The survival and profitability of a small scale enterprise like a small poultry business depends on the qualities of the person who starts the business.
Entrepreneurs have special traits that are measurable through some psychological tests and social indices. People possessing these traits and social indices at a certain level are expected to be more successful than those without them.
Original decision has to be checked continuously against personal objectives one has in life. The first step in starting one own poultry business and indeed any other business is a purely private and personal affair in which nobody can be of help. Poultry farmers need to keep scanning and analyzing the poultry environment and industry with an objective of identifying business opportunities in the poultry value chain.
There is still a gap in poultry production and consumption in Kenya which farmers need to strive to bridge and gain incomes. Chicken constitutes 98% of the entire poultry population of about 36 million birds in Kenya. Annual chicken offtake is estimated at Kes. 4.6 billion and kes. 10 Billion from eggs.
The per capita poultry meat and eggs consumption are 3.5kgs and 36 respectively against WHO recommended of 12kgs and 182 hence high demand. Farmers can therefore be either producers, breeders, input suppliers, service providers, processors or consumers.
A number of business options are therefore available to farmers or business savvy people intending to benefit from the value chain as follows:
- Farmers can grow poultry feed components like soya, maize, millet, sorghum, sunflower, rice, cotton and sell to feed manufacturing companies or to farmers mixing their own feed at home. Check our manual on how to make your own poultry feeds.
- Farmers can brood day old chicks into month old chicks and sell to farmers who fear the process and risks involved in brooding and make huge margins.
- Farmers can raise their chicken to maturity and sell meat or eggs through contract selling to organized markets.
- Farmers can collect the highly effective chicken manure and sell to other farmers planting other crops.
- Shrewd business people can seek knowledge on feed formulation, mix the various categories of feed for layers, growers and chick marsh and sell to other poultry farmers.
- Business people can act as agro-vet dealers and stockists for poultry related inputs like vaccines, feed, feeders and drinkers among others to serve farmers in a given region.
- Accounts clerks can help local farmers in record keeping and book keeping to ensure they keep track of their expenses and incomes at a fee.
- Local extension service providers can offer training and extension services to farmers at a fee.
- A slaughter house can be constructed to safely process chicken for farmers before sale to buyers who require dressed chicken.
- Traders can bulk chicken from farmers, buying at farm gate price and re-selling at a margin to organized markets.
- Bodaboda operators can take advantage of the organized value chain to transport chicken, eggs and inputs to and from farmers.
These, among others are significant opportunities in the poultry value chain that shrewd business operators can take advantage of. It is however important to increase the production of chicken first to meet the required demand to be able to jumpstart the other related poultry businesses.
In order to be that entrepreneur who will benefit from this value chain, you therefore need to possess certain attributes or characteristics;
- Initiative
- You must be a go getter or opportunity seeker through a careful scanning of the needs of your environment.
- You need to be persistent to be able to support business growth.
- You should constantly be seeking information.
- You should have the highest regard for good quality work.
- You should have utmost commitment to work contract e.g. in servicing markets or other supplies.
- You should adhere to systematic planning and efficiency orientation.
- You should possess self-confidence and the drive to achieve your targeted objectives.
- You should be persuasive i.e. use influence strategy to build your business and foster effective networking.