Hey!
It's cool time in my place again. I've been doing some research on
farming opportunities in Kenya. Having read articles and meeting some
farmers, i have realised chilly farming has been unexploited
agricultural venture.
Major names given to chilies in my hood:
1. Pilipili - kiswahili name.
2. Pepper - English name.
3. Gurnet - one of the most bitter which takes the shape of Gurnet weapon.
4. Risasi
There is an opportunity in chillies (pilipili), there are so many
buyers out there,exportersand our dear brokers. The question is, do we
as farmers apprehend the opportunity? What are the yields per unit
area be it per acre? which varieties do the buyers/ exporters want? In
what quantities, frequency and quality? Lets discuss openly and
explore the juice in this....
I'm not saying there are no other people in the business.
One of my favourite person in the industry is Margaret Komen of
Macefoods Limited.
Mace Foodsis a private limited company as incorporated in Kenya in
January 2002. The funding shareholders want to balance commercial
(profitability) objectives with a development contribution to the
country.
Mace Foods is Fair Trade certified (WFTO) and since inception follows
a clear Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy, in particular
gender issues. The headquarters with factory and offices is based in
Eldoret, Rift Valley, Kenya at the equator.
*.1,600 contract small-scale farmers in Western Kenya and around Lake Victoria
*.Expansion of own land production to 200 hectares in 2013
*.Main markets: Germany, Italy, UK, Netherlands und USA
*.16 employees, thereof agronomist and food technologists
*.Up to 75 factory workers in the peak harvest period
*.Continuous production over the whole year with two peaks.
Chillies are less prone to diseases.
Local market is very good.
Export is a bit tricky because of MRL issues.
The best Chillies in Kenya for now are Bandai (Bird Eye) and the
Bullest (Freshno) which make very nice varieties.
There are very few challenges in growing chillies. The more you are
organized the more successful you are.
Next time
Showing posts with label Farming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Farming. Show all posts
Monday, May 18, 2015
Saturday, November 29, 2014
UPS AND DOWNS IN SNAIL FARMING!
I was long asked by my friends to address on the the Issue about the disadvantages of snail farming.
I have dismissed it for several months now, thinking that it was just a passing thing and not many people practiced snail farming.
I have received a message from my Nigerian Brother on the same issue, and I’m finally compelled to discuss with you on the disadvantages of snail farming.
What is Snail Farming?
Snail Farming or Heliciculture is the process of farming or raising edible terrestrial snails. "Escargot" most commonly refers to either Helix aspersa or to Helix pomatia, although other varieties of snails are eaten.Disadvantages of snail farming
Climate
Without expensive artificial means of climate control, snail farming is restricted to the humid tropical forest zone, which offers a constant temperature, high relative humidity, preferably no dry season, and a fairly constant day/night rhythm throughout the year.
Cultural restrictions
Snail meat is considered a delicacy by some, whereas others will not
even touch it for religious or cultural reasons.
Growth
Snails are relatively slow-growing animals. Furthermore the consumable meat makes up only 40% (maximum!) of the snail's total live
weight. Consequently snail farming is not a way to make money quickly!
Snails as a pest
Snails that have escaped from a farm, or been dumped by a farmer,
may quickly develop into a serious pest in agriculture and horticulture.
For these reasons it must be emphasised that snail farming should be
seen as only one component in a diversified farming venture. However, with patience, good management and careful integration into
existing farming activities, snail farming can provide substantial
longer-term rewards.
Planning a snail farming venture
A sequence of five steps is suggested:
1 Plan (market, production, organisation)
2 Pilot production and sales
3 Go or no-go decision
4 Investment in facilities and know-how (cages/pens, finance, knowledge)
5 Upscaling (logistics, quality, financial control)
Prescriptions
The following chapters present prescriptions for the actual farming of
snails, e.g. suitable snail species, environment, housing, stock, feed
and health.
