Chicken droppings become source of income

In Setiu, Malaysia, Muhammad Rafi’uddin Roslan, 27, has turned chicken waste into a lucrative business, transforming daily encounters with droppings and unpleasant odors into a source of substantial income. He raises a hybrid breed of free-range chickens part-time while also working as a shop assistant.

Initially, Rafi’uddin discarded the chicken manure, unaware of its potential. His perspective shifted when villagers began requesting the waste for their plants, revealing a significant commercial opportunity. He learned to produce organic fertilizer through social media and began actively producing it early last year. His fertilizer is a blend of chicken droppings, rice husks, and wood shavings, formulated without chemicals. The rice husks and wood shavings help reduce odor and improve fertilizer quality.

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I used to raise chickens just as a hobby and threw away the chicken droppings because I didn't know they had commercial value. When villagers came asking for it to use as fertilizer for their plants, I started to see an opportunity to pursue it seriously.

The demand for his organic fertilizer is robust, especially among palm oil planters and flower growers who value its natural soil-enriching properties. Rafi’uddin has scaled up his operation from 50 chickens to 500 per season, enabling him to produce approximately 50 bags of fertilizer, each weighing 10 kilograms, every 40 days. He sells each bag for RM7. Orders are increasing, including through online sales, as more people recognize the product's benefits. Beyond fertilizer, he also supplies about 6,000 hybrid free-range chickens annually to wholesalers in Dungun.

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The demand for this organic fertilizer is indeed high, especially among palm oil planters and crop growers because it helps to naturally fertilize the plants.