Tell us how you started?
I started a company with my former partner 8 years ago with 20 acres of land that consist of 4 farms. After 5 years, I set up another company, Farmiera Contract Farming supplying broilers to our customers. Our other businesses include day-old-chicks and as a feed supplier.

Currently, we have an average production capacity of about 6 million broilers per annum and are supplying to some of the major supermarkets such as Segi Fresh, Hero Market and Checkers.

What is the strength of your company?
Our company has the right people to manage the company through out COVID-19 period. We are blessed that we are able to survive and have been recovering until now.

My management team is very experienced and most of them are from the same industry. They brought in their expertise to manage and re-strategise the business to become more efficient and effective. Our productivity have been improving since then and expenditure has reduced substantially.

We also venture into the latest technology and one of the main changes is replacing the traditional flooring to slat cubicle for hygiene and cost reduction purposes, as well as to increase production.

Bio-security is also another technology that we have invested in with the aim of achieving antibiotic residue free as well as to reduce the drug usage for healthier broilers.

What has been your experience during the COVID-19 pandemic?
We have been facing shortage of foreign labour during the MCO period. The cost of logistics has been increasing as well due to high demand. Chicken is always a controlled price item, thus we only can try to reduce our expenses in order to maximise our profit. When the demand is lower, we will keep the broilers and sell it in frozen form to minimise the wastage.

What would be your advice to new entrepreneurs out there?
Knowledge and experience are very valuable. Managing your cost is important to maximise profit, especially in this industry where chicken prices are controlled and regulated. Work hard to gain more experience and ask a lot of questions as it will enhance your knowledge. You must be willing to learn new things to get more experience and never be afraid of failure.

What are your future plans for the business?
Currently we own 9 farms and also in partnership with 30 contract farmers in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka respectively. Our business plan is to increase production volume every year in all the farms, contract farmers as well as at slaughter houses. Productivity in broilers farms have been improving as well in order to support the production line. The profit for this industry is limited due to controlled prices of chickens however we will continue to reduce the costs by adapting into the latest technology and we can continue to increase our profit margin.