Government revives ostrich farming

ONALENNA MODIKWA
Staff Writer | Friday November 14, 2008 00:00

 

Paya noted that since there were no facilities, stakeholders agreed on outsourcing the scheme that involves hatching and staff training on handling eggs. Because the ministry wants to resuscitate the industry, it found it prudent to start with existing and established farmers. However, the ministry is not preventing other people.

'Talana Farms, a subsidiary of the Botswana Development Corporation , has agreed to implement the scheme, which is in line with the international practice. 'We agreed that eggs will be hatched at a fee of P150 per egg and chicks sold at P100 each to the farmers,' Paya said.

'Talana farms identify farmers and provide them with resources to hatch and raise chicks after which the farms buy them back, grow them to a desirable size, then sell them. Currently there are five such farmers in Talana Farms.'

Paya added that as a commercial breeder, Talana Farms has subordinate farmers who acquire skills from the farm. 'In addition to the Out-grower Scheme, there is also the buy-in to help farmers with training so that at the end of the day, they can also have a sense of ownership of the industry,' he said.

Paya noted that this also helps the industry to be better controlled and enables farmers to gain experience and become commercial breeders . 'We hope the new arrangement we have embarked on will save the ostrich farming industry.' He indicated that after the production of ostriches, there will be a company identified which will work in collaboration with the Ostrich Farmers Association to run the abattoir.

The ostrich abattoir was closed down after the ostrich industry failed. Paya hoped that all their interventions will work and restore the hopes of farmers who lost a lot of money in the industry before.

Talana Farms Manager Jannie Willemse indicated that his farm already has five farmers under the Ostrich Out-grower Scheme and he views this as a trail where everyone involved will learn and improve on. He noted that depending on the success, this scheme will eventually involve about 30 to 50 farmers.

Explaining how ostrich scheme works, Willemse said farmers from the village undergo training at the farm to raise ostrich chicks and the farm supplies material to build ostrich paddocks. Talana Farms has a field officer supervising the construction and raising of chicks. Farmers buy one-week old chicks from Dibete Ostrich Multiplication Unit and the farm provides food for farmers and supervision.

'The farm then buys the birds back at about 60 kilograms,' said Willemse. 'They are weighed and paid per kilogram and inputs are deducted, then the farmer remains with the balance as payment. The lower the mortalities, the higher the earnings. The better the care, the better the quality of bird, the better the weight, the better the earnings'.