Chicken Economics

It was all a dream, that started while I put another handful of nshima (corn flour dough) with cabbage into my mouth.  After dinner when I was forced to tighten my belt by one more notch I came to the realization that I needed more protein. Then I thought, "Why don't I raise female flightless birds and eat their unfertilized offspring (also known as chicken eggs)".  After performing a market analysis I realized that I could sell as many as 30 eggs a day just to the surrounding community and make a little profit and protein at the same time.  This would require about 40 chickens (to sell to the community and for personal consumption) .  Through dlilagent frugal living I was able to save 1,000,000 Zambian kwacha ($200.00).  I spent 400,000kw on infrastructure development, 100,000kw on initial food supplies for employees (chicken feed) then 500,000kw on 10 employees (chickens).  The chickens are received at 17 weeks of age and must be feed 5 weeks before they start producing eggs.

To keep operating costs at a minimum I produce my own chicken feed. Chicken feed is about 60% corn which I am able to buy from local farmers at 15,000kw ($3.00) for 25kg. The rest of the components can be bought from town. Producing my own feed saves me about 25,000kw ($5.00) per month.  My savings would be even greater except as a small producer I don't have the economies of scale on my side, meaning long term storage of feed ingredients purchased in bulk can be a problem.

Once egg production has started for every 10 chickens there should be on average about 9 eggs every day.  Each egg I sell for 800kw (15 cents) meaning that if I don't eat or give away any of my eggs I can make an income of about 7200kw ($1.50) every day.  However I spend about 2500kw every day on feed and other operating costs. So I can make a daily profit of 3700 kw (80 cents). Once egg production starts it will continue for at least 1 year, maybe a little more depending on the chicken. After which each chicken can be sold or consumed as meat.  So after 365 days of egg production the total profit would be 1,350,500kw, which is just enough to remake the initial capital investment of 1,000,000kw.  It must be noted that the 400,000kw of infrastructure spending at the begining is a onetime investment. If the buisness is continued the following year then this investment will not be needed again.  Also the economics of scale would greatly increase the profit margin due to savings in feed production and in infrastructure.

The question must now be put to myself, why didn't I purchase 40 chickens to fulfil my initial market analysis (which I have recently confirmed to be an underestimate, infact I think there is a market for even 80 to 90 eggs per day).  The answer to this question is 2 fold. First the answer is that I wasn't frugal enough, I took a trip to South Africa in December. However I stand by this frivolous travel expenditure and say that it was worth every kwacha.  The second is answer is that risk and uncertainty generated fear in myself and my potential investors.  Will the chickens die or get stolen? Do I have what it takes to be a farmer? If I had another year in Zambia I would reinvest every penny and some more to fulfil my estimates as to the demands of the market.  But that's the slow progression of buisness.  Maybe someday I will make millions...of Zambian kwacha.

At Manda Hill

At Manda Hill,
One can ride the only escalator in Zambia,
From the bottom to the top.
Or one can watch the rural Zambians stumble and laugh,
As they ride on up.

In Manda Hill,
Each and every tribe and race in Zambia
Can easily be found.
Many come to see and many come to be seen
And some come to shop.

For Manda Hill,
Or half London as they say, is an image,
Of the western world.
The African mamas see the miniskirts and bikinis,
And shake their heads

But Manda Hill,
Was built by Zambia and the Zambians with money,
spend it there.
Those without money continue to dream,
And try their best.

By Manda Hill
One kilometre away is the only other mall in Zambia
Arcaides.
At both, modern meets postmodern, old meets new,
And Africa meets west

To Manda Hill they go,
At Manda Hill they laugh,
In Manda Hill they see,
For Manda Hill they wonder,
By Manda Hill they confront,

But will they ever climb to the top of Manda Hill?
Is there room at the top for the whole world?
If not, then the hill will be too steep.
And they will just occasionally ride the escalator up then down.
Laughing and dreaming as they look up,
At Manda Hill.

A Typical Day

The January school term has started and it means that I plunge into the daily routine of teaching. I teach three classes, grade 8 math, grade 8 science and grade 9 math. I also collect school fees from the grade 8 and 9 students and I manage the schools science equipment.  I must say that I am very grateful to finally have a fairly defined routine and I assure you that developing this routine was at times an exhausting effort.  Routine is the foundation on which we judge any abnormal situation that confront us and so in my first few months in Zambia not having a routine often left me confused during situations that would be totally out of the ordinary in Canada.  But time slowly brings about knowledge and understanding and from that I present to you now my typical day with all its strange quirks.

The sun rises at 05:30 so I get up at 05:30.  School starts at 07:00 this leaves me enough time to eat a mango/banana/apple as I go to fetch some water from the well then bath and then dress.  As I walk the 200m to the well I make sure that I greet everyone that I see.  I fill my bucket at the well or if there is a little kid there then they insist on filling my bucket for me.  When I get back I pour some water into a bath bucket and carry it over to the bath house for my cold bucket bath.  After I dress and shine my shoes I walk to school making sure to greet everyone I see.  Two minutes after leaving home I arrive at school.  On Mondays we have a staff meeting that starts at 06:30 so I have to get up a little earlier.  But if there is no staff meeting I grab my chalk and brush from my office and proceed to teach my classes.  Upon entering my class in the morning I am greeted as follows by the students.

I am in the class or in my office until 09:40 when there is a 20 minute break that allows me to go home and eat breakfast.  My breakfast consists of porridge made from corn meal and tea.  At 10:00 its back to school until 12:40 when classes end and i go home for lunch.  Lunch is nshima (dough made from corn meal) with some side dish, either beans or chicken or some leafy vegetable.  After lunch most people nap but I have never been a very skillful napper so I usually read.  At 14:00 after school study sessions begin for the students so sometimes i will go tutor or I will take some books along for them to practice reading.  If I am not in the classroom i am usually either planning lessons, reading, organizing or fixing the science equipment, helping with some building project or weeding the garden.  During these hours I usually find sometime to slack off and read or eat a few mangoes.  The sun goes down at 19:00 and the candles come out.  Shortly there after we eat supper consisting of nshima with some side dish.  After supper with drink tea talk for a bit then go to bed.

There is a 7 hour time difference between Zambia and Ontario.  So when school ends around 13:00 in Zambia the early risers in Ontario are just starting to roll out of bed at 6am.

This term of school continues until the start of April when we get a few weeks off before term 2 starts.  The third and final term of the school year starts in September and ends in November with national exams for grade 7, 9 and 12.  When I leave in July I hope that after all the day spent together the grade 9 will be able to pass their national exam and make it to grade 10 and if not I hope that at least they will be prepared for life in Zambia.