Why I no longer fear failure. My journey so far as a pig farmer

Why do I write? As they say in Shona, “kugara nhaka huwona dzevamwe”, maybe someone in the diaspora who is also trying to start a business back home can learn from my mistakes, they do not need to reinvent the wheel. Writing is also therapeutic. I am passionate about the development of Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular. I believe one reason why we are lacking in development is the shortage of entrepreneurs and risk takers in the country. The more entrepreneurs we are going to have as a country, the faster we will develop. Farming is also a business. A lot of people in the diaspora have access to capital and they are looking for projects to do back home. Zimbabwe has a favourable climate and there is a lot of farming projects that one pursue such as growing maize, tobacco, soya beans, wheat etc. One can also go into livestock farming. Any solid economic recovery in Zimbabwe will be anchored on increased agricultural outputs.

Things were looking up in early 2017

 

The coming weeks I will be selling over 60 pigs to the abattoir. When I went home for the 30 July 2018 vote, I was seriously considering shutting down my piggery project. I actually felt that every time I took one step forward, I would then take two steps back. I also regretted the decision I took to temporarily go back to work in April this year. In April 2018, I thought everything was set up I had over 70 pigs ready for the market and with the projected sales the project would be able to sustain itself without me injecting fresh capital. I decided to go back to work in order to raise finance in order to buy butchery equipment.

The day after I flew home for the 18 November 2017 Demo

The butchers I dealt with so far, do not do their business on a sustainable basis. They were paying us very low prices only in the form of EcoCash even though they were selling mostly for cash at much higher margins (cash is king in Zimbabwe),the money was taking too long to be paid (I once waited for 2 months for a payment from a butcher in Chitungwiza) and some of the butchers don’t even pay (right now another butcher owes me $1 000.00 and there is no hope of getting the money as the records between people who sold the pigs on my behalf and the butcher are in shambles). I know a number of pig farmers who have gone under due the to conduct of butchers. If more farmers go under it means there will be a serious shortage of pork for the butcheries and in the long run they also lose out on business.

From my experience the biggest challenge in running a business in Zimbabwe is not really the unpredictable economic environment but the management side e.g the bond note is currently devaluing and shortly prices will also go up. If you are based outside the country when it comes to the money side of things especially when you throw relatives into the equation you will have a toxic internal environment. On 2 October 2017, I finished serving my four weeks notice at my employer in Pretoria. I had worked for 10 years in the same role. Ever since I came to South Africa in August 2007, I had quickly learnt that as a foreigner your prospects are limited. For example some companies do not even consider qualifications for promotions and those that do recognise qualifications won't consider employing a foreigner. I knew within 3 months of coming to South Africa that I would work at a lower level, keep my head down, work overtime as much as possible raise the money and build a home in Zimbabwe and raise money for projects and then go back home.

That same night I resigned from my job, I boarded a bus to Harare at a cost of R450. That is the other problem of running a project in Zimbabwe when you are based outside, you can only go home on a weekend. The bus journey normally takes up to 24 hours especially coming from South Africa as the bus can spend up to 8 hours at the Zimbabwean side of the border and though cheap it is not possible to use the bus on a weekend. Driving to Harare can cost you about R4 500.00 in fuel, toll fees, border fee expenses and there is also costs such as damaged tyres, mags, suspension etc. due to the terrible roads in Zimbabwe especially the Beitbridge- Harare road. A return air ticket from Johannesburg to Harare will cost you up to $600 and you will still need to make arrangements to get transport to your destination to and from Harare.

After many years of experimenting, what works for me is to drive my car to Beitbridge and leave it on the South African side and cross the border on foot and catch lifts either in buses that would have completed all the border processes or in private lifts (the level of crimes in Zimbabwe are much lower in Zimbabwe than South Africa hence its safer to hitch hike in Zimbabwe). I would arrive in Chivhu early in the morning on Saturday and buy the feed go to the piggery project and late in the afternoon I would get transport back to the border and by Sunday morning I would be back in Pretoria. The whole trip would cost me less than R2 000.00 and the money I saved by not flying, I would invest in my projects back home.

