FIGHTING RURAL HOUSEHOLD POVERTY THROUGH PIGGERY.

PIGGERY FARMING

Piggery Farming is simply the keeping of pigs for home meat and income generation. Pigs also provide manure which facilitates proper growth and yield of food crops.

Pigs can be raised in controlled or free environment, as a small- or large-scale business. But in whatever size, a prospective farmer would need inputs as to how to raise pigs efficiently and in a more productive manner.

Pigs have a number of advantages that suit rural citizens making it one of the best way to run to in order to solve the issue of poverty.

The pig has highest feed conversion efficiency i.e. they produce more live weight gain from a given weight of feed than any other class of meat producing animals excepts broilers.

The pig can utilize wide variety of feed stuffs viz. Grains, forages, damaged feeds and garbage and convert them into valuable nutritious meat. Feeding of damaged grains, garbage and other home wastes reduce the stress of buying food stuffs hence spending less or no money on food.

They are prolific with shorter generation interval. A sow can be bred as early as 8-9 months of age and can farrow twice in a year. They produce 6-12 piglets in each farrowing.

Pig farming requires small investment on buildings and equipments.

Pigs are known for their meat yield, which in terms of dressing percentage ranges from 6580 in comparison to other livestock species whose dressing yields may not exceed 65%.

Pork is most nutritious with high fat and low water content and has got better energy value than that of other meats. It is rich in vitamins like thiamin, Niacin and riboflavin. So this practice also fights Malnutrition.

Pig manure is widely used as fertilizer for agriculture farms and fishponds.

Pigs store fat rapidly for which there is an increasing demand from poultry feed, soap, paints and other chemical industries.

Pig farming provides quick returns since the marketable weight of fatteners can be achieved with in a period of 6-8 months.

There is good demand from domestic as well as export market for pig products such as pork, bacon, ham, sausages, lard etc.

BACKGROUND

In Uganda the majority of the population lives in rural areas, engaged in agriculture and lives in poverty. The government has since 1990s made the eradication of poverty apart of its development framework. A key goal of the plan is to raise smallholder farm incomes and cause rural economic transformation and the modernization of agriculture in the next 20 to 25 years. During the last decade the country has witnessed modest increases in the agricultural production mainly as increase in production and to a limited extent, use of improved technology. These increases have not however resulted in increased profitability of agricultural production, and household income. Ugandas population was 24 Million people (National population census 2002) and now estimated to be 30-32 Million people remains largely poor, with at least 40% living in absolute poverty. And many of the rural poor remain out side the monetary economy, mainly producing for subsistence.

POVERTY IN UGANDA Poor people define poverty as not just the lack of incomes, but also the lack of means to satisfy basic social needs, as well as a feeling of powerless to break out of the feeling of poverty, insecurity of person and property. Poverty is caused by factors among others, Inadequacies in access to natural resources, human factors, financial assets and social capital and infrastructure. The multitude of these causes of poverty clearly show the frustration poor people face in trying to move out of poverty. Poverty is mainly a rural phenomenon as 48% of the rural people is below the absolute poverty line compared to 16% of urban dwellers. Since more than 85% of the population live in rural areas any interventions must first foremost focus on these areas. Statistics

show that one of the main ways of reducing rural poverty in rural areas of Uganda has been the ability to produce and market traditional cash crops, specifically coffee. Household in the food crop sector have experienced only modest of poverty reduction compared to those dealing in cash crops.

THE GENDER DIMENSION OF POVERTY. The principle dimensions of poverty in Uganda include gender, livelihood, location and seasonality- women have not benefited as much as men in decrease in poverty noted in the previous years. The main reason for that is that women do not have as much opportunities for social and economic development as men, particularly in rural areas. Secondly, the division of labor in agriculture in Uganda rural areas is complex. Food production is the domain of women, whereas men in general concentrate on livestock and cash crops that have greater potential for income generation. Further, women have little control of resources or income generated from the sale of products. In general, women lag below men in terms of education levels and income generation. They face barriers in participation in community development due to lack of mobilization, lack of time and failure to see the benefit of their participation. Women can also be discriminated against in land and other production factors. When they are involved in production of crops that generate income, they do not benefit from the intra-household share of this income.

Women in general do not own land, although they have access for growing food. Often the increasing workload of women in cultivating cash crops and the subsequent reduced cultivation of a variety of household food crops may in some cases result into decreasing welfare of the family although households incomes have increased.

Given this scenario, the reduction of household poverty must involve the participation of women in those economic activities that they can have control for example piggery.

THE POTENTIAL OF PIG FARMING IN HOUSEHOLD POVERTY REDUCTION.

