Farmers' groups

· Farmers do well to form groups (see Booklet No. 7, page 28); this gives them greater strength in regard to dealers.

A dealer will readily go out into the bush to buy animals if he is sure of finding some. He knows that he will not make his journey for nothing, and that he will not waste his time looking for animals.

A group of farmers can make an arrangement with the dealer.

Every month or every week the group will sell him a certain number of animals

The group agrees to sell regularly.

The dealer agrees to buy regularly

To succeed, a group must:

· not be too big. Everyone knows each other and everyone trusts the others
· have simple and clear rules.
· have one man in charge who makes sure that the rules are kept

It is in the interest of farmers to get together not only for sales, but also in raising their stock. Fences will be made more quickly. feeding will be more regular. Sales will be easier.

By organizing the sale of their animals, farmers can organize their stock raising.

· They can plan the birth dates with a view to the sales dates.
· They can plan what feeding the herd will need, the use of pastures, so that no food is wasted.
· They know at what time they will get money, and can better think about what they will do with it.

Here is a practical example of what the course means.

A local pig, raised in the traditional way, eats what it can find in the bush. At one year it weighs 30 kg. Its sale price is 30 X 100 francs = 3 000 francs

A local pig is well housed, and gets fed once a day. At one year it weighs 60 kg. Its sales price is 60 X 100 francs = 6 000 francs.

A pig of improved breed is well housed, and is fed twice a day. At one year, it weighs 100 kg. Its sale price is 100 X 100 francs = 10 000 francs