Factors that influence pig production in Central Uganda - Case study of Nangabo Sub-County, Wakiso district

Abstract

Aim: To study the factors affecting pig production in Nangabo Sub-County, Wakiso District, Central Uganda. Materials and Methods: A total of 11% (1350/12783) of all households in the Nangabo Sub-County kept pigs. The th systematic sampling technique was used to complete the list of all pig farming households. This was done by taking 10 farming household until 10% of all the farming households were sampled. A total of 135 farmers were interviewed with semistructured questionnaire. Questionnaire data was entered into Microsoft Excel worksheet and trans-ferred into Statistical Package for Social Scientists Results: Results indicated that 49.6 % of the pigs were raised in the semi-intensive system while 31%, 12% and 8% of the farmers kept pigs on intensive, tethering and free range rearing systems respectively. Farmers that raised their pigs on what is hereby referred to as semi-intensive and intensive management systems allowed their pigs up to five and two hours of open foraging respectively. Ninety eight percent of the farmers provided housing to their pigs and the commonest pig houses were local mud houses and a few of them were tree shades. Majority of farmers (85.2%) watered their pigs at least once a day. The major factors limiting pig production were; diseases and parasites mainly helminthosis and African swine fever (ASF). Others included; high costs of inputs, lack of capital, unstable availability of feed resources, inadequate advisory services and feed price fluctuation (maize bran, sow and weaner), lack of good quality breeding stock, poor and unorganized marketing, lack of enough land, high costs of veterinary medicines and inability to keep records. Additionally, lack of enough water and uncontrolled pig movement grossly limited the pig production in Wakiso district. Most Ugandans keep their pigs in periurban areas of Uganda. It was however, noted that there were important limitations for pig production in the country. To improve pig production and reduce animal protein deficit, knowledge on constraints to pig production was important to inform pig sector promotion stakeholders. Conclusion: Limitations to pig farming including parasites and diseases, ASF, nutritional deficiencies, high cost of inputs like building materials, drugs and veterinary services, inadequate capital and failure of farmers to access credit services, expensive feeds among others were identified and should be addressed to meet national animal protein requirements.

Participatory assessment of animal health and husbandry practices in smallholder pig production systems in three high poverty districts in Uganda

“…The top two causes of death mentioned by farmers were ASF and parasite infestation, matching the findings of other studies in Uganda (Muhanguzi et al, 2012;Atuhaire et al, 2013). Other causes of death mentioned were malicious killings by unidentified persons.…”

“…A study in Nangabo district with a similar production system to the one observed in Mukono U-U value chain reported that most farmers keep their pigs in intensive or semiintensive systems but allow their pigs to forage for 2-5 h per day (Muhanguzi et al, 2012). While each management system has its advantages and disadvantages, the most recommended management practice is total confinement for several reasons including high security, low exposure to diseases risk especially ASF whose main transmission route is through pig to pig contact.…”

“…Most studies conducted in Uganda show that pigs are kept in all three systems listed by farmers in this study, with more intensive systems in the peri-urban/urban compared to rural settings (Waiswa et al, 2007(Waiswa et al, , 2009Rutebarika and Ademun, 2011;Muhanguzi et al, 2012). A study in Nangabo district with a similar production system to the one observed in Mukono U-U value chain reported that most farmers keep their pigs in intensive or semiintensive systems but allow their pigs to forage for 2-5 h per day (Muhanguzi et al, 2012).…”

“…In urban areas where investment in a piggery is often higher, some farmers have their own boar and do not solicit services from outside. Communal breeding as well as purchasing animals of unknown health status are risk factors to transmit diseases, between or within farms through direct pig to pig contact (Muhanguzi et al, 2012;Okoth et al, 2013). Results from a study in Wakiso in a peri-urban area indicate that newly obtained replacement animals are not isolated from the rest of the herd in 45% of the farms monitored in Nangabo sub-county, consequently there is a high risk for disease dissemination (Muhanguzi et al, 2012).…”

“…Exploiting the full potential of pig production is however constrained by many pig diseases and ailments (Waiswa et al, 2007;Muhanguzi et al, 2012;Muwonge et al, 2012). Addressing these is in turn constrained by limited information on the relative incidence of the different diseases and their impacts on production.…”