The presence of a vibrant sector of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME’s) is very important for developing countries as they create employment and contribute to sustainable economic growth but the social, economic and political realities in certain countries make it hard for SME’s to flourish.
During the one day manual management review with local poultry SME’s the Private Sector Development focal person Leonora Williams described Cordaid as a Non-Governmental Organization that has been supporting entrepreneurs in challenging contexts to build solid business through a three way approach of; Resilience business development services; Peer-to-peer learning; and Access to finance.
Madam Williams said they have been creating access to finance for selected SME’s through the conduct of training across the country on finance, book keeping, and proper procurement operations, that last normally for Six (6) months. She said the review is part of Cordaid belief in engaging partners before implementing any project for better outcome and meeting their targets.
The lead facilitator, researcher, and developer of the manual, Gabriel Rockwell, said the manual was developed based on field visits to farmers in almost all their implementing areas with questions and assessments on what happens on the ground. He said all the manual inputs came from farmers themselves with technical support from him, which according to him if well utilized farmers can make more profits from their poultry.
Mr. Rockwell said almost all farms complain of feeds, shortages of maize, transportation of chicks from Guinea to Sierra Leone, inconsistences in prices of chicks from their customers in Guinea, poor housing designed for birds productivity, poor farm management especially on how to keep business safe, poor farm plan with absolutely no time program for birds eggs productions which will keep customers markets dry. He said farmers need to find better ways of clearing their farm stocks to keep their eggs supply route ongoing, and expressed his fear on bio-security as most farmers hardly fence their farms.
Addressing the Issue of bio-security the Director of CAFOD and CARITAS poultry Experimental project John Fallah squarely blamed government for not working properly with them the private livestock farmers across the country. He said it is the responsibility of the Agricultural ministry to protect not only crop farmers but also livestock and private farmers because according to him all of them are working towards achieving food self-sufficiency.
The Proprietor of Big Things poultry farm in Petema Sheriff said some people go into this farming business with absolutely no knowledge on technical issues nor operations and which is also the role of government to contact and train those farmers and provide technical support and advise on ways of improving their farm. He said poor farm management is growing issues that need to be addressed as it leads to shortage in farm products in the markets with loss of capital as well.
On research issues the SOBA head of Poultry Sector Saio Bobson said what is presently lacking in the country’s agricultural sector is that of research pointing out that poultry management is very expensive if the said sector can receive support from government and other donors on poultry feeds and management, the overall turnout in eggs and birds will be great for poultry farmers. He called on business owners to take full responsibility of their farm and start planning for sustainability of their farms and birds by forming cooperatives.
The Cordaid facilitator Gabriel Rockwell cautioned that before going into the poultry business one needs to learn the tricks and knowhow of it because there is no magic about going into poultry farming and make it up without knowledge on it. He said the aim of any business small or big is to maximize profits and keep your market and customers going stating that if only they can come together and form a union they can make Makeni as the hub for the Northern region poultry farms and do great things which can exposed them as farmers with lots of money in their pockets rather than working as a single force.
By Mohamed Kabba
Wednesday June 29, 2016
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