After spending a lot of money over the years on the project, I now had more time to properly manage the project. I was also thinking of growing two hectares of tobacco. The following morning after I arrived in Harare, we visited my piggery project at my In-laws plot in Chivhu. I was in the company of Mereka Maruwira who now looks after our house in Zimre Park. I first met Mereka in early 2002 when I employed him as a shop keeper when I opened my second ever store at the farm in Macheke where his parents had been working before the white farmer lost his farm during the land reform. Ever since, Mereka has worked with me in my many other ventures in Macheke, Mutoko, Harare, Bulawayo and even in Pretoria. We met the worker a relative who is uninterested in the project who just does it for the money. It is never advisable to employ a relative. The worker then told us that feed had run out the previous day and I asked why I had not been told of this and he was not bothered. It is not a pretty sight when you have 100 hungry pigs.

We asked the worker if we could get crushed maize at the nearest grinding mill and he said there was none there and the only feed available was to give him money and he could buy maize locally for $4 per tin. Mereka suggested that we still go to the grinding mill, we were able to buy a 50kg sack for about $9. The next morning we boarded a bus to Mutoko to my cousin’s plot. In mid-2015 after I became a co-owner in the piggery project, I had invested almost $2 000 to buy and transport a grinding mill machine to his place. All I wanted was the maize and the crushed maize for my pigs. Most villagers can’t afford to raise the $1 or 50cents cash required for grinding 1 tin of maize, instead they would pay with a 5 litre empty paint tin filled with maize in order to crush their maize. That maize was supposed to be mine. When I asked my cousin about my maize he told me there was none available. Imagine after nearly 1 year of not collecting maize I could not get even one tin of maize. I had not slept properly for three days in a row and I was really cross by the answer I got from him (another reason why I don't want to do business with relatives) and I took a nap for about two hours. I then walked 6km to the local business centre where I used to run a general dealer shop between 2004 and 2008.

Buying feed in Mutoko

At Corner Store in Mutoko

Using my grinding mill

 

At the first grinding mill, I found makireshi selling for $4.8 per 50kg as well as sunflower cake for $100 per tonne. I paid for 2 tonnes and I went back to Harare and came back in the evening with my brother in law’s two tonne truck and we delivered the feed to Chivhu early the following morning. Three days later, I went back to Mutoko and started moving from grinding mill to another buying as much as I could get. I met a farmer who had been making maputi and he had many sacks of maputi rejects he was on the verge of throwing away. I spent the day at his house busy removing debris from the maputi. I left his plot after 8pm and walked 7km to the business centre and luckily found a bar that was still open just before midnight, I bought a packet of biscuits and that was my supper. I then asked another guy for a place to sleep. I risked catching Malaria so every dusk I would apply the mosquito repellent to my body. I also moved around with water treatment tablets. Next morning around 5am I woke up and walked back to the plot and we finished sorting out the rubbish from the maputi around mid day. I had about 3 tonnes of feed.

I went back to Harare to organise transport, my brother in law was not available. I came back to Mutoko and a friend helped me to transport the feed to Harare- Nyamapanda road. I was lucky that evening as an empty Malawi registered truck was going my way. The Malawi driver did not want Bond note currency and luckily I had R500 on me and he accepted that as payment. The following morning we arrived in Chivhu. I came back to South Africa to see my family for a few days and I went back to Mutoko and I bought more feed and transported the feed that same way. I now had enough feed to last me for about three months. I had about 20 pigs ready for market and I sold them and I managed to buy concentrate for the next big number of piglets numbering almost 80. After the resignation of Mr Mugabe, the business environment towards end of November 2017 started to improve.

HOW I ENDED UP RAISING PIGS

I never thought that I would ever consider going into pig farming until one afternoon in mid 2006 in Mhangura commercial farming area. In April 2006, I had been transferred to Bulawayo as a Branch Manager for an insurance company. On the side I was running a personal business of 4 shops in Mutoko and Macheke resettlement areas at that time. I had also grown tobacco for the first time. I had a 7 tonne Bedford truck that I had bought the previous year. A friend of mine who still works in Chinhoyi suggested that I bring the truck to Mashonaland West Province and he would assist me to get a contract from cotton buyers. The truck had spent a few months in the province and now it was constantly breaking down and I now needed to recondition the engine. I drove with my youngest brother in law and he was going to drive the truck back to Macheke.

When we arrived in Chinhoyi, I was told the truck was in Mhangura so we drove along Chirundu road up to Lions Den and then turned right to Mhangura Business centre. We spent a number of hours at the business centre. I could see the previous Standard Chartered Bank that had closed down after many white commercial farmers left the area and in its place there was a CBZ Bank. I did walk around closer to the houses. Having read Peter Godwin's autobiography, Mukiwa, I kept wondering which of these houses had Peter lived growing up as a boy. Eventually I was told that the truck was going to be carrying tobacco belonging to a retired army general who had been allocated a commercial farm around Mhangura.

