Agriculturalist Venaani Kahuure (28), who has set up a poultry farm at Ovinjuru village in the Omaheke region’s Epukiro constituency, said there are many ways to survive, especially for those in the Agricultural sector, further imploring the youth to join hands and explore opportunities in the industry.
He told Youth Corner he ventured into poultry farming because of the passion for farming and preferred to start with that because it does not require a lot of capital to start this business, and chicken do not require much labour, compared to other domesticated animals.
“With this business, one can make a profit daily. I wanted to venture in a farming business that a lot of farmers don’t do in my constituency and the whole Omaheke region at large,” he mentioned.
He started the business of selling eggs around October last year. “I operate from Epukiro Constituency at a village called Ovinjuru in Omaheke region. My business’ name is Njonganjonga Poultry Farming, and I farm with chickens and pigeons for now,” he explained.
Kahuure has a higher diploma in Agriculture from Unam Ogongo Campus and is currently completing an honours degree in Animal Science at Neudamm Campus.
“I am passionate about farming and will surely try other farming ventures such as rearing cattle (specifically the Simbra breed), goats, sheep and crop production. For now, I sell chickens and chicken products, such as eggs to other farmers in Epukiro constituency,” added Kahuure.
He said: “I have about 40 Lohmann Brown layers, 12 pigeons, and roughly 30 dual-purpose pure breeds such black Australorp, blue Orpington, splash Orpington, white Orpington, buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, and Sussex.”
One of the biggest obstacles in starting this business Kahuure faced was transporting the chickens he bought in Windhoek to the village; the only solution was to hike with relatives or close friends. The young farming enthusiast said this is a solo project and there is external input from outsiders.
“There was no specific individual who inspired me to venture into poultry farming; the passion for these beautiful creatures developed along my academic years, so I decided to try – and yes, it is indeed going well thus far,” he recalled.
The main reason for venturing into any business is to make a profit to make a living out of that and Kahuure re-iterated his stance on advising on venturing into fields such as this, as there are a lot of graduates with qualifications but have ample time to make it, provided they pursue certain fields and fill up the gap in different markets.
– psiririka@nepc.com.na