Why quailonomics holds the key to economic growth — jokes aside

By XN Iraki

Kenya: Kenyans are known to be innovative and enterprising. They gave the world M-Pesa and more recently embraced quail farming, which was pioneered by Japanese scientists.

Wild quails are difficult to capture and I would love to meet the Kenyan who pioneered the domestication of this bird and eventual commercialisation if its eggs. It is also possible that quails were imported, since quail farming is common in Nigeria, Philippines, India and other countries.

I will deliberately ignore all the myths and legends around the quail and soberly explain why quail farming and its adjoining industry, from making incubators, distributing eggs and chicks (or quailets?), makes economic sense and if replicated in other sectors could spur economic growth. 

To be fair to my fellow countrymen, we have developed a culture that’s a greater risk to economic growth than terrorism; we are pessimists and the only country in the world that celebrates failure. We laughed at the Nyayo car but have given Kenyans no other car for 33 years!

Let us recall that quails have a Biblical connection: God gave them to the Israelites on their long journey through the desert (Exodus 16:13). If you fly over Sinai Desert, you realise why manna and quails had to be provided.

Quail farming closely resembles the electronics industry where miniaturisation is the norm. Our computers are becoming smaller and faster, as are our phones. The quail brought miniaturisation in farming.

Creative land use

A quail is smaller than a chicken or goat. It is more efficient and economical to produce quail eggs or meat than beef or mutton. You need less land and inputs and the eggs are nutritious.

This creative use of land is an innovation that needs a global award. It is no wonder Japanese pioneered quail farming. No one can doubt that land is becoming scarce as the population grows and more of it is degraded. All the great leaps in economic growth are driven by innovation and quail farming could be one of them, if we do not see quail like the Nyayo car.

What makes quail farming innovative and why it needs to be replicated is that Kenya is famous for wild animals. We can create lots of industries and spur economic growth through game farming like in South Africa.

KWS issues permits to keep quails. Why not issue permits to keep other wild animals? I would love to keep lions to replace the small dogs that guard our homes. Why not give Kenyans permits to keep antelopes, warthogs, hippos in ponds, leopards, rhinos and other endangered species?

The increased supply of these game animals both as pets or their products would bring down the prices and reduce poaching. Rhino horns and elephant tusks fetch higher prices because of their scarcity.

Would it not be fun to have “swara choma”, “dik dik choma” and other chomas to compete with mbuzi and ng’ombe chomas? Just like quail, farming such edible “animals” would increase our food diversity and supply. Why is Carnivore restaurant so popular? Game farming is one of the least exploited economic opportunities in Kenya. If we could do so much with the tiny quail, what of the bigger animals?

Quail farming is not thinking outside the box, it is thinking without a box.

Economists would love to see Schumpeter’s creative destruction in quail farming. It replaced rabbit farming, which itself had replaced sheep/goat and beef farming — all courtesy of dwindling land. Thomas Malthus would be fascinated by quail farming and its attempt to assure food security.

What makes quail farming more fascinating is that it is an attempt by the “small man” to extricate himself from the shackles of poverty instead of just sitting and complaining.

Suppose all other sectors of the economy follow the quail farming example and came up with new ideas that help us solve our basic problems?

Did we not solve lots of transport problems by coming with the road quail — the motorcycle? The military, they got their quail — the drone. We even “quailised” supermarkets through kiosks. Some could boldly argue that we “quailised” education through e-Learning. You are free to add to the list.

Not discouraged

The fact that quail farming will go through the law of economies with prices of eggs falling because of oversupply should not discourage the bold farmers who ventured into this industry. They should rest assured that they are pioneers and have made their contribution in turning the reluctant wheel of progress. They were ahead of their time.

Is there any regulation on quail farming? Is it in the syllabus of any university?

Kenya needs more innovators or “quailisers”. If great ideas spread like quail farming, we would be in the space age by now.

Finally, the uniqueness of quail farming is espoused by local names of the bird, aluru in Dholuo; tsisindu, curiously among both the Luhya and Rwandese; and kahahukia arume among the Kikuyu, which means ‘the one that scares men’!

The writer is MBA programme co-ordinator, University of Nairobi.

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