We drove to the farm and the farm house a very modern structure built on top of the hill and next to the house there was a Toyota Hilux KZTE white double cab bakkie parked which was similar to my company issued vehicle I was driving. We then met retired General Chingombe at the house. Behind his house there was a big piggery project and he showed us around and explained a lot about pigs. The pigs and the pens were smarter than the pigs that I had seen in our village in Murewa. From that day, I decided that I would raise pigs. In the discussions with the general, he mentioned that one of his neighbours was vaMugabe (he was referring to Leo Mugabe the former president's nephew). I was renting an agricultural 6 acre plot in Kensington outside Bulawayo. I went to the Pig Industry Board in Bulawayo and bought building plans and books on raising pigs. By the time I left Zimbabwe in mid 2007 I had not started on the project. I read on the news that the general had died in 2008 and he was buried at the heroes acre in Harare.

In 2009 before I started building our house in Zimbabwe, I visited Pig Industry Board along Mutoko road outside Harare to go and get more information. That following year, I bought 100 iron roofing sheets and steel mesh screens and paid a transporter to take them from Pretoria to our house in Zimbabwe. End of 2011, I raised about 600 broilers at our house and abandoned the project after I lost about half of the birds when the helpers badly dressed the birds after slaughter and all the chicken went bad and had to be thrown away. In 2012- 2013 my father in law borrowed the roofing sheets and the metal screens as he was starting a piggery project. He wanted me to be a partner in the project and I initially contributed some money and then I pulled out as I know that it is always difficult to do a business with relatives.

During the Easter holidays of 2015, I drove to Murewa to visit my grandmother and on the way back, I passed by my in laws farm in Chivhu. I asked my father in law how his piggery project was going and I learnt from my mother in law that he was about to close the project. I went to inspect the project and I saw the situation was dire. I then asked him if I could take over the project and he said yes. I came back to South Africa on Easter Monday and on the Friday afternoon of that week, I took half day off at work and flew to Harare. The next morning, I went to buy feed. I then suggested that since I was based in South Africa instead of taking over the project entirely, I would provide capital until the project was back on its feet and we would be equal partner as he would doing day to day management. I would then go to Zimbabwe almost every forty night and when I was busy my wife would go to Zimbabwe. In March 2016, I took my annual leave and I saw an opportunity to barter goods with maize in Mutoko. I would buy things like beds, iron roofing sheets, plastic dishes, blankets, empty 20 litre buckets etc. Some of the villagers paid cash and some paid me with maize. In mid 2016 I drove to Mutoko during weekends and I would do about three trips on Saturdays carrying maize between Harare and Mutoko. I stocked the maize at my house in Ruwa.

March 2016 in Pretoria carrying goods for sale to Mutoko

 

Mid 2016 carrying my maize from Mutoko to Harare

Some of the villagers especially those who grew tobacco decided to pay me cash. When I collected the US dollars, I decided to also grow tobacco and I paid to build a big tobacco barn. The partnership in the piggery continued without serious problems except that at times a pig would be slaughtered for one or more reasons without my consent. Whenever we sold the pigs, we would share the profits equally. Around October 2016, a number of pigs where sold to a butchery in Chitungwiza and it was my turn to get the sales proceeds amounting to almost $2 000.00. I delayed going to Zimbabwe in November 2016 when the money was supposed to be paid out. I wanted to use the money to buy fertilizer for the tobacco. By the time we planted the tobacco in late November, I kept on being promised the money and it never came. I had to withdraw money from South Africa to buy the fertilizer.

 I drove to Zimbabwe for the New Year's holiday in January 2017 to also monitor on the tobacco crop and on my way back to South Africa, I passed by my in-laws. My father in-law not only could he no longer pay me my money he had used, he no longer had the money to buy feed for the pigs. We agreed that I should take over the project entirely. I wanted to transfer the pigs to our village in Murewa where my father is buried at the plot where my paternal grand mother still stays up to this day. I delayed doing so. Chivhu being only 450km from Beitbridge was more convenient to me than our village in Mukarakate in Murewa which is over 700km away from Beitbridge. I started taking the maize from my house to feed the pigs and within a few months the number of pigs rose from less than 20 to over 100 pigs by the time I resigned in October 2017.