Uganda is blessed with rich pig breeds, for example Landrace, Hampshire, Docs, and others that can be exploited by mostly women and youth for the reduction of household poverty. Exploitation of pigs provides a sustainable, environmentally beneficial food and income source for people in Uganda. The potential for piggery farming has not been exploited given several factors that favor its development in Uganda.

Abundance of natural resources. There is a rich variety of both indigenous and exotic breeds. Good environment and climatic conditions that favor growth of the necessary foods to feed both humans and pigs and favor animal survival. Easy integration in the crop production systems providing nutrients required through pig wastes. Indigenous knowledge and skills, that can be easily developed through training. Low technology requirement and ease processing.

CONSTRAINTS TO PIG FARMING.

Lack of policy and legislation, There is no national policy or legislation relating mainly to the development and promotion of pig farming. This means that issues like setting market and quality standards for pork are not under government control. The absence of official government policy can be viewed as the major constraint towards the development of the sector.

Training and information, Most farmers have had no training in pig farming and there is scant relevant information available. Information available is to a large extent from outside the country. Trainers receive little technical knowledge about pig farming except whatever they pick up on their way. Senior technical officers receive their training from outside the country and their knowledge and skills are of little relevance to the local farmers.

Limited Market Access, Market access for pig farm enterprise products is inadequate due to the marketing system available. The middlemen predominate in the marketing of pigs making the supply chain very long. Small poor farmers never get a fair share of the good market price.

Limited access to production credits.

This hinders production and productivity. It also affects the expansion of the farmers FARMS hindering revenue increase.

WAY FORWARD

Farmers village control farm: This will work as a demonstration and training ground for all village pig farmers. Alternatively, a control farm will help in research and this will enable the association provide quality pig breeds to farmers.

A control farm will be constructed by a few technical people with the assistance of the association members. This will be in the center of the village using the land provided by one of the association member for a timely use as the association prepares to buy its own land. This land is already supplied with piped water. Other basic requirements will be: Nails, timbers/ poles, iron sheets or papyrus carpets, cement, sand and live animals.

The control farm is planned to host a maximum of 20 sows and 2 Boars. On average, 20 sows can produce a minimum of 140 piglets and 200 maximum at a single production. With 140 piglets at each production, 70 farmers will be able to start the business with each receiving 2 piglets (We have drawn down procedures of doing this and available to any interested party on request).

Quick maturing seeds and irrigation equipments: Pig farming fetches more profits if a farmer cultivates the animal feeds. Pigs mostly feast on wastes from human food, for example maize and rice provide maize and rice bran respectively. Sweet potatoes, bananas, cassava and other foods provide the peelings. A farmer should only buy protein containing foods only for example, fish and fish processing wastes, chicken and other meat processing wastes to supplement the protein value of his own feeds. Quick maturing seeds will help in providing the required food as soon as possible. With the changing climatic conditions, irrigation equipments and fertilizers will help to continue cultivation even in dry seasons.

Constructing an abattoir: Abattoir is a facility where animals are processed for consumption as food products. An abattoir operatives first contact with the animals scheduled for slaughter is made when the livestock is unloaded from the trailer, or lorry, theyve been transported on. An abattoir will help in providing easy access to market for farmers farm produce. Such facilities increase demand for both pork and other processed products. This will help farmers to sale at a reasonable profit.

Uganda has only one small pig abattoir that has veterinary doctors inspection. It is located in Nalukologo- Kampala district. This abattoir just slaughter and sale to butchers and there is no futher pork procession done.

Selling to this abattoir leads to a loss. All offal (Head, Legs, Liver, Berry and others) are taken for free. The carcass is paid using a formula of; total kilograms of carcass minus one kilogram. This means for example if the carcass weighs 20kgs, it is calculated 19kg and this is on addition of the offal.

Credit and Savings Co-operative Society. Microcredit programmes have successfully contributed to lifting people out of poverty in many countries around the world, notes the UN resolution of 15 December 1998. In his speech launching the Year of Microcredit on 18-11-2004, Kofi Annan emphasized the fact that sustained access to microcredit has contributed to poverty reduction by generating income and employment, enabling children to attend school, families to receive medical care and by offering individuals the opportunity for taking the best possible decisions for themselves. The fact that cooperative financial institutions - in addition to municipal saving banks have had the most prolonged and successful experience in the mobilization of microsavings and microlending is uncontroversial both decisive factors for income generation.

