This archive report was first published on 26 November 2019.
On a one-acre farm in Maili Kumi Location, Buuri, Meru County, a state-of-the-art chicken farm is thriving, producing 500 trays of eggs per day.
The farm, which started operations in late 2016, has found a unique way to reduce production costs by up to 40 percent.
According to Raphael Muthengia, the farm manager, the key to their success lies in the symbiotic relationship between the pigs and chickens.
The pigs consume poultry waste, which is collected, dried, and then fed to the pigs.
"We do around 2.1 tonnes per day of waste, but for the pigs, it's around 400 to 700 kilos," Muthengia explained.
"We kept the pigs as waste management for the poultry. Whatever we collect here, we just dry it on the sun, sieve, put a little bit of soya and then feed the pigs, they consume a lot of waste from poultry department," he added.
The farm sells the eggs locally at Ksh. 330 per tray and is targeting to have over 200,000 birds in the next five years, aiming to sell their eggs in the export market.
