Spirulina Micro Farming

To make micro farming profitable, you need a cheap source of feed for your animals. Due to globalisation, the local price of animal feed is determined on the world market. To be able to compete with industrialized farms, micro farmers need feed at a price that is lower than the world market price for animal feed.

Price

The price of local animal feed includes the costs for:

• harvesting
• processing (to protect the crop against moulds etc)
• a profit for the farmer
• a profit for the go-betweens
• transportation (multiple)

Eliminated Costs

Using home-grown spirulina for animal feed, all the costs above are eliminated.

• The spirulina is not harvested, as it is consumed by the animals directly, without any intervention
• The spirulina is not processed, but rather consumed in its original, raw state
• Farming spirulina is profitable when reducing the costs of animal feed
• There are no transportation costs whatsoever, as the spirulina is consumed on the spot. In addition, micro farmers sell their produce locally, at the farm gate, which also eliminates all transportation costs

Optimal Conditions

What are the optimal conditions for spirulina micro farming?

• Maximum daylight exposure, as in equatorial countries
• The (year around) temperature range for optimum Spirulina growth is 30 to 35°C.[1]
• Poor infrastructure, as the transportation costs for both locally bought animal feed and the end product (eg chicken wings) increase as the infrastructure is increasingly poor.
• Corruption, as imported and transported goods are subject to extra charges, which undermines your competition. Micro farmers sell their produce to local consumers.