Livestock Research for Rural Development 23 (7) 2011

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Citation of this paper

The constraints and potentials of pig production among communal farmers in Etayi Constituency of Namibia

N P Petrus, I Mpofu, M B Schneider and M Nepembe*

University of Namibia, Neudamm Campus Private Bag 13301, Pioneerspark, Windhoek, Namibia impofu@unam.na or impofu66@yahoo.com * Ogongo Campus, Department of Animal Science, Private Bag 13301, Pioneerspark, Windhoek, Namibia

Abstract
A baseline survey was carried out in the Etayi Constituency of Namibia to determine the pig production constraints and potentials among smallholder farmers. A structured questionnaire was administered through random sampling. Results showed that smallholder pig production formed an important source of nutrition and emergency cash among the communal farmers. Farmers kept an average herd size of 2.3. The motivation for keeping pigs ranged from income generation, home consumption to keeping them because it is a family tradition passed on from one generation to another. The major challenges faced by pig farmers in Etayi Constituency were poor nutrition, husbandry skills due to lack of extension services, diseases and lack of access to lucrative markets. The majority of farmers felt that pig production had a potential if they could get enough training on husbandry techniques and also if they could get help in acquiring better feed and good quality breeds to expand their units. The study served to show that communal farmers are sitting on huge potential sources of animal protein and potential revenue generation avenue that can improve their livelihoods in a sustainable manner. Livelihoods could be enhanced in the areas of improved access to money to pay for school fees and to buy basics like food, clothes and improve their shelter. This has an effect on helping Namibia to attain Millennium Development Goals on poverty reduction. Key words: livelihoods, nutrition, smallholder, poverty reduction, scavenging pigs

Introduction
Pig production has an immense growth potential in Namibia. Besides providing protein, pig meat is frequently fatty and is a source of animal fat - a product with many uses. The role of pig production begins on the farm where pigs are reared and integrated harmoniously with other livestock and crop enterprises. Apart from the farm, the pigs contribution can also be felt at the national economy level. Pigs mostly found in the rural areas are variously referred to as native, scavenging, indigenous, and local or village pigs. These terms are used to distinguish them from the more exotic breeds reared under intensive commercial production systems. In the Etayi Constituency of Namibia, the majority of the people subsist on livestock-based livelihoods. These livestock production activities are not specialized stand-alone economic activities but are closely integrated with other agricultural endeavors like crop production. Native pigs are a common site but it is apparent that the known high turn over rate of pig production is not being taken advantage of due to a myriad of constraints; hence limiting the potential contribution that pigs can make to sustainable livelihoods.

The scavenging pig has been rightfully or wrongly described as a dirty animal, an object of distaste and a parasite trafficker to humans. When kept under well-managed confined conditions, the pig is the exact opposite of the above description (Mpofu and Makuza 2003). Local pigs have been documented by several authors as important assets because they improve livelihoods of rural farmers (Mhlanga 2002; Drucker and Anderson 2004). According to Zanga et al (2003) indigenous pigs are well adapted to tropical conditions as they are adapted to local production conditions and environments. They are also less susceptible to common diseases and parasites. In addition, the local breeds have the ability to survive long periods of feed and water deprivation (Drucker and Anderson 2004) compared to exotic breeds. According to Holness (1999), native pigs are generally hardy, and can survive and reproduce on low plane of nutrition. Generally, the inadequacy of food for humans in most developing countries is a limitation to pig production. This is in view of the fact that pigs are simple stomached animals and thus will compete with humans for the staple grains and oilseeds. Raising pigs on a commercial basis thus require farmers to produce more grain than they need for their own consumption and this calls for increased inputs into the crop enterprise. In China, the one pig for every Chinese policy has created opportunities for smallholder farmers to produce enough protein sources for families and for surplus sale. This policy was put into practical operation by addressing farmers constraints and challenges and opening up opportunities for farmers to remain interested and inspired to keep and rear pigs using modern husbandry techniques. It is such success stories that inspired the enactment of this research with the hope that Chinese success can be replicated in a developing African country like Namibia. The objective of the study was to obtain baseline information about specific aspects on pig production constraints and challenges that farmers face in their mixed crop livestock smallholder production systems. The areas addressed included feeding systems, herd health management, marketing and the farmers general attitudes and perceptions as regards pigs as a potential vehicle for sustainable livelihoods.

Material and Methods

This study covered a large constituency called, Etayi in the Northern Communal Areas of Namibia.

Sources of Data
The secondary data consisted of annual reports produced by the Extension Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry. It was mainly used to provide an insight into the level of awareness, attitudes and practices among the smallholder pig owners about problems affecting the communal farmers in Namibia. Secondary data also provided an insight into national statistics on pig production.

