Two photos were combined in the image above. Photo on the left is from Kiera Burton/Pexels while the photo on the right is from Shutterstock.
Just a week ago, one gentleman contacted me asking for advice on whether to abandon a job offer of GH₵ 3,000 per month in favour of rearing 1000 layers and I thought it would be helpful to share the advice I gave him with you. The maximum revenue (from 1000 layers) you would probably make from egg sales in a month as of the time of writing this article is GH₵ 15,000 with a 20% profit margin, hence you basically make the same as someone who is receiving a GH₵ 3,000 per month salary. Now that it has been established that both options could generate the same income, you might be tempted to believe that this is just a matter of choosing any one of them but you’ll be intrigued to find out that this choice is not that simple to make. Keep reading this article to find out why.
Before giving anyone advice on this matter, certain details of the individual such as risk tolerance, age, marital status and number of kids must be known.
Before starting any enterprise, you need to check your risk tolerance. Are you comfortable with the prospect of losing as much as GH₵ 150,000 in a year? If your answer is yes, you can start a poultry farm of a thousand layers. If not, you better find some relatively safe investment such as treasury bills to put your money in.
The fact that you are risk-tolerant, doesn’t necessarily mean you should just jump head-first into poultry farming and reject the guaranteed monthly income. You need to consider how old you are. Assuming you are between the ages of 25 and 30, single and with no kids, you practically have very little to lose. Sure, losing GH₵ 150,000 isn’t fun but you know what else isn’t fun? Using your life savings to start a poultry farm and watch everything crumble before your eyes when you have kids and other important commitments to take care of. This is why I would advise someone who is 35 years or older with major commitments to take the GH₵ 3,000 salary.
So does it mean if you 35 years or older, you shouldn’t start a poultry farm? The answer is no. Even though poultry farming involves some risk, writing a good business plan and having an experienced farmer or consultant guide you through the farming process significantly increases your chances of success.
In a nutshell, it would probably be smarter to take the job offer and run the poultry farm on the side so even if your poultry investment goes south, you know you have the security of a regular monthly income to protect you. However, if you are relatively young without major commitments and have the stomach for risk, you can forgo the job offer and concentrate solely on the poultry farm.
If you would remember, I made mention of the fact that when you write a good business plan you increase your chances of succeeding as a poultry farmer, however, you might require some help. For a professional business plan on starting a poultry farm, feel free to contact us.
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