Farming projects that youth can dive in

By Shelton Lucas

Youth can venture into many agribusiness opportunities some of them are profitable but the capital outlay is astronomical.

These are the agribusiness opportunities that youth can dive in;

Chicken rearing with a specific respect to broilers, however there are three types of broiler species in Zimbabwe which people are accustomed to namely Cobb which is Belgian, Hubbard which is French and Ross which is British.

Their traits vary for example Ross visually has got a bigger frame than Cobb but Cobb has more weight this means the later is good for rearing for mixed portions.

This is the budget for 100 chickens; chicks cost $US100, feed starter $US 30(1*50kg bag) grower $US29*2( 2*50kg) finisher $US28*4 (4*50kg)

Normally they retail at $7 per bird by so doing the profit will be $400. This cycle takes 6 weeks

Aquaculture

Rearing of fish with specific respect to tilapia bream. Pond sizes differ the smallest commercial pond is 10m *10m it accommodates 1500 fish occupying an area of 100m^2 with a volume of 150 000 litres. The expected revenue is $US 1875 @ $2.50/kg.

The production cost includes initial construction of the pond which is $US350, fish feed $ US 225, plankton booster $US 20 and bird net $US 40 so the net income profit will be $US 1590.The duration of this cycle is 6 months

Rabbit rearing

It has got a lot of advantages as a starter the meat can be sold profitably in the short run and in the long run the urine can be harvested and sold as an organic pesticide which can attract as much as $US5/litre the skin can also be exported to China and sold as gilts.

Apiculture (beekeeping)

This is a very profitable business since the start of covid 19 pandemic the demand for honey has increased its one of the main ingredients for cough syrups.The organic honey which is harvested from bee hives in remote areas which are far from the the proximity of chemicals attract handsome margins since they also qualify for export

Free range chickens with a specific respect to bantam chickens because the normal free-range chickens take about 6 months for the ease of doing business as youth will need a quick turnaround can venture into bantam chickens which grow fast since they are miniature chickens and they multiply exponentially.

Goat rearing

Their turnaround is relatively shorter. The technical name for goat meat is called chevon. There has been a surge in the demand for chevon in Zimbabwe. Alternatively, sheep rearing is also in the similar group with goats rearing, although mutton is more prime than chevon, we got a traditional barrier of being biased towards chevon as black Zimbabweans this makes it less profitable to deal in mutton.

Pen fattening

The you can buy steers and pen feed them. However there is a need to select the specific breeds that have a good Feed conversion rate (FCR). Feed conversion rate for example for Boran as a breed is better than that If Angus if you feed them both with the same amount of feed, the Boran grows faster and gains more weight than the Angus. Wagyu can also be selected as a brand since it’s value of meat exceeds $US200/kg owing to its tenderness

Maggot farming

This is one of the promising type of farming since maggots have multiple uses can be used as chicken and pig feed. The source of feed for maggots can be rotten vegetables from the vegetable markets these have an exponential growth and they help to ease pressure on cost of feed that one can be able to have a horizontal forward integration and have pig styles since the source of food will be guaranteed in a case study there is a farm in Australia where they keep 30 000 pigs and the feed is 100% from maggots, these now can generate electricity from biogas from the waste that comes from the pig and is enough to power 10 000 households this is at macro scale at micro all the energy requirements of the farm can be catered for by a simple maggot feed operation supplying the pigs The waste from the biogas can be used as fertilizer.