Rwandan egg farm uses modern production techniques

A Rwandan egg farm said to be revolutionary in the country’s egg sector is up and running, with further expansion planned.

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The new open-sided houses are single span with concrete floors, making cleaning and disinfection easier. | Mark Clements
The new open-sided houses are single span with concrete floors, making cleaning and disinfection easier. | Mark Clements

Egg production was not the first career choice of Jean-Baptiste Musabyimana, who has been operating a commercial layer farm in Rwanda  for a little under two years.

But his egg farm, based in Bugesera, south of the Rwanda’s capital Kigali, is viewed as being revolutionary in the country’s egg sector.

The 18-hectare farm, which is still being expanded, first came into operation in March 2016 and has seen investments of RWF1 billion (US$1.2 million).

Musabyimana’s background is in finance. Based in France, he made the decision to return home, and had the idea that setting up a modern egg farm in Rwanda might be one way to do this.

He approached several companies that supply European egg producers to ask if the same approaches carried out on the farms that they worked with could be applied in Africa. A year and a half followed, which included looking at why African egg production tends to be lower than in more developed markets.

Studies complete and partners in hand, the new farm was set up, with a focus on sourcing the right genetics and feed, and establishing good biosecurity. The farm has 48,000 ISA brown layers in lay but has the capacity to house 65,000. At end of lay, birds are sold for meat.

Focus on biosecurity

The farm has a shower block and all workers must shower before entering the layer houses. The farm has its own water storage facility, so there can be no excuse not to shower at the start of the working day. Additionally, workers are also provided with a canteen.

The farm is gated, and each of the site’s houses is surrounded by a fence, meaning that it is not possible to simply walk directly from one to another.

The layer houses themselves, each with a capacity of 7,000-8,000 birds, are single-span buildings with no supporting columns, and with concrete floors, making cleaning and disinfection easier.

Unusually for Rwanda, the layers are not caged, but kept on woodchips and rice waste bedding, resulting in welfare being higher than in competitor farms.

Between each house, there is a small packing station, meaning eggs can be packed on site before being sold to intermediaries and then shipped to Congo.

The best in Rwanda

The farm’s flock is fed mash rather than pellets. There are six silos and raw materials, including maize from co-ops, is sourced locally, while additives are imported from France. The farm has two crushers, said to be the best in Rwanda, and feed production is automatically controlled by the farm’s formulation room.

Where drinking water is concerned, it is treated with chlorine, and intake is measured. The farm has an on-site veterinarian to keep an eye on any potential health issues.

While the eggs produced at Jean-Baptiste’s farm may be bigger than the average produced in Rwanda, shell quality better, and levels of welfare higher, this does not result in a price premium for his eggs. Where the farm is, however, able to gain an advantage, is that, by being close his purchasers, transport costs are lower.

Despite this lack of recognition, Jean-Baptiste remains optimistic, believing that Africa must satisfy its own demand rather than relying on imports and more layer houses are being equipped and readied for production.

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