VALUE ADDITION IN CHICKEN PRODUCTION

BY MERCYNAMFUKWE

VALUE added poultry products are vogue to adding nutritional benefits by providing increase in the final food quality characterized by taste, appearance and cost.

Value addition decreases time preparation of the chicken product as it also attracts higher return on investment for livestock farmers.

Value addition contributes to the development of the local economy thereby improving on the nutrient levels to alleviate poverty and also plays a vital role in achieving food security at both house hold and community level.

63-year-old,Charles Zulu is a Chongwe based farmer in Kasenga Resettlement who is intomixed farming of crops and he also keeps livestock such as cattle, turkey, pigeon and chicken adding that he realized that selling crops to middle men did not fetch more profits due to reduced prices for the briefcase buyer.

“I realized that selling only crops on the markets was costly because the middle men would come to buy the crops and opted for a lower price because they would insist on doing the packaging of crops and transportation made them pay little for my products,”he said.

He said as such he decided to start adding value to his chickens to boost production and make it to the market noting that the market was competitive thereby making it hard for him to boost profits when he was selling only crops and dressed chickens.

“I decided to venture into value addition so that I can be able to obtain a bigger margin in terms of profits’ I therefore started concentrating on smoking of chickens and I noted that smoking makes the products stay longer without going to waste even without refrigeration,” he stated.

Mr Zulu indicated that smoking also helps to dehydrate the moisture on the food products and adds an aroma and flavour to the food.

He said this also helps in easy transportation as compared to live birds that require more space and are cumbersome when taking them to the market.

“My smocked products like chickens, fish and goat are now on demand because on special occasions like Kitchen parties’ people are able to buy due to their uniqueness. Smocked products makes it easy to prepare a meal because the smoking part of it does half of the cooking for consuming direct or put in a microwave can be less time consuming,” Mr Zulu stated.

Further, through this business venture he is now able to sale the smocked products in bulk to some lodges that are near to his locality. And this helps him to earn some profits adding that despite the price escalating on the cost of production.

Mr Zulu bemoaned some challenges that have resulted from the advent effects of climate change posing some diseases on livestock due to the cold posing stress on animals and hot weather patterns that we experienced recently imposed some other diseases on livestock.

Despite some challenges of climate shocks, he feels optimistic that this can be a profitable venture noting he only started with 100 birds and from the same birds he would sale 50 and smoke the remaining 50 but now he is able to buy from the growers, process them to finish smocked products and he delivers them to his clients.

He hopes to makemore profits from his sales to enable him to start naturing his own birds and add value to them which he feels can maximize profits for him to sustain his family and his livelihood in his business venture.

“Through value addingI was able to scoop an award on national level after exhibiting on the national show as individual exhibitor, I also attained some recognition from the Department of Ministry of fisheries and livestock in Lusaka” he stated.

He advises fellow farmers to undergo training and to interact with other agricultural experts so that their mindset would broaden because he sees farming as a business that can help them sustain there livelihood when people take it seriously.

‍