Bungoma Youth Finds his Niche in Poultry Farming TWO years ago, Joseph Kulecho Baraza was not a well-known poultry farmer in his Misikhu village, Bungoma County. He only reared a handful of chicken on a free range system; not for business but to meet his domestic needs. Today, he is among the most promising poultry farmers in the area. With nearly 700 chicken producing between 90 – 120 eggs per day and a known supplier of chicks to others in his sub-county; he is inspiring many especially unemployed youth to consider poultry farming as a profitable venture. His dream of becoming a computer programmer was interrupted when he dropped out of school due to inability to pay fees. He started poultry farming after noticing a shortage in the supply of eggs and chicks in the area.
His effort has landed him a tender of supplying eggs at a local secondary school from which he makes a profit of Sh.2, 000 per week. He has also invested in an incubator that enables him hatch over 500 chicks per week.
“It was a humble beginning.” He recalls. “I began with only 15 chicken with little knowledge on how to care for them.” He learnt a lot from other farmers in the area but it was a K-YES organized training that made him consider poultry farming as agri-business. “I was trained on feeding, disease prevention; obtaining the market for poultry products and how to manage proceeds from the business.” He notes. After the training, he bought 200 layers from which he accumulated a profit of Sh.18, 000 that he invested in ‘improved kienyeji’ chicks that have a higher demand in the area. He buys a day old chick for Sh. 80 and sells one month later for Sh. 200.
With a monthly income of over Sh. 30,000 and having created job opportunities for several youth in his home area; Joseph is an example of how over 800 youth trained on agribusiness in the county are using gained knowledge and experience to benefit others in the community.