Mubarak Poultry Farm: How to Put Business Theory into Practice
Published: Mar 3, 2014 Reading time: 3 minutes
On the border of Pakistan in the Eastern part of Afghanistan lies Nangarhar Province where the Ghani Khile district is located. In this district there is a place called Gulalai Village where Jaabir and his family reside. His family’s main source of income is generated from selling animal and husbandry medicine. However, Jaabir has recently started to contribute to his family’s income by implementing PIN’s new additions to the educational system at the AVIs of Afghanistan. One year ago, Jaabir started this positive trend by creating his own poultry business, “Mubarak Poultry Farm”.
Jaabir first came up with the idea to start his own business after joining the school’s business team that also includes teachers. The team receives extensive business training from PIN:
“I learned my business skills from attending the Nangarhar Agriculture and Veterinary Institute. Particularly, the business training on the establishment of a farm, starting a business, vaccinations, and how control the chickens diseases inspired me, because we went to a school poultry farm to practice how to actually run a farm.”
The director of the Nangarhar Institute, Baahir Salhi, is extremely pleased to see that one of his students has profited in the business sector as a result of this training. He stated that: “Jaabir will serve is an example for other students who want to start their own business.”
Today, the farm specializes in broiler chickens, and has a capacity of 3000. Even though Jaabir started the business himself, his family plays a big part on the farm by helping out with everyday work. Additionally, his family raised 450.000 AFA for the construction that needed to take place, and for the equipment that is necessary to run the farm.
Although the farm is currently a profitable entity, it took a great deal of hard work for Jaabir to get the farm to where it is today. In order to make the initial purchase of broiler chickens, mixed fodder, and medicine to kick-start the farm, Jaabir needed to get a loan from the supplier. The farms lack of funding and high costs made things very difficult. However, after the completion of the first production, the farm was able to generate enough income to purchase the chickens, fodder, and vaccinations in cash. Thanks to the knowledge Jaabir acquired from PINs lessons at the Institute, he was able to overcome the obstacles he faced:
”The school taught me how to get in contact with customers, different selling methods, communication, and a very simple business cost calculation.”
PIN has worked towards creating a business school at the Nangarhar Institute since 2012. The Agricultural Education Programme of PIN Afghanistan currently supports more than 100 agricultural high schools and veterinarian institutes throughout Afghanistan. The objective is to increase the quality of education and management in agricultural high schools, and to make an impact on the agricultural sector. PIN activities are carried out in close cooperation with the Deputy Ministry of Technical Vocation & Educational Training (DM TVET.)
