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A.K.M. Glitters Poultry Company from Tanzania is a good example of how youth can venture into agribusiness as a form of employment and a gateway to food security.
This emerged today in a webinar facilitated by Dr. Rachel Mkandawire, the Policy and Research Analyst from the Food Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) meant to promote the participation of youth in agribusiness.
Dr Mkandawire said the webinar series is meant to empower African youth by providing them with mentorship opportunities in the agribusiness sector, showcasing success stories from experienced agripreneurs, and highlighting viable value chains to encourage their active participation in the industry, ultimately fostering sustainable food systems across the continent.
Elizabeth Swai, the founder of AKM Glitters Poultry Limited from Tanzania said her company started as a backyard poultry-keeping activity as any other African household with 250 chickens.
With time, she started buying small chicks from farmers from the very beginning, fattening them, and then selling them as meat. That was back in 2004 and 2007 when she went on and registered the company officially and was recognized by the policies of the country. Before starting the project, she worked at the United Nations World Food Program and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
At the farm, they own a feed mill with a capacity to produce 120 metric tons of feed a day. The company trades the feed with smallholder farmers as well as competitors. Through their hatchery in Tanzania, they are licensed to produce broiler birds that are adaptable to geographical conditions in the country.
AKM is supporting youth and women to develop poultry enterprises because studies showed that they could make profits and all they needed was to address the existing problems that smallholder farmers and young women were facing.
“Among other challenges, we realized that funding for agriculture and livestock is a big issue and we decided to commit to making sure that our farmers make profits and have justification for credit facility access. We have two contracts with two banks at the moment who are supporting smallholder farmers. We negotiated a 75% zero interest, where the youth would put in application fees, and 25% we convinced the donors or the government to give de-risking funds to the banks so that the youth could get the 75% to manage their poultry enterprise,” Swai said.
AKM Glitters has this year started contract farming where they buy directly from smallholder farmers to reduce the cost of feed. They also practice
climate-smart agriculture by introducing black soldier production, which is waste management where they use briquettes as a clean energy instead of charcoal from trees.
For the coming four years, it is going to work with 6,600 smallholder farmers and this year, they are already working with 600 smallholder farmers. They have commercial and development wings for the chicks.
The development wing is a community program where 580 women agents who are buying feed are spread across Tanzania and work with over 1.2 million smallholder poultry keepers.
By doing this, AKM is addressing nutrition, women’s inclusion, and also supporting youth. This year, they have engaged 340 youth. It has also partnered with Mercy Corps supporting the naturalized refugees in refugee settlements in Tanzania.
Some youth are assigned into brooders and fattening groups, while others are into slaughtering and value addition. Each youth is supposed
to support at least between 50 and 150 smallholder farmers
AKM has agriculture, livestock, strategic, and management departments. They also engage young mothers impregnated before age who need income.
“We train them to become brooders and they sell their chickens every month and get profits of between 226 dollars or 500 to 700 000 Tanzania shillings. We also work with smallholder farmers and displaced communities,” Swai said.
Nduduzo Madela, a young farmer from South Africa thanked FANRPAN and the Alliance for a Green Revolution Africa (AGRA) and their different partners for supporting young entrepreneurs to access dignified and fulfilling work, especially through the agri-food systems and poultry in his case.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, agriculture was a sector that many people supported. And as we see many changes when it comes to the world of work, one thing that won’t change is people needing to eat. It’s an opportunity for all of us, as we have been growing populations, as we’re having different changes in terms of what people are interested in when you think about proteins and some people going vegetarian. So there are a lot of opportunities within the poultry sector, but also generally within the agri-food systems,” Madela said.
Dr. Mwaka Namukonda, the Coordinator of CAYACC said a majority of young people need financial literacy to succeed in agribusiness.
“The youth sometimes get the money, but things don’t just go as planned. So proper guidance and incubation, financial literacy, and tailored products are something that we need as a tool. The other tool we need is access to technology and innovations. Now that we have all these diseases coming up from nowhere in the sky and the atmosphere, our R&D departments must get sophisticated.
“Can we have specific careers? We need to upgrade curriculums in the tertiary sectors, looking at how we can have smart farming solutions to tackle climate change and tackle automated feedings. How do we have mobile apps for market information, veterinary advice, and e-commerce?” Dr Namukonda said.
