HOW TO MAKE MONEY FROM CHIBWABWA.
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By Changala Yambayamba
Introduction
I have come to realize that making money in Zambia through agriculture is easy if you understand demand and supply plus economies of scale. Innovation also plays a major role in this equation. Most people think that agriculture is hard work, my request to you is to work smart by investing in the correct tools.
Scarcity of Chibwabwa
While Most people are growing tomatoes and cabbages, I have decided to commercialise our very own indigenous Zambian vegetable chibwabwa because i know that if i dont sale it fresh i will simply dry it and sale it at a later date. As i write this eye opener, chibwabwa is scarce and is at its highs. If you miss it this season you will have to wait till next year. When goods are in demand and the supply is low, the farmer sets the price. Capitalize on this and you will be smiling all the way to the bank. Load shedding and climate change will also play a major role in creating more demand for chibwabwa this season.
Last season I smiled all the way to the Bank 🏦 using the bed system.
I learnt this art from the finest farmers around Lusaka West and now i will teach you how its done. Pay close attention.
I started by planting 100 beds of chibwabwa. My beds where 2m by 10m long. My major costs where manure and seed. Chibwabwa takes 5 weeks to mature from planting date. For assets, I used my salary at the bank to invest in a good 7hp submersible pump with a good discharge rate, changed electricity from single phase to 3 phase and aquired an irrigation system which would change the way i viewed farming forever. This is the RAIN HOSE IRRIGATION SYSTEM.
I strongly recommend fellow farmers to invest in the Rain Hose Irrigation System if they want to be successful growing closely spaced vegetables such as chibwabwa, onion and other leafy vegetables. The system does a great job when it comes to evenly distributing water across your fields. I operate two farms and my primary crop is chibwabwa. One farm is in Lusaka and the other on the Copperbelt. Due to this feature I save alot of money on electricity and fuel.
The Rain Hose Irrigation System has a discharge rate of 200 litres of water per meter per hour. This is like pouring a drum of water at every metre in your field. Therefore you will be done irrigating your field in less than an hour. The system does not require filtration, it is easy to install and maintain and can easily be moved across your fields.
Try it out and you will pack your sprinklers and stop flooding.
Sales and Marketing
You Sale Chibwabwa per bed. With this system you will manage remote control farming very well because all you do is count the beds and make a price. Your goal should be to make the content in the beds very attractive by focusing on quality and quantity for your customers. Our target market is marketeers from densely populated areas. You can sale a bed between k100 and k200 and the customer will buy without hesitation.
Chibwabwa can also be supplied to major chain stores and supermarkets.
Export
Once you satisfy your local demand there will be need to export dried chibwabwa. Value addition is key.
In conclusion, you dont need rocket science to make money in agriculture, you simply need to understand the consumers and what they prefer and when it is scarce capitalize on it. We now have over 700 beds (do the maths) . This is still a drop in the the ocean. Let us promote our own products and grow our economy through our soil.
Just Fresh
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