Things looking up again early 2018

Early 2018

In December 2017 when I sold about 20 pigs, I used that money to buy feed for the next group coming up. I was just making sure that I had enough feed to last at least a month. I decided to employ someone else to look after the pigs and let go of the relative. My goal was to increase the annual production to at least 500 pigs and I needed to increase the number of breeding sows to 30. I was having problems with my truck drivers in South Africa so I would spend more time with the drivers but I would still go to Zimbabwe at short notice. I noticed that at times when I gave instructions, some of the decisions would be overruled. I gave instructions beginning of 2018 not for the worker to sell 8 grower sows and when I came to Zimbabwe after two weeks those sows had been sold.

I also saw that the relative who I had told to stop working on the piggery was still working there which meant I had to pay him again. By end of March 2018 the worker I had hired resigned.

By end of March 2018 I had over 70 pigs ready for market and this was the best and highest number of pigs I ever had ever since I started the project as they were well fed. I got quotations from abattoirs in Harare. The price being offered in the local town of Chivhu was slightly higher. This turned out to be the biggest mistake for me. The first two pigs that we slaughtered the carcass weighed over 70kgs and I estimated that I would get over $14 000.00 for the whole batch. The pigs would be delivered to local butcheries every three days. We were supplying about 3 butcheries and they would buy two or three pigs every three days. I wanted the money to buy as much maize as possible since farmers would be harvesting and the price of maize would be very low. I returned to formal employment on 1 April 2018 and since I was preparing for Comrades Marathon on 10 June 2018, I did not want to risk catching flue so close to the marathon I stopped going to Zimbabwe frequently. I would communicate by phone to request to be given sales sheets and expenses and nothing was forthcoming.

End of March 2018

 

Over the last weekend of May 2018, we drove to Harare as maNyoni also wanted to register to vote. On the Saturday afternoon when we arrived in Chivhu, I asked the worker why we have so few serviced sows. I could see that a lot of sows were malnourished. Where I expected to see at least 30 tonnes of maize there was none. I asked again for the sales and expenses sheets and I was given the book and I took a photo as we were rushing to get to Harare before voter registraion centres were closed. When I got back to South Africa, I added up the sales sheet I had been given and it was not exceeding $3 000.00. I realised that something was wrong. I then sent Mereka to go and monitor for me and get more information on all the expenses and the sales for all the animals. When he got there his response was, "Mukuru, I don't think you will ever get more information and I suggest you concentrate on feeding the next lot". This was too much for me, here I was thinking of taking my project to the next level and I should have got maybe over $8 000 after buying many tonnes of maize. Instead I was being asked to pump more money.

A week before I went home for the 30th of July vote the worker phoned me enquiring about his salary and this was news to me that he had not been paid for months. I really wanted out of the project and I contacted a local pig farmer who is keeping pigs on a big scale to go and inspect the remaining animals and make me an offer. He came with a ridiculous offer of $2 000 for 52 pigs that were only 5 weeks from being ready for market. All the hard work that I did from October 2017 is down the drain and I am back to where I was before October 2017. Within the last six weeks, I started sending R5 000 a week to buy feed and fortunately with the fall of the bond notes I did not have to send much more money.  

As Winston Churchill once said, "Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to control that counts". I am personally many years behind my plans when it comes to this project. I have learnt a lot of things in doing this project. In the near future, I will write about my experience of running general dealer shops from 2001 up to 2008 in Zimbabwe as well as how I started farming tobacco in 2006.

I get asked by people wanting to start piggery projects. Here is my advice:-
- Visit the Pig Industry Board either in Bulawayo or Harare and get information
- Visit other pig producers (I visit pig farms in Zimbabwe and South Africa to learn)
- Read as much information as possible especially on the internet. There is information from producers in Uganda and South Africa
- Start small and learn on the job. I found out the most critical time is the date the piglets are born as the mother can lie on them. During winter its important to provide warmer environment for piglets. Once the piglets survive the first few weeks then you do not have problems. Older pigs are generally not prone to sickness as compared to sickness.
- Monitoring and managing your project is key. I hope in future many Zimbabweans based in South Africa come together to share costs when it comes to travelling to Zimbabwe in a cost effective way e.g 4 people sharing costs to drive from Johannesburg on a Friday night to Harare and then on Sunday afternoon they drive back in time to be at work on Monday.

I would like to hear from other farmers on their experiences.

God bless Zimbabwe!