Few people find work right away, but the majority will have to deal with unemployment for years.
That was the situation with Victor Odhiambo Ouma, who currently manages a poultry farm in Kendu Bay.
He mostly raises improved kienyeji chickens for meat and eggs, as well as ornamental birds like as silkies, bantam chickens, guinea fowls and geese.
After graduating from Lake Institute of Tropical Medicine in 2017, Ouma began looking for work, wanting to become a community health officer.
Unsuccessful, his interest in agriculture was reignited when he remembered watching his father sell chickens to pay for his education.
“I had two projects in mind, growing watermelons and keeping chickens,” he said.
Ouma began by doing menial tasks for capital and eventually raised Ksh 150,000, which he used to buy 500 chicks for Ksh 100 each and used Ksh 60,000 to get feeds.
Part of the remaining funds were spent on feeders, immunizations (which cost him Ksh 10,000), and other supplies.
“Chak Achaka Farm is on government property. The structures were put up by the state to support entrepreneurs like me. I registered with the authorities dealing with small and medium size enterprise to get the permit to operate,” he says.
Most of the birds Oumq had purchased earlier lived to maturity, and he sold each for Ksh 750 months later.
Six months after launching the business, he earned a profit that was nearly double the money he spent to build the venture.
“Some birds died before maturity but that did not bother me much. Those are some of the hazards of business,” he said.
Part of his expansion strategy included opening a hatchery, which required him to purchase incubators and receive chicken production training.
A year after the first sale, he purchased a Ksh 95,000 incubator capable of holding 1,056 eggs. He also enrolled in an online poultry management course.
“Demand for meat and live birds from Chak Achaka grew. I had to think of sustaining the market. Hatching chicks appeared viable,” he stated.
Curiosity and farm visits led him to the decorative bird business.
Chak Achaka Farm now has four incubators and hatches at least 1,500 chicks every week, most of which are sold to poultry producers.
Ouma, like other farmers, claims feed prices have risen, despite the fact that his 200 hens eat 25 kilogrammes of feed every day, while chicks require 15 kilogrammes.
His feed composition contains soya, sunflower, maize, and other components.
Ouma claims that some processed feeds offered by agrovets may not include all of the nutritional content listed on the box.
“I have leased several pieces of land for the crops. The maize, soya and others are harvested, formulated and given to the birds,” he said.
The four acres of sunflower and soya can sustain 1,000 chickens for four months.
The birds also eat azolla (mosquito ferns) and water plants, which he gets from Kiambu County.
The farm features multiple ponds for cultivating plants. Ouma adds chicken droppings to the water, which helps to increase the amount of plants in the ponds.
The plant is scooped with a sieve and grows to its full height in 14 days.
“It is important not to harvest everything. Some must be left in the ponds to multiply,” Ouma says, adding that he also applies hydroponic technology to cut on production costs.
Chak Achaka Farm’s monthly turnover varies, with the highest season being December, when many households purchase chickens for the festivities.
The money he earns goes toward farm operations such as paying electricity bills and paying his four employees.
The farm utilizes approximately Ksh 6,000 in power per month, and with regular blackouts, he needs a backup generator.