Caution:Before embarking on snail farming make sure you have a
market! This may seem self evident; but there are many examples of
cases in which giant African land snails (GALS) were introduced to
other parts of the world for farming, but were eventually dumped (or
allowed to escape) into the wild for lack of a market.
Once the snails have been introduced, dumped or allowed to escape,
they develop into a serious agricultural pest. Without any natural enemies they end up destroying a wide range of agricultural and/or horticultural crops and causing considerable economic damage. Achatina
fulicahas a particularly poor reputation in this respect.
Giant African snails are considered a delicacy by people accustomed
to consuming them, whereas other people, even within the same country, will not even touch, let alone eat them. For that reason, don't start
farming snails unless you are absolutely sure that someone will buy or eat them.
I’m pleading you my people, if you follow the necessary tips and guidelines for snail farming, you will prosper and our continent will prosper too.
Disciple should be adhered to all the key sectors of our economy. It’s not a witchcraft. If you still have doubts or questions to ask, please do it below by leaving your comment.
HOW TO START YOUR OWN WORM FARMING STEP BY STEP
Is true that that farmers are getting rich? May be. The real true story is that lately, many people have got a lot of information within their hands. The power to be creative have made many including African youth to practice unique and specialized way of doing things.
Here is how go about beginning your own worm farming:
After buying your worms here are some of the easy useful tips to follow:
Step 1. Choose a container to your house your worms
You can buy a ready-made plastic worm
Farm or reuse old materials. Some ideas
Are foam boxes, a trunk or discarded
Barrel. You box should be approx 30cm
Deep, 60cm wide and 90cm long.
• Make holes in the bottom of one box
To let liquid drain and allow air to flow.
• Place the box containing holes over
Another box without holes and make
A tap in the bottom box to let the
Liquid out.
• Put an upturned ice-cream container
Or a brick in the bottom box. This will
Help any worms that fall through the
Holes to climb up into the upper box.
It will also form an island for the
Worms so they don't drown.
Step 2. Make the bedding
The best bedding materials are torn
Newspaper and cardboard, leaves,
Chopped up straw and other dead plants.
Be sure to wet the bedding - it must be
Moist like a wrung out sponge, then fill a
Layer about 10-15cm deep in the upper
Box.
Step 3. Add the worms
The best kind of earthworm to use is the
Red worm. These worms are incredible
Garbage eaters! They eat and expel their
Own weight every day, so even a small
Bin of red worms will yield large quantities
Of rich sweet-smelling compost.
When you add the worms they will
Quickly crawl down into the bedding as
They don't like light.
Step 4. Add the food waste
• Don’t add too much at once. Feed
Slowly and gradually build up the
Quantity. Place the scraps in a
Different spot each time to evenly
Distribute the food for the worms.
• Eggshells (crushed) will maintain the
Bedding at a safe pH level. Without
Them the bedding may become too
Acidic. A sprinkle of Lime every
Couple of weeks can also work.
Step 5. Cover the worm bed
• Cover the worm farm with newspaper
Or a piece of hessian. This will help
Keep a constant temperature in the
Worm farm.
• Add water to the box whenever it
Begins to get dry. It should be the
Consistency of a lightly squeezed
Sponge - if it is too wet the worms will
Die.
• Be sure to keep your worm farm out
Of hot sun and heavy rain.
Step 6. Harvest the worm
Castings
After a few months, your worm farm will
Be ready to harvest. There should be little
Or no original bedding visible in the bin
And the contents will be brown and
Earthy looking worm castings. To harvest
Your bin:
1. Move the contents of the bin to one
Side. Add fresh bedding and food to the
Vacant side. The worms will move from
The finished compost in search of food.
After a few days you should be able to
Remove the older, worm free compost.
2. Or dump the contents of the bin onto a
Large plastic sheet, and separate into
Small piles. Place a bright light above the
Sheet. The worms will move down away
From the light allowing you to collect the
Compost.
3. Always mix in some good compost or
Worm compost in a new bin, if you have it
— The bin starts decomposing food waste
Faster that way.
