About eight months ago, June 14th on Sunday finalized on my business plan from back in Nairobi, having done a comprehensive analysis of every project on the plan I proudly referred (still do) to as “blueprint”.
The blueprint was divided into feasible phases:
The first phase was of course short season crop farming. This was to fetch quick cash and then generate capital for the next project which was pig farming. The few savings I had from the city wasn’t sufficient to go straight into pig farming and it’s for that reason that I first started with crop farming; horticulture.
Crop farming was perfect since it wasn’t costly compared to other projects, not unless you are starting big. I started small. And as I said earlier I targeted vegetables that are ready for the market in only a few weeks. These included: capsicum, kales, managu, coriander, sagaa, kanzira, mchicha. We locally sold these vegetables to our neighbors but most of it ended up to Nambale, our local town. These were perfect since they didn’t require a lot of capital to start and no irrigation (which is costly) was needed since Busia County receives ample rainfall and the soils are good.
And with the savings from these, I’m glad to share with you guys the good news: I have already put up a pigsty. By next week we would have finished with the roofing and the floor.
It ain’t too fancy, and not too big either, just enough space for about ten pigs maximum, for a start. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not starting with ten pigs. From March I’m getting just two piglets, a sow and a boar.
Then from their offsprings we’ll be in a position to plan for the future of the farm. Probably keep all the piglets or sell a couple depending with the circumstances that will arise.
But the most important thing is that we’re almost through with the house and as my highschool agriculture teacher, Mr. Onyango — now the principal of Nambale Urban Sec. School — used to say, a farm structure is one of the most important things to first think of if you intend to venture into livestock farming. For the rest of this month before I finally bring home those piglets, is to make plans for feeds and learn as much as I can about pigs.