Land preparation and purchase of water melon seeds

Entrepreneur

About Me

I am a kenyan male married with 2 sons. Currently working with the World Food Prgramme in Logistics department. Apart from the employment I'm also engaged in poultry farming where i do sale of eggs and hatching of chicks for sale. i started with quails and from the proceeds of the eggs i managed to acquire an incubator with a capacity of 3,978 quail eggs and 1,584 chicken eggs. However at the moment i am only doing chicken farming. I have diversified into butchery business where i am selling beef and mutton. The reason for getting into business was to supplement my current income and a fall back incase of loss of employment. Income from the business is used to invest in other activities and at the moment i'm in the process of acquiring the necessary approvals from the county government for construction of rental houses.

My Business

I have a salary of $1,414.60 per month.
I have approximately 30 indigenous hens which are laying and 10 cockrelles which are for serving the hens. occasionally i will also get extra income from the sale of newly hatched chicks.
In the butchery on a daily basis i sell an average of 30kgs of beef and 15kgs of mutton. The profit margin in the butchery business is 30%.
the challenges faced in the business is 1. competition - competition in the poultry business is quite high and one has to be innovative to get market for his products. what i use mainly is referrals from existing clients to widen my client base. My wife has also undertaken the duty of fetching for markets from local supermarkets as we seek to enlarge our customer base.
2. Erratic prices - prices have not been stable and thus one has to forecast very well to ensure that you give farmers the best price possible and still ensure that your venture is profitable.
3. mixing business with employment - this is usually a challenge when the chicks are hatching since they need utmost care. during this time i'm forced to hire external labour to take care of the chicks as i attend to formal employment.
The butchery business requires one to be present especially in the evenings when the flow of customers is high which means that am required to attend to it after leaving office in the evening.

Loan Proposal

i have leased 2 acres of land in Narok of which i wish to utilize in farming water melons.

The total project cost is $ 660.46. i intend to utilize the loan awarded by purchasing seeds whose cost is $ 79.12 and land preparation (ploughing, manuring etc) which will cost $ 110.08.

upon maturity, each acre is expected to give a fruit with an approximate tonnage of 20.
The current market price for a kilogram of fruit is $ 0.28 thus 20 tonnes will give a gross income of $5,503.82 at ceteris paribus..

The fruit is in high demand in the country and especially Nairobi city and thus at any given time a farmer is assured of his market.

I look forward to a positive consideration from you as i endevour to grow my business and income.

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