What to feed your worms:
•Fruit (except citrus)
•Vegetables (except onions)
•Coffee grounds and filter
•Tea bags
•Crushed egg shells
•Leaves
•Shredded paper
What do not feed your worms?
• Citrus fruits
• Oily foods
• Meat, poultry, fish
• Dairy foods
• Vinegar or salad dressings
• Plants from the onion family
(garlic, shallots, leek)
Wish you well as you focus in building a vibrant world and ending poverty. In Kenya for example, you can get the worms to buy from willing Farmers, you can attend major agricultural shows to get high lightened and get a network of other Farmers.
If you still have further questions, leave your comment below, we will get back as soon as possible.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
A complete guide on Quail Farming Business
Housing:-
Quails housing can either be dip litter (floor pens), colony cages, or individual cages (battery cages).
The housing t should be designed to ensure comfort
for the birds, make food and water readily accessible and to permit easy and effective sanitation.
Quail houses should have proper ventilation system so as to allow proper flow of air and light inside the cage and it should be out of the reach of wild animals and other predators. One of the advantages of raising quail is the relatively small space that is required. The required floor space for adult quail is 145 cm Square per bird on floor pens and 125 cm square per bird on cages. If kept outside, the quail will stop laying eggs during the colder period but if kept inside under good conditions like enough space, food, temperature above 16ºC (61º F) and enough light, the quail would normally lay around 280-300 eggs in a year. In the wild, all quail devote much of their time to scratching and foraging for seeds and invertebrates on the ground.
Domesticated quail do not change that behaviour and strongly prefer a solid floor with litter to a wire floor so that they can use the litter for scratching, pecking and dust bathing.
In most cases, the common type of quail housing is colony
cage system in which birds are kept in cages and provided with beddings which is mostly wood shavings which are important for moisture absorption. The beddings should be turned over regularly to avoid wet spots which can be sources of diseases.
Feeding:-
Availability of high quality feed is a pre-requisite for improved quail production and productivity.
To ensure the quails are healthy, growing proper and are highly productive, they should be provided with balanced feed regularly.
The basic factors affecting the supply of quality feed are its price, availability, the quality of raw material used, processing methods, handling and storage of mixed feeds, among other factor. An adult quail consumes about 20 to 25 grams of feed daily. Adult quail requires 7 cm of feeder space per bird
Feed in quail farming is the single item that represents the highest cost of production.
Regarding feed, you should always note that quails farmers have to rely mainly on manufacturers’ advice.
Quails should be provided with fresh, clean and readily accessible drinking water at all times with a minimum of 0.6 cm of trough space per quail.
The watering system should be cleaned and disinfected frequently.
Breeding:-
Proper selection of breeding stock is important because starting with undesirable breeders end up with undesirable offspring.
The best breeding stock can be selected by buying only from reputable breeder dealers; purchasing chick quails for future breeding stock that conforms to size, shape, and colour according to the species; purchasing eggs with uniformity in size and shape and selecting birds that show best growth, stamina, and feathering. The type of breeder to rear is determined by the market. Larger birds are desired for table meat while smaller birds lay better than larger birds. Using the same breeders for more than one laying season can lower egg production, fertility, and hatchability with weaker offspring, and
Less disease-resistant birds. Culling should be carried out throughout the laying season.
In order to prevent inbreeding, unrelated breeder stock should be introduced at least every third year and this can be achieved by exchange males with another breeder who has an unrelated strain, purchase new birds, or buy eggs and raise new blood line.
The Quail can be bred upon attaining maturity at the age of 6-8 weeks. For successful breeding and hatching of eggs, one male should be kept with three female quails.
Presence of adequate light is highly recommended for desired egg production from quails. By providing artificial light for 14-18 hours breeders can be brought into egg production at any time and maintain production throughout the year. Males not
Required for breeding, or any quail being grown for meat production, can be given only about 8 hours of low-intensity light per day. This is not enough to initiate sexual maturity; therefore, the birds do not expend energy on fighting and mating and will tend to fatten more quickly.