In-depth Interviews

In depth interviews were held with key informants from the Extension Directorate who gave valuable suggestions on how to conduct the survey. The interviews enabled the researches to solicit views regarding developmental policies, viability problems encountered in pig farming and possible solutions. The views and ideas, which were presented by these key informants, are incorporated under the major findings and recommendations.
Primary data

A pilot study was conducted to pre-test the effectiveness of the main research instrument being the structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was also pre-tested to determine the reliability and validity of the explorative questions. It also gave the researchers and the enumerators an opportunity to experience how respondents would react to the probing questions.
Questionnaires

The questionnaire comprised a combination of open-ended and closed-ended questions. Questionnaires were administered on a face to face basis. The face to face interviews were considered most appropriate, as most farmers were able to provide all the valuable information incorporating non verbal communication.

Research Design and Data collection

The research design was the exploratory research (face to face interviews) where 46 communal pig owners in Etayi Constituency were sampled at random. The constituency is large and was first divided into 4 clusters being villages. In each cluster, at least 10 pig owners were sampled.

Results and discussion

Herd size and husbandry practices
The study revealed that rearing pigs in the rural areas is a matter for the whole family. This means that when it comes to feeding both adults and children, especially women and girls participated in the feeding routines of their pigs. Wives and young girls constituted 57% and 39% of the carers of pigs. The average herd size was 2.3 pigs ranging from 1 to 10 pigs per household (Table 1.). There was a clear indication that most of the respondents (98%) fed their animals on home remnants and allowed them to scavenge. At least 60% of the farmers gave watermelons and water melons leaves, 60% also gave their pigs millet bran (locally known as mahangu bran), while 53% of the farmers indicated that they also fed pigs on products of local beer brewing, known as omalovu or tombos (Figure 1). This

indicates that rural farmers fed their pigs on what was available without regard to their age sex and their production stages. This also shows that feed availability is the first and key constraint to small-scale pig production.

Figure 1. The popular feeds used by small-scale pig farmers Feedstuffs such as watermelons are said to be seasonal, therefore, farmers could only feed pigs with watermelon and water melon leaves during rainy seasons. Water melons are known to boost libido in male pigs and if farmers institute a directed feeding of the boars, there is a possibility that they can improve on farrowing index and possible litter size. It was also observed that the majority of farmers (74.4%) provided feed to their pigs twice a day while the remainder (25.6 %) fed pigs one meal per day.

Purpose of rearing pigs

The general observation during the survey was that pig farming among the rural farmers was a part-time activity. Farmers kept an array of animal species that included chickens, goats, cattle and donkeys. In this study, farmers did not rear pigs for specific economic reasons. The motives of keeping pigs differed from one farmer to another. About 63% of the farmers indicated that they reared pigs for both income generation and home consumptions while the remainder (27%) reared pigs as a tradition carried over from the previous generations. Sale of pigs and home consumption only occurred in cases of emergency need for cash. Generally, farmers consumed pigs during celebrations on Christmas day, weddings and marriage ceremonies. Overall, farmers slaughtered their pigs when unexpected needs occurred or when particular farmers had nothing to feed their pigs.

Acquisition of new breeding stock

As shown in Table 1, farmers said that they obtained their breeding stock from their neighbors or relatives while other respondents indicated they bought their stock from the University of Namibias Ogongo campus. In addition, most farmers (at least 80%) did not make use of the improved breeding stock. Instead they made use of their own stock, their neighbors and that of close relatives resulting in a rise in inbreeding depression, in agreement with Ajala et al (2007).
Table 1. Distribution of pigs by herd size and sources of parent stocks Herd size Frequency of respondents 1-2 37 3-5 3 6- 10 2 Source of parent stock Neighbors/ relatives 24.6 Bred 10.5 Ogongo Campus 7.9 % of respondents 88 8 4 57,2 24,4 18.4

The use of improved breeds in developing countries present farmers with a major challenge, as these breeds require intensive management for them to realize their full production potential. Some farmers prefer the indigenous breeds because they are tolerant to diseases and utilize feed of low nutrient density to produce good quality meat and perform well even without very sophisticated management. Combining the desirable traits of the indigenous and the exotic breeds by crossbreeding might give an improved pig breed with lower input requirements.

Marketing Systems
Pigs were sold at different ages or sizes and marketing channels varied among the respondents. The marketing channels utilized by the farmers are summarized in Figure 2. Although the sale prices depended on the time, age, and size of pigs, the overall pig marketing systems in all the rural households visited in the constituency were found to be generally exploitative, collusive and economically inefficient. For instance, if a farmer is in dare need of the money or if the farmer does not have enough food to feed the pigs she/he may chose to sell at a giveaway price. This means the farmer has little influence on the price. Pig producers do not weigh their animals, so actual live weights of pigs were not known at the time of sale. This is so because at village level, retail traders visit the homes of pig farmers to buy pigs in small numbers such as one or two.

