Jane Auala, a poultry farmer in the Khomas region, owns and runs Ontoko Poultry. 

Here, she shares her experience.

“Farming with poultry has been an all-around experience, both a journey to discovering new and learning old methods and how to apply them to modern day farming techniques.” 

Aula said they are situated at Groot Aub in the Windhoek Rural constituency, some 40km south of Windhoek, and commute twice a week to and from the farm to supply the local retailers. 

“I fully joined farming in 2019. We farm with Lohmann Brown layers and have grown from 500 to 3 000 chickens, and we wish to continue expanding in the right way.”

She said from rearing chickens to picking and packaging eggs, there is an immense amount of learning in poultry farming, and it only gets better with time. 

“We’ve been buying all our feed in the form of layer mash from Feedmaster and Kaap Agri for the past years. Amongst some of the challenges we continue to work on, are making sure to pay attention to the birds at all times, so you can observe any changes in their behaviour on time, before it leads to any problems.” 

She noted that the inflation on most of the products is an uphill task they continue to face, “however, we’re certain that things will get better.”

Auala currently has six employees whom she had trained herself, comprising of a feed manager, operations manager, driver and general workers. She is determined to employ more female employees to empower fellow women when resources allow.