YAP proposal #404: Hydroponics: Growing into the Future (Sonwabo “Solly” Mani, Zambia)

I am Lassie Manda, 26, born in Kasama town in Zambia. I completed my grade 12 in 2008 and I made an attempt on tertiary education by going to a private college that offer training in Early Childhood Education. I have not been able to find formal employment yet but I started rearing chickens for sale in the town.

My project then is rearing chickens for sale both broilers and layers to sell eggs in town and in the surrounding communities that need eggs.

This is what I want to do. I would like to have my own chicken run instead of renting because it has become costly to pay for rent and security services provided by owners. I would like to have my own building that can accommodate 1,000 broilers and 500 hundred layers as the starting point.

Once I have my own building I shall be able to control it properly. From 1,000 birds, I shall be able to sell about 900 birds (allow for deaths/mortality) at about USD 4 each. The layers will produce eggs for nearly 48 months and each layer shall produce 2 eggs per day.

I need further information on layers from the Ministry of Agriculture and I shall go and ask to assist me do a better job in rearing layers. Eggs are sold at USD 3 per tray or 30 eggs.

I am motivated to do this sort of business because I have seen that the town is supplied by eggs and broilers from Lusaka. I have seen some people selling chickens and eggs but the local supermarkets import these items from outside Kasama.

I feel that young people should start taking up some of these challenges to feed local communities rather than be dependent on suppliers from outside. The gains for the community shall be to have local suppliers and readily available instead of waiting from big cities. In order for me to be successful I shall require to:

1. Undergo entrepreneurship training to learn basic business management and market research in the field of livestock rearing.
2. Recording keeping of both money and livestock.
3. After knowing the business part I must know the livestock part. I shall need to learn how to rear chickens especially on diseases and feeding.
4. I shall need own building for easy control and management.

My project shall be able to take off if I take these initial steps. On my own I tried to borrow some money to start livestock rearing and I rented a building but it appears I lacked both managerial and technical ability to succeed.

I shall be successful if I go through training so that I have the basic information and through interaction with technical officers from the Ministry of Agriculture I shall be able to succeed. I shall need exposure also to successful chicken rearing individuals or groups.

I plan to the USD 5,000 grant as follows:

1. Build a small room to start my business at USD 3,000
2. Buy day old chicks at USD 50
3. Feed at USD 100
4. Networking at USD 50

Blogpost and picture submitted by Lassie Manda (Zambia): mandaedward174[at]gmail.com

The content, structure and grammar are at the discretion of the author only.

 

This post is published as proposal #404 of “YAP” – our “Youth Agripreneur Project”.

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