Commercial agriculture in Meru County largely revolves around khat farming, but Jennifer Koome, the managing director, Daichi Farm, decided to try her hand at pig farming, a decision she does not regret.
She and her partner, Michael Koome, bought 20 acres of land in Buuri, along the Meru-Isiolo border.
“This was back in 2010 and was informed by the hysteria that was being spread at the time that the seat of government would move to Isiolo upon realisation of Vision 2030,” Jennifer begins.
Afterwards, however, they realised that they had made a rushed decision, and rather than let the piece of land lie idle while waiting for an unknown future, in 2014, they decided to start Daichi Farm, investing in onions as the market was good.
“We planted onions for four seasons within the year as they mature quickly, but the business was only profitable for the first two seasons, therefore towards the end of the year, we had to rethink our strategy, that is when the idea of pig farming came up.”
The two visited a pig farmer who had 500 pigs and was doing very well in the business, and after some consulting, they decided to invest in pig rearing.
They approached it as a business, and determined to be certain of the market for their products, they approached Farmers Choice with a proposal and were enlisted as contracted pork suppliers.
In 2015, they set up pigsties that could accommodate 50 gilts (female pigs that have not given birth), investing Sh2.3 million. The units were divided into breeding and mothering areas. Jennifer notes that the biggest cost was incurred by feeds.
“The first two years were a learning curve for us. We managed to grow our pig population to 400, but we were faced with a myriad of challenges as we were short on experience.”
Jennifer Koome, the co-founder of Daichi Farms displays of their products at their offices in Westlands, Nairobi on January 21, 2022.
“Even our farm manager was learning in the process as he was transitioning from dealing with plant farming to animal rearing, we, therefore, had to enlist a lot of outsourced assistance which in turn raised our operating costs.”
By the end of the third year, the animal population had grown to 900 and eventually at their peak, they had 3,000 animals, of which 260 were sows.
They started with supplying Farmers Choice 25-50 pigs weekly, a number that went up to 100 during the farm’s peak. Jennifer attributes the rapid expansion and success to their farming model.
She argues that whilst most people practice subsistence farming, their approach was purely commercial. They developed standardised operating procedures, which ensured that they maintained consistency in their supply, as well as quality and short turnaround times.
“In 2019, we started thinking of ways we could unlock the full potential of our business by doing value addition. We made plans on starting a processing plant and got into talks with a few equipment suppliers from Italy so that we could have the plant set up the following year.”
But their plans were cut short when Covid-19 hit and cessation of movement was announced. At the same time, schools were closed, and Jennifer, who was the director of Amboseli Institute in Thika, found herself jobless. This accelerated the need to do value addition for their produce, as she was only focused on the farm now.
“We sourced for some equipment locally, specifically bone saws, which enabled us to start slaughtering our animals. We then set up a website and social media handles to help advertise our products, and started doing home deliveries as a lot of people were not going out of their homes as they would regularly due to the pandemic.”
As time went by and the Covid-19 pandemic worsened globally, the business partners had to think of sources closer to home for machinery to process other products they bore in mind such as sausages and ham. They found the equipment they needed in South Africa, but they incurred huge costs as they had to airlift the machinery, which weighed close to a tonne.
“We commissioned the processing plant in Westlands, Nairobi, in September 2020. This was just in time as supplies to Farmers Choice had gone due to decreased demand by their main customers as a result of closure of hotels, restaurants and bars.”
Jennifer points out that 2021 was their toughest year, especially when the second cessation of movement and closure of non-essential businesses was announced.
“We had to reduce our animal population by half as the cost of production kept on rising. This was mainly due to an increase in the cost of raw materials we use to make our feeds and an increase in the cost of electricity. We also stopped supplying to Farmers Choice as we could not meet both their demands and those of our processing plant.”
They also struggled with marketing as their bulk customers, mainly restaurants and hotels, were closed. It was also a challenge to penetrate the market as they were competing with other bigger companies for an already reduced market.
“We came up with some strategies to help us stay ahead of our competition. We intensified our online marketing strategy by hiring a social media manager to engage directly with our clientele. We also realised that there was a huge unexplored market in areas of residencies like gated communities and estates. We came into agreements with stockists within these estates to sell our produce.”
Jennifer adds that currently, she has three dedicated motorbikes for home deliveries, a small truck and a refrigerated truck for deliveries outside of Nairobi, which are done on Wednesdays.
They also have two free delivery days for their customers (Tuesdays and Thursdays), and Jennifer holds that all these, coupled with quality products, has helped them brace their challenges, grow and stay profitable.
Currently, Daichi Farm has 43 employees, 20 in the factory and 23 in the farm. Jennifer says that all their farm managers are university graduates who have studied agriculture-based courses, whom they take on and train as per their operating procedures.
“Our flagship product is bacon, which ranges between Sh550 – Sh650 per half a kilo. It stands out among competitors because it is not as salty as bacon tends to be, and it is smoked in special wood during processing. Our premium sausages which are more than 60 percent meat also do well in the market, at an affordable price of Sh385 for a pack of 10.”
Jennifer believes that anybody can run a successful farming enterprise regardless of scale, as long as the management and approach is right, and contribute towards the country’s food security goals. BY DAILY NATION