Diary of a Poultry Farmer: Bright prospects for farmers with SGR

Poultry trader, Peter Kinyua checks on the chicken he sales at Kangemi Market in Nairobi. With the advent of the standard gauge railway, poultry farmers and traders such as Kinyua will have an easier task in transporting inputs and poultry feed-making ingredients. PHOTO | ANTHONY OMUYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Making animal feeds requires that you transport bulky materials like maize, maize germ, wheat bran, soya, fishmeal, sunflower cake and wheat pollard.
  • Truckers charge between Sh60,000 and Sh90,000 to ferry the same container from the port to Nairobi, depending on the weight and type of cargo.
  • If I buy the raw materials to make my own feeds, I will spend Sh105,951 instead, a 50 per cent saving.

Last Sunday, I took a ride on Madaraka Express, the new standard gauge railway train, to Mombasa.

As the announcer informed us over the intercom that we had crossed Voi town, an idea crossed my mind.

“How can farmers benefit from the train?” I thought.

Well, if you are a small-scale poultry farmer like me, you will probably know that feeds account for up two-thirds of the total cost of producing an egg or chicken meat.

You will also appreciate that marketing outlets for poultry products are often poorly defined and mostly controlled by unscrupulous middlemen.

For sure, farmers will do anything to cushion their businesses against escalating cost of feeds and the train can be of great help. Sometime last year, I got a call from Miriam.

“I wish to attend your Saturday classes on formulating feeds,” she said. I sent her the directions to my farm and assumed she was coming from Nairobi.

Later, I learnt that she was travelling from Mombasa to Nairobi by the overnight bus and had no idea where to board the vehicle from city centre to my farm in Njiru on the outskirts of Nairobi.

Now, if the train was there then, Miriam would not have to endure the ten-hour bus journey and arrive for the lessons tired, before travelling back.

Another shocking thing Miriam told me was that the cost of raw materials for livestock feeds in Mombasa was much higher than that in Nairobi.

You see, making animal feeds requires that you transport bulky materials like maize, maize germ, wheat bran, soya, fishmeal, sunflower cake and wheat pollard. I use about two tonnes of materials every one to two months.

True disruption occurs when small business entities with fewer resources challenge incumbent businesses by delivering low-cost solutions to problems often overlooked by incumbents chasing more profitable areas.

FREIGHT SERVICES

For example, at the prevailing cost of white maize, it seems more profitable for millers to mill the maize and sell it for human consumption as maize meal than use it to make animal feeds. Unless you are buying the subsidised one, a kilo of maize meal is retailing for Sh75.

So, how can farmers capitalise on the new railway to grow their businesses?

It remains to be seen what the impact, if any, the train will have on the cost of transporting goods.

What I know is that the estimates indicate that it will cost Sh50,000 to ferry a 20-foot container from the port in Mombasa to the Nairobi Inland Container Depot (ICD), according to Kenya Railways.

Truckers charge between Sh60,000 and Sh90,000 to ferry the same container from the port to Nairobi, depending on the weight and type of cargo.

When I used to buy maize germ from Busia and transport it by bus to Nairobi, I would be charged Sh600 for every bag.

When I added the cost of buying the germ itself, I realised it made little difference whether I bought it in Nairobi or Busia. I then opted to start buying from Thika on the outskirts of Nairobi.

Last week, I calculated what it was going to cost me to feed 500 birds for five months based on the prevailing cost of commercial feeds.

The cost was coming to Sh204,000. If I buy the raw materials to make my own feeds, I will spend Sh105,951 instead, a 50 per cent saving.

Apart from transporting raw materials, farmers can also use the new line to quickly transport products like eggs and meat. It takes only four hours to cover the 500km journey from Nairobi to Mombasa.

And when the freight service begins, it would be possible for small farmers to come in groups, buy materials for instance from China and transport it via the railway to Nairobi or any other place.

This is because if you consider the price difference between train and trucks (Sh50,000 vs Sh90,000 for a 20-foot container, one would save Sh40,000.