Egg production also depends on breed, house hygiene, temperature, feeding,
Water, care and management. The small breeds of quails are used for egg production. The larger
Varieties usually lay fewer eggs than the small varieties and are used for meat. With proper care, hens lay 280-300 eggs in a year. Their productive live is one year two months but their life expectancy is 2 to 2½ years.
Domesticated quails loss their instinct of nesting and therefore never incubate their eggs. Quail chicks can be produce by hatching their eggs using broody hen or artificially through using incubators.
Where incubation is defined as the management of fertile egg in order to ensure satisfactory development of the embryo in the egg to a normal chick.
Incubation:-
An incubator enable the farmers to control as to when to incubate the eggs unlike the natural way of incubating through the mature quails in which one have to wait for the birds to start brooding.
The most desirable eggs for hatching are those that are clean, free of shell defects, fairly large and with good shell quality. Egg hatchability is reduced by storage beyond seven days, using eggs from young breeders or eggs of near the end of the laying cycle. For successful incubation, several factors such as temperature, humidity, ventilation, turning, egg position and sanitation should be carefully controlled. The incubation period for quail is 14–18 days.
The humidity of the incubator should be 55-60 per cent and this should be increased to 80-85 per cent on the 14th day during hatching. The temperature of the incubator should be maintained at 37.5-38 degrees centigrade throughout the incubation period. Candling is done on the 7th day to identify the fertilized eggs and died eggs should be discarded. The eggs are turned at an angle of 45 degrees Celsius either manually or automatically from day one to the fourteenth day. This is done so that the eggs get even heat, to prevent the York from sticking on the shell and to keep the embryo in the middle of the egg. After hatching, the chicks
Are left for1-2 days in the incubator to dry before transferring to the brooder.
Quail chicks should be sorted in the hatchery to remove any weak or abnormal ones. In few cases, especially when chick prices rise, chicks are not sorted at the hatchery resulting to low productivity.
Brooding:-
Newly hatched quail chicks should be brooded. Brooding is the provision of warmth to the newly hatched chicks in order to ensure satisfactory growth.
Brooding involves providing warmth, high quality feed, clean water and protection during the first 2-3 weeks of a quail chick’s life.
Heat is confined to a particular area for the chicks using hovers or brooder boxes which keeps the chicks in the vicinity of the heat, water and feed. Brooding can be carried out in floor pens
With either litter or raised wire floors. Stocking density in the brooder is 10 birds per square foot.
Several days before the chicks’ arrival, the quail brooder house should be prepared by cleaning and disinfecting. Regardless of the season, the brooders should run for at least 24 hours before chicks arrive, and the litter temperature should be approximately 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Brooder temperatures should be reduced by about 5 degrees per week until 70 degrees F.
Egg Production:-
Breeders should be maintained in a comfortable, well-ventilated environment. Temperatures should be kept between 65 and 85 degrees F to achieve acceptable feed conversion and production levels. Research indicates that temperatures lower than 65 degrees F will increase the
bird’s energy requirement, which will lower feed efficiency and reduce egg production. At temperatures greater than 85 degrees F, feed intake is often reduced, which may also lead to reduced egg production.
The life cycle of quail generally take two to two and a half years. Culling should be done regularly to the breeders. Culling is the removal of sick, injured, unproductive and poor producing birds from the flock. The advantages derivable from
culling of birds are: prevention of spread of diseases, increase in the quality of the stock, more space is allowed for the remaining birds, increase in profits principally by reducing feed required to produce a dozen eggs.
Although poultry farmers have diversified to quail farming both farmers and staffs are not equipped with necessary knowledge and husbandry techniques to handle them.
To pace with this increasing demand, effort must be intensified towards increasing the level of production and marketing of quails.
Diseases:-
Diseases are less in quails than in to other poultry birds. Most of the common quail diseases are
Caused by organisms which the birds pick up from the ground or from contaminated droppings.
While quails have a certain degree of resistance to some diseases, they are prone to some poultry diseases and pests.