Figure 2. The pig marketing channels used by farmers in Etayi Constituency Table 2 shows the marketing constraints identified by farmers. Farmers observed that prices were not all that favorable. This is a result of the poor body condition scores of the animals observed by the researchers. Farmers also indicated that they struggled to get extension services and customers. They also had no access to micro-finance or credit to enable them to expand their herd sizes.

Table 2. Marketing constraints identified Constraint n=42 Low prices 28 Lack of extension services 30 Lack of buyers 15 No problem 14 Lack of feed 38 Lack of capital 3

Percent 66.6 71.4 35.7 33.3 90.4 7.1

Another factor which was observed in the research areas is that farmers who sold live pigs did not own vehicles for transportation; instead they used the services of other transporters and paid animal transportation costs which eroded their income. Generally, smallholder farmers in the developing world have limited expertise resulting in poor management and planning of pig enterprises. This lack of technical know-how is a common problem and is coupled with a general lack of supporting services (Steinfeld and Mac 1997). This could be rectified mainly by an improvement in extension services, making available credit facilities and by improving communication networks (roads and telephones). Poor road infrastructure brings about transport problems and pig producers far from their markets, cannot exploit the market potential provided by various meat processing companies that utilize pig meat resulting in viability problems.

Production parameters
The majority (88%) of farmers owned 1-2 sow herds and litter size ranged from 4 to7. In most cases sows were reported to farrow once per year with a few indicating a farrowing index of 2 (i.e. farrowing twice per year). This is consistent with Nsoso et al (2006) and Holness (1999). These results show that the productivity of the unimproved pig breeds in smallholder farming areas is influenced by their environment, which in this case is the traditional management system employed by the farmers. Environmental factors important in this case are nutrition, diseases, climate and managerial techniques.

Health status of pigs and disease control measures

Over 99% of the respondents said they were either not aware or did not experience any kind of disease while the remainder reported that very often mange occurred in pigs. Treatment of mange involved the use of a common disinfectant called Dettol to wash out the scabs. Vaccination was none existent mainly because of lack of knowledge on its importance. Some respondents were surprised that pigs could be vaccinated. However, a high incidence of mortalities was reported among the piglets which indicated disease challenges. The actual causes could not be established from the farmers themselves because of lack of veterinary service in the area. About 10% of the respondents indicated that some sows cannibalized their offspring soon after birth and that some piglets died due to crushing by the dams (their mothers). These incidences could be due to lack of proper farrowing house fitted with creep or farrowing crates.

Potential of Pig Production in the smallholder farming areas

Compared to other livestock, the pig has some major potential that include:

Quick turnover on investment. With a gestation period of only 114 days, an average litter size at birth above 7, pre-weaning mortality rate of 5%, an average weaning age of 6 weeks, a high growth rate and a short generation interval, the pig is one of the most productive livestock species, bringing returns within a short period of time. The pigs output (yield of meat/tonne of live weight of breeding females per year) is about six times that of cattle (Mpofu and Makuza 2003). Pigs can be raised for their entire lifetime in enclosures. This is important, as they do not contribute to loss of grazing lands. Man can therefore obtain meat from the pig without having to suffer the consequences of overgrazing (Mpofu and Makuza 2003). Genetically, pigs are superior to ruminants in converting feed to meat. Efficiency of the pigs is recorded as twice that of ruminants. The implication to the farmer is that nutrient losses (and thus cash) are reduced if the same good quality feed is offered to the pig than to a ruminant (Mpofu and Makuza 2003). Production of pigs in confinement assures a pig farmer of manure and effluent. Pig manure and effluent can be used to fertilize fishponds in integrated pig production systems and to produce biogas (methane) for usage in cooking or powering small electric generators.

The numerous potential advantages of pig production in Namibia indicate that smallholder farmers stand to benefit a great deal from a well supported pig farming activity. Effective extension services by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry will assist farmers to help themselves. In this way the communal farming communities will contribute to the attainment of Millennium Development Goal No. 1, ie, eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.

Conclusions

Farmers in Etayi Constituency have a myriad of challenges which can easily be changed into opportunities through improved extension services. A vibrant smallholder pig production activity has a potential to improve livelihoods in the smallholder farming areas of developing countries.

Acknowledgements
The researchers are grateful to the farmers of the Etayi Constituency of Namibia for sparing their time during the questionnaire administration. The work had the generous financial and logistic support from The University of Namibia (UNAM).

References
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Received 11 October 2010; Accepted 26 January 2011; Published 1 July 2011 Go to top