Pig production has a high potential for increasing household incomes of both rural and urban smallholder farmers. However, this opportunity is constrained by the high cost of feeds and its scarcity. As such, farmers usually feed pigs on multiple feed resources within their reach. Although the diversity of pig feeds is important in overcoming the challenges, there is limited information on how this can be achieved, and the factors influencing it. Using a cross-section of 240 pig farming households, this study assessed how socio-demographic, technical and institutional factors influenced household pig feed diversity. Statistical analysis was performed at p < 0.1, p < 0.05 and p < 0.01), respectively. Results showed that marital status (p = 0.012), household size (p = 0.085), number of crop (p = 0.008) and other livestock enterprises (p = 0.055), ownership of mobile phone (p = 0.091), buying feeds (p = 0.005), and use of radio (p = 0.032) and friend as sources (p = 0.002) of agricultural information had a positive significant influence on household pig feed diversity. Additionally, age (p = 0.042), land size owned (p = 0.085) and breed [rearing local (p = 0.009) and crosses (p = 0.000) as opposed to exotic breeds] had a negative significant influence on household pig feed diversity.The study recommends that focus should be placed on improving access to farm inputs, agricultural and market information for smallholder pig farmers so as to
In many sub-Saharan countries, pig (Susscrofa domesticus) production is increasingly an important food security and income generating activity for smallholder farmers. This is attributed to the high prospects for vigilance of the pork market, driven by urbanisation, population growth and dietary transition towards more animal protein per capita. Therefore, increasing pig production is one of the viable pathways to get smallholder farmers out of poverty and food insecurity. Although there are extensive studies about the elements of pig production, such as feeding, breeding and space requirements; little work has been done on distribution of innovation behaviour and the socio-economic factors that influence labour utilisation in the region. The objective of this study was to determine the socio-economic factors that influence labour (family or hired) utilisation and distribution of innovation behaviour among pig farmers in Northern Uganda. Through a cross sectional survey and descriptive analysis, we characterised smallholder pig farmers in the northern Uganda by type of labour used for pig production, and explored the distribution of the dimensions of innovation behaviour (exploration, experimentation, adaptation and modification) among them. Results revealed that young educated farmers with non-farm employment, a smaller household size, belonging to a farmer group and who had many pigs were more likely to use hired labour than those with counter characteristics. There were significant differences in the number of farmers who exhibited the different dimensions of innovation behavior. Therefore, interventions to boost pig production through the use of hired labour should consider the socio-economic differences among farmers which determine labour constraints they face.
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