Quail are more sensitive to mismanagement than chicken therefore good management practices are vitally important in preventing and controlling disease.
There is no medications which are approved for quail and there are no disease preventive vaccines.
Farmers should implement sanitation and bio security procedures which are inexpensive way to reduce the possibility of a disease outbreak.
Bio security includes:-
• measures that prevent the entry
And survival of viruses,
• bacteria,
• parasites,
• fungi,
• insects,
• Rodents, etc., into a bird flock.
Any of these agents may endanger the health of a flock, regardless of age.
There are no quails vaccine and Medication in the market.
External pests like lice, flea and mites might be noticed and they are controlled by use of sevins dust.
Some various organisations, companies or individuals are empowered to control animal diseases and pests by various legal statutes but there is inadequate capacity to
handle emerging animal diseases and out breaks for emerging livestock like quail. Disease prevention, control and sanitary management practices are the best guarantee against disease and pests and this can be achieved by keeping their house dry and clean; ensuring proper movement
of light and air inside their house; keeping different aged quails separated from each other;
separating the disease affected quails from the healthy one; burning the dead bird or burning them; not allowing other birds, animals or unknown persons enter inside quail house; ensuring hygienic and balanced feed supply and providing adequate fresh and clean water according to
Their demand. To avoid spread of diseases care for the youngest birds should be before the oldest
birds and care for healthy birds should be before the sick birds.
Seemingly, a little research specific to quail disease problems has been done and so treatment of specific diseases have been experimental. Thank you for reading. Wish the best practice. Feel free to leave your comment below.
6 Types of Quail Diseases, Pests, Signs and their Control
I can call this problems that you can encounter when you are almost counting profit.
Here we go:
6. Quail bronchitis.Cause: virus
Signs: Respiratory distress, coughing, sneezing
and loose watery droppings.
Control: Vaccination
5. Coccidiosis
Cause: Parasite
Signs: Birds go off feed, weak legged, pale and
die if not treated
Control: Coccidiostat
4. Haemoprotus infection
Cause: Protozoa
Signs: Anaemia, lameness, poor growth and
general weakness
Control: Antimicrobial drugs
3. Ulcerative enteritis
Cause: Bacteria
Signs: Restlessness, retracted neck, drooping
wings, partially closed eyes, ruffled
feathers diarrhoea, anaemia and watery
white faeces
Control: Antimicrobial drugs
2. Internal parasites
Cause: Round worm and tape worms
Signs: Drop in egg production, an increase in
hunger and diarrhoea
Control: Anthelmintic
1. External parasites
Cause: Lice, mites and fleas.
Signs: Loose of feathers, lose weight, and drop in
egg production and scaly legs
Control: Keep premises clean.
Take care!
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Quail Farming: Definitions of Significant Terms
They are the measures that prevent the entry and survival of viruses,
Bacteria, parasites, fungi, insects and rodents into a game bird flock
11. Brooding:-
It involves providing warmth, high quality feed, clean water and
Protection during the first six weeks of a quail chick's life.
10. Candling:-
It is a process done on the seventh day of incubation to identify fertilized
Quail eggs.
9. Culling:-
It is the removal of sick, injured, unproductive and poor producing birds
From the flock.
8. Hatchery:-
This is a building that houses equipment used to artificially incubate
Hatching eggs
7. Incubation:-
It is the management of fertile egg in order to ensure satisfactory
Development of the embryo in the egg to a normal chick
6. Market:-
It is a specific location where trading takes place on certain occasions
5. Poultry:-
It is defined as any of the domesticated and commercialized types of birds
Used for eggs or meat production
4. Poultry Production:-
It is the raising of domesticated birds such as chickens, turkeys, ducks,
Geese and quails, for the purpose of farming meat or eggs for food.
3. Quail Management:-
It is the process of taking care of the quails
2. Quail farming:-
It involves raising quails commercially for the purpose of profitable eggs and meat production.
1. Quails:-
These are small game or hunting birds that are used for eggs and meat
Production
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