knowledge, it may see you climbing your lander to being a multi millionaire.

HOW MUCH PROFIT DOES A CHICKEN FARMER MAKE?

It all goes down to the scale of which you are at. Are you just starting with less capital? or are you investing huge sums of money into this business?

Nevertheless, to answer your question, this is a business of which you get 100% profit if you raise broilers, and over 300% profit if you go for layers.

To achieve these profit margins, your chickens need to be healthy.

WHAT ARE DISADVANTAGES OF POULTRY BUSINESS

• You need to have capital in place to start a poultry farm in the first place. Poultry feed prices are hiking. How to produce your own poultry feed.
• It is possible to lose an entire batch of chicks with poultry disease. Poultry Diseases, prevention and cure.
• There is a slight risk of bird-to-human transmission of the avian flu.
• Chickens are a commodity business. Commodities are usually fast-moving goods and services. Meaning they always have a market and thus extremely competitive. Chicken bought from Shoprite tastes just as good as the one the woman in the next compound sold us.

With commodities, you win through volume and not value. You can't sell a chicken for K350 even if you feed it healthy, expensive supplements.

Extreme competition equals low profits because you have to compete with so many other people, despite having different conditions to work with.

Commodities mean you are competing with the Chinese, Shoprite, Zambeef, and all these big companies that have better facilities and can either make their own feed, hatch their own chicks, which helps them sell cheaply to the market and even on credit because they can afford to wait.

CHICKEN PROFITABILITY

Don’t confuse cash coming in with profitability. Just because you are making sales doesn’t mean you are making a profit.

A chicken is sold on average at K90. Chicks are bought, feed and medication are bought, and transportation, sanitation and bedding, labour and electricity are all costly. Also the time it takes to grow them (usually 7 weeks). Mortality rate is also to be considered as a cost on your part.

But as I said above, you get 100% profit if you do it right and you are well equipped with knowledge of diseased and their cure. This is where most farmers make losses.

How do you sell, cash or credit?

If it's on credit, then it is very bad,because now you are earning what you should earn and reinvest over the 7 weeks you took to grow it plus another 4weeks for selling on credit. That is more than 2 months to just earn a K50 profit.

How is that profitable?

HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN BUSINESS WORK FOR YOU

Be Systematic and Have a Constant Supply

What I mean is, have a system where you can get paid more frequently to help you manage the business properly.

Estimate! If you can keep, say 200 chickens at a goal , don’t keep all 200, Keep only 50 chickens per week or 2 weeks, that way you will be getting K4500 ( 50 chickens x K90) Every week or 2 weeks so easily.

Why not keep all 200?

Because you will most likely run out of cash for feed and become desperate. Remember, above I said capital could be a disadvantage.

Easy does it, you need the money to be coming in, frequently.

Do Not Sell On Credit

If you sell chickens on credit you have lost. Chickens take 7 weeks to grow; that means you have to also add another 4 weeks to get your money and energy for following up.

Sell on a cash basis; you need the cash to be flowing in. Continue like this and you will slowly increase your weekly rate from 50 Chickens to Say 70 chickens per week and on wards.

Get a One Time Buyers

Talk to a restaurant owner or someone who deals with food. Let them pay you cash for the chickens so long you agree on the average weight. IF this is hard, find a spot in the market where you can sell cash. Always look for a ready market and more ways of marketing the chickens.

Feed the Chickens Systematically

Use some science in your chicken growing. There are new-age technologies and timing for chickens that have developed. You can’t be using methods we used to use in the 90s. Do some studies to get an edge on the competition.