The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo
INNOCENT Mupanganyama (36), a former employee of the National Railways of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, was devastated in September last year when he received a letter that spelt out the end of his 10-year relationship with the ailing company.
He was now one of the more than 20 000 workers retrenched when companies embarked on frenzied job cuts following a July 2015 Supreme Court ruling that gave employers the nod to terminate workers’ contracts on three months’ notice.
Like any other breadwinner in a family, his immediate worry was how he was going to accord his family — his wife and three children — a decent living after the source of income was unexpectedly cut off.
“My wife is a cross border trader but the money she was getting was not enough to sustain us. Besides it is a traditional belief that a man has to make a plan for his family even if his wife is working,” said Mupanganyama, recalling how he had to think fast to fill in the gap left by his sudden termination of employment.
“What however, made things worse was that I was owing a number of individuals and companies. After receiving my “small’ retrenchment package, I had to juggle whether to pay the debts or start a small business to sustain my family.
It is always a hard decision because you will be feeling the heat from all angles.”
His immediate plan was to join his wife in the trading industry, although he was concentrating on electrical goods and mobile phone accessories.
The enterprise did not take off well because of the growing number of small to medium businesses that are also in the same trade.
Then in January, Mupanganyama and two of his former work mates decided to venture into poultry production “with a difference”.
“We knew everyone was into either broilers or egg production, so we realised that like in the trading business, this area was also flooded. That is why we decided to venture into quail birds rearing.”
This marked the beginning of the journey when Mupanganyama and his friends ventured into a new agriculture venture that is gaining traction each day, especially in Bulawayo.
The three friends were allocated some land to pursue their agricultural enterprise by a benevolent newly resettled farmer in Umguza district in Matabeleland North, on the outskirts of Bulawayo.
The prospects are promising, the three farmers believe, basing on the growing demand for both the quail birds and their eggs.
Most poultry farmers are now replacing chickens with quails or rearing the two birds concurrently as their methods of rearing are almost the same.
The craze for quail birds and their eggs is growing fast in Zimbabwe and can only be compared to a fad for sack potatoes that swept the country a few years ago.
Quail birds can be kept in cages or small aviary enclosures covered with tightly woven mesh.
On a small scale, farmers said, one can keep 10 to 15 quails on a one-square metre floor area.
“We forked out $300 each to start the project. We however, encountered challenges when we started.
“We got over 1 000 chicks from Harare for the first two groups as there weren’t any suppliers in Bulawayo and we lost some in the process of transporting them. Others died upon arrival since these birds are sensitive. We, however, haven’t lost most of them since then,” Mupanganyama said.
He said the group was already looking forward to seeing the fruits of its project by next month.
“Quail birds are very easy to raise. They don’t eat much thus they are cost effective. Presently we are selling the birds’ eggs at $6 for a crate of 36 eggs. These eggs are said to have high medicinal properties and as such they are in high demand. We are looking forward to recouping our investments soon.
“We are likely to get profit upon acquiring an incubator before the end of this month. If we manage to do so, we will be selling chicks to others then thereafter we can look forward to diversifying into another business. There seems to be a lot of demand and we are even thinking about the prospects of exporting,” Mupanganyama said.
While the NRZ ex-workers’ quail birds project is still to find its feet, another farmer, Chipo Muchengeti, who has teamed with her husband to venture into the same business, has a venture that is already on its feet.
Under the trade name Quail Farm Enterprise, the project, also in Umguza, boasts of about 2 800 birds and has a capacity to produce 30 000 chicks a month.
“I started rearing quail birds in September last year, after a neighbour who was into Boschveld indigenous breeding suggested that I venture into the project. I sold the idea to my sister in Harare and she started the project and in no time it was thriving; that’s when I also decided to venture into it and got 500 chicks from her,” Muchengeti said.
In December, Muchengeti, through the assistance of her husband, managed to buy three incubators with a capacity of hatching more than 1 200 eggs each.
“We recently acquired a bigger incubator with a capacity of hatching 7 000 eggs and we now have the capacity of producing about 30 000 chicks a month.
“It’s quite an interesting and lucrative enterprise because one can generate profit in a short time. For instance I managed to recoup the money I used to buy the first incubators from the sale of my first flock,” Muchengeti said.
The enterprising farmer is already looking forward to growing her business through selling birds to big retail and catering outlets in town.
“We are satisfied with the amount of business we are getting but it could be better. The only problem we are encountering is that most people in Bulawayo are sceptical about consuming quail birds. We are however, on the brink of getting linkages with commercial businesses for the supply of quail birds,” Muchengeti said.
However, Matabeleland Agriculture Business Chamber director, Mr Gerald Bhebhe, said poor market structures that are presently affecting small livestock production were also likely to affect the viability of quail bird farming.
“If people are bemoaning poor market structures for traditional small stock, what more of quail? It can be done but I still have a lot of reservations on the sustainability of the quail project. It’s a passing thing, especially once parks starts enforcing bylaws.”
According to the Zimbabwe Parks and National Wildlife Management Authority one should obtain a captive breeding permit to raise any wild species.
The permit is obtained upon payment of $10 and the breeder is expected to pay a subscribed monthly fee for breeding the wildlife species.
“It’s like the African potato and mooring phases because the market is motivated by its medicinal and nutritive value, which I think are now over exaggerated.
“Domestication may actually reduce their medicinal and nutritive value as the birds can no longer pick various feed that gave them that,” he said.
But sceptics and possible law restriction from various authorities are not immediately in Mupanganyama and his friends’ minds right now.
“If you look into our economy, Government has also realised that people need to survive and they are allowing indigenous people to come up with income generating projects so at the moment the focus is to grow the business,” said Bray Mudavanhu, one of Mupanganyama’s partners.
