Local organic manure proves a big hit

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 09:20:05 +0000

UTILISING locally available material such as processing chicken waste into fertiliser is one way of growing the local industry, says Chicol Estate Farms Limited proprietor Aaron Chungu.

Mr Chungu observed that there was plenty of local material which could be used to grow the local industry.

He was speaking in Chongwe after touring his farms where the company’s organic fertiliser “Chicola” had been applied.

“We have had this product tested by the University of Zambia and we will continue to take it for testing so that we have a genuine product.

“We have tested this fertiliser in vegetables and loans and over the last two three years, we have been testing it on maize to ensure that we are selling a product which is effective to the public. It has performed well in terms of growth,” he said.

Mr Chungu said the Chicola natural fertiliser, made from chicken manure, prevented the acidification of soil and improved soil structure, fertility as well as water retention capacity.

“My emphasis is that ‘chikola’ is not a total substitute for other fertilisers but that it adds the organic material substance which unfortunately the other fertilisers may not have,” he said.

He also said the company was working on enlarging the market for the commodity as it was still small especially that the future outlook seemed promising as people were accepting the commodity.

“At the moment we cannot satisfy the market because we are using our own chicken manure to process into fertiliser. We are not able to collect the manure from other farms because of the bio security,” he said.

“We hope in the near future we will be able to hive off that operation and increase the capacity in production,” he said.

Mr Chungu thanked Government for the support rendered to his company since its inception.

“The response from Government has been good and we will work with Government for further development of the commodity, we have had officers from ZARI coming to test our product,” he said.