The Vidović family started an open coca farm in Ljubunci in the Prozor-Rama municipality a little over a year ago. They currently have around two thousand laying hens and produce more than 1,600 eggs per day.
With the help of the “Start your business” project, they opened a farm where the whole family works, and the plan is to expand and employ workers.
Everything is for sale
Ivan and Marijana are on the farm all day, but there is also work outside of it because, as they say, they feed the chickens exclusively with home-grown food that they sow themselves. They decided on open breeding because, as they say, the eggs are of better quality, although this method of breeding is more demanding and brings certain challenges.
“I work, my wife and our children, who are currently in school, I don’t know what to tell you, life is a struggle, a difficult and thorny road. It is demanding, but there is not so much work, but you are obliged to be on the farm from 0-24 all the time, to make sure that there are no leeches, no eagles, no hawks” , says the owner of the farm, Ivan Vidović.
And his wife, Marijana, points out that the work is not so physically difficult, as it requires constant commitment and all-day work on the farm. “We have to release the hens in the morning, feed them, collect eggs, we buy them three times a day. There is work, we sell everything in our municipality and surrounding towns. People are very interested, everyone likes eggs from domestic farming in the open air”, says this housewife.
They are planning to expand
The interest in domestic eggs was particularly high now before the Easter holiday, when the demand is greater than the supply, he adds and states that they expect the hen farm to soon reach its full capacity of around 1,900 eggs per day.
“We live from this farm, we usually earn something, a decent salary, and we plan to expand in the coming years, God willing, and hire someone else, but we’ll see what happens,” he cautiously presents his plans.
In order to continue and expand production, Vidović needs a new, more modern and larger accommodation for chickens, because the current premises of the old barn are dilapidated and insufficient. They are willing to work, they say, however, to realize such an investment, they need the help of the municipal and cantonal authorities, which until now have not listened.
By the way, this is the only outdoor coca farm in this municipality, and the Vidović family ensured their existence with it. By the way, they started the business with the help of a project realized by the Association for entrepreneurship and business Link from Mostar and the municipalities of Prozor/Rama, with financial resources from the European Union and the Federal Republic of Germany.
Source: akta.ba
