Monday, January 27, 2014

Is it the end of the quail dream?

Some time ago I had reported from a friend of mine who is breeding quails in the suburbs of Nairobi. At that time it was a tremendously good business. At that time, she was breeding the birds for resale to farmers who wanted to have quails, an alternative to chicken farming with low barrier to entry and low risk for diseases. In the meantime, the market has saturated, quails eggs can be found in the majors supermarket in Nairobi, at a pretty high prices (around 4 dollar 12 eggs, while 6 chicken eggs are less than a dollar), and prices both of one day old chicks and eggs start decreasing.

Prices from the old time
Because she has discovered that many people just come to learn from her farm, and that this is taking a lot of time, she decided to charge for a visit. Also a way to diversify income.

Young quails waiting for a buyer
For the first time since she is raising quails, she has animals that she has not sold in advance, suggesting that market has reached its saturation, and she has to lower prices to get a market for her birds.


Now, it is about staying in market and to find the profitable value chains for quail products. But given that she has been one of the first to be in market, I am convinced she will make it.

2 comments:

  1. INNOVATORS WILL NEVER LACK IDEAS, THE NEXT BIG THING IS COMING

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    1. Leinard, would you want to write a post for my blog about the big up-coming things?

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