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November 12, 2009 10:10 AM
Livestock Breeder With Three Masters Degree
By Melati Mohd Ariff
BENTONG (Pahang), Nov 12 Bernama) -- When the writer arrived at his home in Kampung Hayat, Simpang Pelangai, about 46 km from Bentong, he was busy with his chores at his goat pen.
"This is how when you work on your own, you have to do everything," said Azizuzanadi Zainuddin, 39, while nailing pieces of wood to make a feed box for the Feral goats from Australia.
Compared with the other breeds that bleat most of the time, this Australian breed huddled together quietly at a corner while Azizuzanadi or affectionately known as Among went on with his work.
"I received these Australian goats several days ago, maybe they have yet to get use to the pen, and that is why they are quiet," he noted.
The two level pen costing almost RM90,000 was ready in March 2008. It was built using funds from Tekun (a fund for small businesses) and with the assistance of the Pelangai Farmer's Organisation.
At the bottom there is a store to keep animal feed, tools and other necessities while the goats are kept above. The goat droppings are collected below and converted into fertilizer by burning them. Hadi also burns dried grass at the bottom to get rid of flies and mosquitoes.
The pen is partitioned into several sections to divide the goats based on their breed, size and age.
A HIGHLY EDUCATED BREEDER
But surprisingly Azizuzanadi is no ordinary livestock breeder. The son of a former army man has a first degree in business studies from UiTM and three masters degree - Masters in Information System, Masters in International Business and Masters in Risk Management - all from University of Concordia, Mequon, Wisconsin.
After completing his masters degree, Hadi stayed back in the United States for several more years where he started a business distributing Small and Medium Scale Industry (SME) products along with Asian and Mexican products.
"I rented a store at Greendale, Wisconsin for this business. The market for Malaysian and Asian products is good but what disappointed me is that when I had an offer to supply sweet-sour sauce in big quantity to Wal-Mart, a leading retail chain, there was no one from Malaysia willing to supply me the product," lamented Azizuzanadi.
AGRO ENTREPRENUER
Ten years later, in 2007, Azizuzanadi returned to Malaysia but he did not want to work under anyone and was determined to strike out on his own.
Azizuzanadi always dreamed of becoming a successful entrepreneur and chose to venture into agriculture though he was offered the opportunity to obtain a PhD from a local institution of higher learning.
"While I was studying in the United States, I had the opportunity to visit a number of cattle and corn farms. I even worked part time in the farms and learned how advanced the farmers are in that country. I was told that their government lends a big helping hand in marketing their products.
"When compared with the agricultural sector here, we are definitely far behind. This is why I was determined to take up a career in agriculture," explained Azizuzanadi.
LEARNED THE TRADE
Upon his return, he immediately enrolled into goat and fish breeding courses conducted by Malaysia Entrepreneur Development Centre (Medec), Farmers' Organisation Authority (LPP) and the Fisheries Department.
"I started with goat breeding in December 2007. I bought 20 goats from a farm in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan that went bankrupt. I spent more than RM5,000 to buy these goats," noted Azizuzanadi adding that he then bought 39 more of the animals costing almost RM15,000.
Initially, he placed the animals on a piece of land belonging to Lembah Jaya Farmer's Organisation about 5 km from his home.
"The initial outcome was quite encouraging, the goats were fat and had offspring. My mother, uncle and a younger sibling assisted me. Only that when we shifted the goats to a new pen from the original one, many of them died. They were fed with the same food, maybe the site was not suitable. But now all of them have been shifted to a new pen near my mother's house," he said.
NOT EASY AS IT SEEMS
According to Azizuzanadi, there was a time that he almost lost hope when many of his goats died and he failed to receive help from the related authorities in time.
Nonetheless, due to his hard work, he now has about 100 goats from various breeds - Feral from Australia, Jamnapari from Indonesia, Katjang (the cross between local goat and the Anglo Nubian) and the Boer from South Africa.
He has also established a farm in Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan to breed sheep where he has 37 of them now and they are taken care by their uncle.
NUMEROUS ACTIVITIES
Azizuzanadi is diversifying his undertaking by venturing into catfish breeding on a piece of land near his uncle's palm oil plantation where he started with 100,000 fries in three ponds.
"I ventured into catfish breeding to improve cash flow. Now, the fishes can be sold daily. On the average I can earn between RM1,000 and RM2,000 per month," he said adding that he also sells smoked catfish for RM18 per kilo.
Azizuzanadi has big plans to expand his livestock business but his biggest setback is poor cash flow.
Nevertheless, the proceeds from the sale of goat and catfish enabled him to buy a truck for his business.
It is no easy life for Azizuzanadi who has to start work at dawn and at times continue until midnight. The goats must be fed thrice daily and their pen must be cleaned frequently.
In between, he also takes care of the catfish ponds located about 200 meters from the pen.
"Definitely it is all hard work. Have to work in the weekends and even Hari Raya. If one is to succeed, then one has to learn and do it on their own. Must know what to do when the goats are sick, when it is going to give birth, must have the knowledge.
FIVE YEAR PLAN
Azizuzanadi who is married to Zaibedah Zaharum, a lecturer at UiTM, Segamat, Johor has a grandiose idea of making Pelangai as a centre for livestock breeding and the biggest supplier of goats in Pahang.
He has set a target of 5,000 goats in five years and gather the small time breeders under a consortium.
Apart from increasing the number of goats from high quality breeds, he also plans to set up a trading firm.
"I have identified someone as the partner for this venture. Through the trading firm, I plan not only to conduct auctioning goat, cattle or buffalo but also other agricultural products.
"My company will manage the auction house and up to know, there are no such auction houses in Malaysia. Maybe we will hold four auctions in a year.
"We can also conduct online (internet) auctions to enable the participation of those who are not able to come to Pelangai. I expect the plan to materialise in five years but with able assistants and commitment from other breeders it could become a reality much earlier," said Azizuzanadi.
"I want to make Pelangai as the hub, the place to sell livestock and kampung products," said Azizuzanadi who also has plans to open his own abattoir.
-- BERNAMA
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