KULIM: Shahemi Mohd Radzi, 31 and Khairul Azhar Suleiman, 30, took a risk by leaving their line of work in electrical wiring for pursuing an opportunity selling ruminant feed. It has most certainly paid off.
The two youngsters from Kulim are now able to take pride in their business selling napier grass grown on seven hectares of land near Kampung Bikan here, which is making good returns every month.
“Every day we will sell 30 to 50 bags of fresh cut grass using special machines at RM10 for every 25kg and we usually earn about RM9,000 and RM10,000 a month.”
“The price of this grass is very low at only 40 sen per kg compared to 90 sen per kg for bran, which has put a big burden on breeders who don’t possess land for grazing or other fresh food sources,“ he said when met by Bernama at Ladang Napier Utara here.
Shahemi, who also holds a Bachelors in Public Administration from Universiti Utara Malaysia, said the demand was now so high they often ran out of stock, unable to fulfill all their customers’ daily needs.
“Initially I was worried that we would not have any demand as we did not know any breeders and only relied on social media to advertise our products. Now, the opposite is true, and we do not even have enough stock to supply large-scale commercial breeders in the North,“ he said.
He said to ensure that the grass, which was either sold fresh or as silage met the nutritional requirements of the ruminants, laboratory tests were conducted twice during a harvest, which is within 80 days.
“We are very concerned about the quality of the product, all the grass we sell has the required nutrients,“ he said.
Shahemi also said growing Napier grass required minimal care at a small cost, making it a viable business for most youths.
“We get the seeds from Thailand at cheaper prices, which we also sell.”
“We then need ensure the grass is well fertilised and gets enough water. Once in a while, we will spray weed killers to make sure the grass grows well. It’s quite simple,“ he said.
Shahemi added had no qualms of providing advice and guidance to other entrepreneurs willing to pursue the line of business.
“We also plan on opening larger grass fields to provide job opportunities to the locals someday, and to help the government ensure that the supply of livestock feed is adequate for local demand,“ Shahemi said. — Bernama
