Zambia Agribusiness Society

Many people would want to venture into poultry farming but have no idea how. Poultry farming especially chicken farming isn't difficult to start. You don't even need to start with many chickens. Most youths leave their fertile lands and other rural areas in search of employment in Africa only to be disappointed by lack of jobs. Chicken farming can be your salvation from poverty. Embrace it. It is the simplest agricultural investment and I will tell you why. I will pass on information here FREE of charge. Don’t pay me a single coin. My reward is to see you succeed. Today I will give lessons on how you as a farmer can be successful in your chicken project and multiply your flock of chickens. You can rise from nothing to something. From grass to grace. How do you go about it? You can start with 10 hens and 2 cocks. You need to programme these hens to hatch chicks at the same time. Provide each hen with its nest. Use a plastic basin with grass, wood shavings or old clothes. Place o...

When performing a visual evaluation of the animal, note the following features in particular: frame size, muscle and body structure, and breed character. In a breeding herd, you need to select animals that possess traits for a long life, reproductive efficiency, efficient feed to meat conversion, and a type that will produce desirable carcass composition and performance. The ability of the individual animal to meet these requirements is shaped by heredity and the environment. Today, production records are used to determine an animal’s genetic potential and its response to the environment. But these records do not tell the whole story. Physical characteristics remain important, and visual evaluation is still a key part of the selection process. It takes training and experience to accurately evaluate features. The following is merely a broad guideline of what to look for: 1. Body structure The neck should be moderately long (an indicator of growth). The loin and rump should b...

So maybe you think you’ve got it all figured out. You’re the MacGyver of the kitchen — spatula in one hand, two eggs in the other. Crack, separate, and plop goes the egg in the bowl…with a bit of shell. The horror! What do you do? Hint: Fishing around with a spoon isn’t the answer. Thankfully, we have a solution to your egg quandary (see tip number 10), plus quick fixes to tons of other food prep, cooking, and baking predicaments, from pitting a nectarine to softening butter the easy way. We’ve hacked your kitchen — prepare to save money, save time, and never cry from cutting onions again. 1.     If you happen to over-salt a pot of soup, just drop in a peeled potato . The potato will absorb the excess salt. 2.     When boiling eggs, add a pinch of salt to keep the shells from cracking. 3.     Never put citrus fruits (oranges, lemons, limes, etc.) or tomatoes in the fridge. The low temperatures degrade the aroma and flavour of thes...

1. Make a business plan. Do a SWOT analysis of yourself and the cattle industry you will be entering. Plan what kind of cows you want looking at breeds, and what kind of farm you wish to operate. Keep in mind to start small. Try to aim for being a low-cost producer, as that is the surest way to make money, and the best way to start if you don’t have much to begin with! 2. Locate the area where you want to raise cattle. This is important because you need to find a location that you are used to or really like and are confident you can raise your animals in. 3. Research then purchase the type of facilities, equipment and machinery necessary for the type of cattle you have chosen to raise. Analyse your operation and your financial situation to see what you need (not what you want) for current facilities, equipment and machinery. Fencing, watering facilities, feed bunks/troughs or bale feeders is priority above all other assets needed. 4. Determine the type of cattle you want to...

Indigenous chickens do not have desirable genetic characteristics compared to commercial breeds. They take longer to mature, have poor food conversion ratio, do not lay a lot of eggs among others. However, there are areas where the indigenous chickens have certain strong points. They generally have better resistance to diseases, produce nutritious and sweet tasting poultry products and the meat is often tender with more muscles than fat. However, the time and long-term cost for rearing indigenous chickens may not justify doing this on a commercial scale. Still, there ways to improve the system so as to make the most of your indigenous chickens ensuring they put on weight fast and offer better yields. Let’s look at some of the ways in which you can make your indigenous chickens grow faster and produce more. How to Make Indigenous Chickens Grow Fast 1. Feed High Protein Food While chicken needs a lot of carbs to meet their energy needs and make them put on weight, a high protein diet can...

Peppers have lots of potential. You can grow different colours, sell the plants, market to restaurants, host tastings and make value-added products. Peppers don’t quite give you as many options as, say, garlic , but here are a few ways you might not have considered for peppers to bring something new to your market table, and your wholesale customers. 1. Sell pepper plants Almost invariably, because I love to grow peppers, I start more plants than I need. But this works out well because selling starts is relatively easy so long as the plants look healthy and are in a nice package. Plants not only make a good addition to the early season market table, but they are a good way to start engaging the first customers of the year and getting them interested in your goods. 2. Grow ornamental peppers If you really enjoy selling plants, you could consider growing some decorative, ornamental pepper plants. These are multi-coloured peppers whose plants can be sold young with the promise o...

When most people think of agriculture in Africa, images of poor and overworked farmers with crude tools on a rural farm readily come to mind. Many, especially young Africans, still think that agribusiness is a poor man’s occupation. Nowadays everybody wants a white-collar office job in the city. Agribusiness is hardly on anyone’s mind. Did you know that Africa sits on an agribusiness goldmine but most people just don’t see it? If you’re one of the blind, allow me to open your eyes with a few exciting facts you need to know about agribusiness in Africa: 1.     Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, recently invested $1 billion in rice production. Every year, Africa spends billions of dollars on rice imports, and Dangote wants a slice of the market. 2.     Since 2009, investors in the USA, Europe, Middle East and Asia have been buying and leasing millions of hectares of African land for agricultural purposes. Many people may not know it but there’s a tren...