The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
RURAL smallholder women farmers are now dominating the broiler and egg supply chain in the market as more are joining the poultry industry.
The increase in domestic poultry production buttresses the Government’s Livestock Recovery and Growth Plan, which is part of the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy launched last year that seek to achieve a US$8,2 billion agriculture economy by 2025.
The poultry market has been greatly transformed as it now has more smallholder farmers producing the bulk of the poultry products.
Chicken distributing company, Hamara Group Zimbabwe’s out-grower project continues to unlock productive potential of small-scale farmers by giving them access to standard inputs, world-class training, technical support and access to vibrant markets.
A farmer, Mrs Philemon Moyo (62) of Shumbashaba Village Ward 16, Natisa, Matobo District in Matabeleland South said over the years the out-grower scheme had turned her life around.
“I started the chicken business under the out-grower scheme in 2011, 10 years later the project has assisted me shift from a mud and thatch home to a modern house that is solar powered.
“The project has not only turned mine and my family’s lives around but that of the whole community and surrounding villages, as a result of a number of income-generating projects that are being undertaken in the areas to end rural poverty,” said Mrs Moyo.
She said from doing layer chickens of 500 in a batch she grew to 1 000 and then eventually to 2 200 birds in a batch.
Mrs Moyo said from her chicken rearing exploits, the batch of 1 000 broilers she was currently keeping was giving her a profit of US$1 000 in every six weeks which translates to US$6 000 in a year when one does six cycles.
She says under the out-grower scheme, villagers are given chicks and stockfeed and when the chickens are fully developed, Hamara buys from them leaving them to reap profits.
Another beneficiary and young farmer, Ms Emma Banda (28) said from keeping the chickens for the past four years she has managed to build her own homestead.
“I have been keeping the chickens for four years now, I started in 2017 and I have been getting a lot of profit which I have used to upgrade my life. I have managed to buy cattle just from raising the broilers a batch of 1 100 birds in six weeks cycles in a year. It has been so great working with Sondelani (the farm from where they get the chicks), we have since moved out of my in-laws homestead and built our own wonderful homestead with my partner,” said Ms Banda.
Hamara out-grower scheme area manager, Mr David Ngwenya said they were working with over 170 farmers in Kezi and most of them have fowl runs with a capacity of 1 000 birds.
“We have 170 farmers in Kezi that we work with and most of them have a capacity of 1 000 birds chicken runs that they take care of. What we do as Hamara for the out-growers’ scheme is that we supply them with chickens, the feed, help them with technical assistance and they keep those chickens for six weeks. We market those chickens and sell them for the farmers then they get their money,” said Mr Ngwenya.
He said the farmers make an average of 50c to $1 profit per bird so they have an ability of making around US$500 to US$1 000 profit per batch or more depending on the weight of the birds.
Meanwhile, the farmers have benefitted from poultry production trainings at Ebenezer Training Centre and those facilitated by the Turning Matabeleland Green (TMG), a local non-profit making organisation, training farmers on how to take farming as a business in poultry and horticultural production.
Ebenezer Training Centre project manager Mr Brilliant Khoza said the training was the engine of Hamara Group.
“Ebenezer Training Centre is like the engine of Hamara Group. As we train the young people after they graduate they go out into the communities to be field officers in different areas and places. They then train and assist out grower farmers on how to properly manage farming as a business in poultry and horticultural production among others. Farmers also from around the community and from different parts of the country come for short courses as well,” said Mr Khoza.
He said the centre trained apprentices mainly young people between the ages of 18 and 23 coming from all over the country in a two-year course that covered all aspects of Agriculture.
Mr Khoza said the trainings also catered for value addition and export market linkages so that after graduating students could start their own agribusinesses, be farm managers and agripreneurs.
