1,327 lbs of corn.. That number is now stuck in head..
For each ton (2000 lbs) of finisher chicken feed we mill we use 1,327 lbs of corn. That represents 66% of the total volume of the feed. We can use 2000 lbs of feed in about 3 days, depending on production levels.
It costs us $172 to buy 1,327 lbs of corn. (0.13/lb) ($7.28/bushel) This means that nearly every day we are able to put $60 back into the local farming community.
$10 per day is a decent salary in Haiti. So in essence, we have created 6 FULL TIME JOBS by simply changing how we feed our chickens.
We are not wanting to become corn growers ourselves, instead we are working together with multiple local partners creating different avenues for local corn production. We recently partnered with First Step Farm about 10 minutes from us. They planted 5 acres of corn. We provided the labor for harvesting. It took a team of 10 people 5 days to harvest it all. A separate team of 3 people shelled and dried corn.
One of my soap boxes is about how Haiti lacks the infrastructure to efficiently add value to their crops through post harvest processing. We have a simple electric shelle. It works ok, saves a lot of time, but is still slow when processing tons of corn. We would like to add some type of shucker as well. A combine does not really make sense for Haiti for lots of reasons, but if we could figure out how to just pick the corn, and bring it to a centralized location to do the shucking and shelling and then dryi
ng I think it would be a major time saver, and labor saver for the community. We would rather have local farmers focused more on growing then processing. So if anyone one there happens to have any great ideas for this please send me an email at Nick@NewRootsHaiti.org
We were low on corn so we were very happy to harvest this corn and have already fed almost all of it to our chickens.
In addition to the corn that was generated we will also continue to analyze the data to forecast future costs, and production levels. We now have a baseline for yields and costs. Hopefully using this data we can continue to be part of the collective
conversation on how to improve the yields.
Over the next few weeks many other farmers will be harvesting and bringing their corn to us. There is also a noticeable increase in corn production all around us.
I have never been a person who needs words of affirmation.. What I much prefer to see is action. I base the success of a project off of the concrete changes that it makes in peoples lives. This little feed mill, making chicken food, continues to be making a HUGE difference. If you have not seen the TV show about its construction click HERE to watch it!
