Page 4 - National Poultry Newspaper

Women in Poultry: Jonna May Hernandez
JONNA May Hernan- dez is the founder of the Benigna Poultry Farm in the Philippines.
They started operating in 2017 and scaled the business in 2018 with the help of the Department of Science and Technology.
Jonna oversees the day- to-day operations, from production to people management to sales. What inspired you to move into poultry?
My previous jobs and my undergraduate degree are not at all related to animal health or animal husbandry.
While I was working on my MBA, I was inspired to become an entrepre- neur.
When doing research on business ideas, I learnt that in the Philippines in general, the population and consequently egg consumption are consist- ently increasing.
However, the supply does not match the de- mand.
In our region specifical- ly, access to fresh, high- quality, affordable eggs is not easy.
This information gave me the inspiration to start a poultry business.
After starting, I also realised that I was con- tributing positively to the local economy, and this has inspired me to forge ahead.
What are the main chal- lenges that you faced when you were on the farm?
The main challenges I have faced are the availability of work- ers, maintaining animal health and maintaining hygiene and quality of production.
The most critical part in growing chickens is the commitment of the work- ers to their jobs.
The performance of the chickens’ production and the cleanliness of the work areas are greatly de- pendent on the manage- ment of the workers.
In tropical countries like ours, conventional types of poultry houses are most cost effective and hence the workers’ involvement in the day- to-day operations plays a significant role.
Describe a typical day in your current role
My day starts with rec- onciling sales and inven- tory numbers.
I visit the farm to check on the operations and talk to the staff.
If there are any con- cerns that need to be ad- dressed, I attend to those.
We have a regular schedule for the delivery of supplies, so I only need to monitor that aspect of the business.
On the sales side we have regular buyers and I meet them every few days to understand the demand.
I monitor the ‘hen day production’ and projected sales versus actual sales.
Since I have been work- ing on this for a few years now and the operations are set up and stream- lined, the nature of work is more monitoring oper- ations and ensuring sales. How would you reor- ganise the legislative minefield, if you could?
The process of setting up a business and the permits needed could be streamlined to make it easier for someone start- ing a poultry farm with no prior experience.
The programmes, con- tinuous education, indus- try knowledge, medicines and vaccines are either limited or unavailable.
In other countries, sem- inars and conferences are being initiated and spon- sored by the government.
In the Philippines how- ever, these are usually be-
ing conducted by private companies and can only be attended by invitation.
I would also ensure that all poultry farms secure permits from the De- partment of Science and Technology.
Have you encountered any challenges as a woman in poultry farming?
Yes, definitely!
I have encountered a va- riety of challenges.
As a woman who had worked in the corporate sector, I had no experi- ence or any knowledge about civil works and construction.
This led to many chal- lenges when planning and constructing the poultry houses.
It is not common for a woman to run a business in the area.
Hence, it was difficult to get the engineers and other staff to listen to my ideas.
From a logistics per- spective, given I am the only person handling the operations, I had to buy feeds, construction mate- rials, rice hulls and so on, on my own.
Being an entrepreneur, it is important to be re- sourceful, so I drive the pick-up truck myself to get the supplies.
Given the location of the farm outside the city, I end up spending addi- tional time and effort on these duties.
Also, with the physical nature of many of the
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Page 4 – National Poultry Newspaper, September 2019
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