02 Jul 2014

In 2009, Mr Magama Matsapa and his younger brother Mr Mukani Matsapa started keeping Tswana chickens as a leisure pursuit.

This was done at their parents’ residential plot in Monarch in Francistown and little did they know that their efforts would result in something even bigger.

In an interview recently, the older of the brothers, Magama said they started keeping Tswana chickens to keep themselves busy during their spare time. He however said that it did not take long before customers came to their place to buy live chickens for food and breeding.

This motivated them to surf the internet to check for other breeds of chicken to cross with the Tswana chickens in order to improve their breeds.

He said they liked the Austrolop and Orpington and ordered them from Gaborone and South Africa in 2010 and crossed them with Tswana chickens.

Later they started keeping pure breeds of black Orpington, Orpington cuckoo, buff Orpington, white Austrolop, bantam chicken and guinea fowls as well as ducks and turkeys in 2013.

Magama said they chose the particular breeds because of their adaptability to local weather conditions.
He stated that their business was doing well so far and he encouraged other youths to venture into poultry farming, stressing however the importance of having the knowledge of how best to run their businesses. ENDS

According to him, making profits should not be top priority, as that would automatically follow when the birds are well taken care of and the business generally in a sound manner.
 

However, Magama decried the prices of poultry feeds, stating that the prices seem to fluctuate haphazardly, which makes it difficult to budget.

A loyal customer of the business, Mr Boitshoko Keotswele sung praises of the young men, crediting Magama for his efforts of imparting his skills to other Batswana as he freely shares information about his business.
 

As a farming enthusiast, Mr Keotswele said he appreciates that government permits civil servants to start and run their own business.

Another customer, Mr Capitan Del Castillo said he too has ventured into poultry farming with particular focus on raising Orpingtons.

He noted that he was also in the process of starting to cross them with local breeds of chickens, adding that farming was a profitable venture and discouraged the youth from wasting their most productive years by waiting until they were older to go into farming.
BOPA